Dorset Police have been cleared of any wrongdoing over the way they responded to a 999 call from a woman who was being attacked and murdered.

Charlotte Lewis, 24, was killed by her stepfather Paul Coles in the family home in Bournemouth in May, 2005. Her mother was badly beaten but survived.

During the attack Ms Lewis, from Devon, called 999 and officers went to the house within minutes but did not go in.

But the IPCC found that none of the officers and staff had been at fault.

The report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission said a mix-up over background noise at a call centre in Scotland, led a control room supervisor in Dorset to believe Ms Lewis' call was not coming from a house - but a public area nearby.

But the report concluded that "no criminal or misconduct issues have arisen from this incident and the actions of the two officers who attended the 999 call are beyond reproach".

Dorset Police said in a statement: "We fully acknowledge the point made by the IPCC that background noise may be heard when a 999 call is forwarded from BT into our control room. We will be including this in our training.

"The IPCC report states that none of the officers or staff involved failed in the performance of their duties.

"We only wish further information could have been available to enable us to act differently, however there was none.

"We do recognise the terrible distress that this murder has brought on the family and therefore we have maintained very close liaison with them."

But Ms Lewis' brother, Stuart, said officers should never have left the property and believes his sister's life could have been saved.

In 2005 Coles, aged 38, of Hampden Lane, Bournemouth, admitted killing Ms Lewis, from Exeter, while she was on a visit to her mother and stepfather on Saturday 14 May 2005.

She had found her mother, Nicola Lewis, being assaulted by Coles and when she interrupted, he beat her with the plank of wood before sexually assaulting her and leaving her to die.

Just after midnight, Dorset Police received a call from Ms Lewis who said she was being attacked.

Two officers were sent to the house, but neighbours said they had not heard anything.

The officers did not hear any noise coming from the house and left after 45 minutes. Coles handed himself in to police a couple of hours later.

At Winchester Crown Court in December 2005 he was given a life jail term for murder.