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The Accused- Beyond Reasonable Doubt. Season 1 Episode 2
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00:00So the whole system is a farce, to be honest. It's a joke.
00:05People are sitting in prison cells with life sentences
00:09when there is evidence that proves categorically they didn't do it
00:14and they call that justice.
00:16The British criminal justice system is built on one simple principle,
00:22that a jury of ordinary men and women must be convinced of someone's guilt,
00:27beyond reasonable doubt.
00:30But every system has its flaws.
00:33Twelve people can decide your fate.
00:36They have got no idea what it's like.
00:38You're fighting for your life.
00:40These are the stories of people fighting convictions
00:43they believe are a miscarriage of justice.
00:46He's sitting in a prison cell for a murder he didn't commit.
00:49It's just one big joke.
00:51You need fresh evidence.
00:52Not the police. How do you expect me to find new evidence?
00:55This series explores some of the most divisive and unpredictable cases
00:59in modern criminal history.
01:01He's been stabbed pretty badly in the chest.
01:03Unbelievable. Unbelievable.
01:05Have you ever had a sexual relationship with Dennis?
01:07No.
01:08I suppose for a split second you think, what did happen?
01:11Call her. Call her.
01:14That makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand out.
01:19Once found guilty, how do you prove you're innocent?
01:26It's all about principle.
01:27You don't bang a geezer up with something you've never done.
01:29Call her.
01:43Call her.
01:46Call her.
01:55I need a piece of a car.
01:58My boyfriend is smoking, seeing out my phone.
02:07What's your name?
02:08I'm Laura.
02:10And what's your boyfriend's name?
02:12It's the man.
02:13All right.
02:15What's your friend's name?
02:18Stacey High.
02:22Okay, sorry, where's she gone now?
02:27No, Stacey, put that down, my friend.
02:36Wells is a very small city.
02:40But it's a very beautiful place.
02:43Oh, it's lovely.
02:44It's a nice place to grow up.
02:46Very pretty.
02:48Very pretty.
02:48Yeah, we've got the cathedral, the bishop's palace.
02:51It's the sort of time you would walk down the high street and for sure you're going to bump into
02:54somebody that you know.
02:56So Stacey was well known there.
02:59Everyone knew Stacey Hyde.
03:01She's impossible to ignore, really.
03:06I'm Julie Hyde and I'm her aunt and I'm also her godmother.
03:11What kind of girl was Stacey growing up?
03:14Um, as a child she was very outgoing.
03:19She wasn't shy or timid or anything like that at all.
03:22From the age of six, seven, every summer Stacey would stay with us.
03:26She would come over like almost six weeks for the whole school holidays.
03:31I was a teacher of English for 35 years in Wells.
03:37Stacey attended from the age of 11 to 16.
03:41I was her tutor, so I had pastoral responsibility for her.
03:48She was a sweet girl.
03:51Very outgoing, very spontaneous, lively.
03:56She wanted to be a star and she acted like one a lot of the time.
04:09There was quite a lot of absenteeism at school.
04:13I think partly because she was having to supplement the family income by working.
04:22She was working in the city arms.
04:25She was a waitress.
04:26I mean, Stacey was so clumsy.
04:28She was a terrible waitress, but she had the most tips out of anyone
04:32because all the old ladies in there, they loved her.
04:35School became less important to her, I think,
04:37and outside influences began to impinge.
04:47The sort of friends she started making around this time,
04:50were they all her age or...?
04:52She was 17.
04:54I think a lot of them were older than she was.
04:58From the pub where she was working.
05:01That's not to say that she matured over that time.
05:07I don't think she did at all.
05:10I think she was very vulnerable.
05:12She thought everyone was wonderful.
05:14She never saw the bad in anybody.
05:17Yeah, no, she was very naive like that.
05:21I think it's around that time that she started drinking.
05:28I think that was a turning point for Stacey, actually.
05:32She started meeting people like Holly Banwell.
05:35Stacey looked up to her.
05:37She was a hairdresser.
05:38You know, she was quite glam and, you know, Stacey was a young girl.
05:42She was...
05:42You know, this woman was much older than Stacey and...
05:46And it was all...
05:47And obviously it revolved around the drinking.
05:49The drinking was the thing they had in common.
05:54Tell me about Holly's boyfriend.
05:57Who was Vince Francis?
06:00And Vince was considerably older than Stacey.
06:04He'd been in my tutor group some, I think, 20 years previously.
06:10Holly and Vince had a very tempestuous relationship.
06:15Fighting, arguing.
06:16Because Stacey never sort of socialised with them together.
06:20It was only Holly.
06:21You know, she barely knew Vince.
06:23She only really knew what Holly told her, you know.
06:27Holly would complain about Vince, saying,
06:29Oh, he did this, he did that.
06:30And so Stacey was like a sounding board for her.
06:33I guess she knew that he could be violent.
06:38Holly was subjected to really quite serious domestic violence by Vince.
06:42He regularly attacked Holly.
06:45I think there were something like 27 incidents.
06:48And that was all documented.
06:50One instance, Holly had a clump missing out of her hair.
06:53And she said to Stacey,
06:54Oh, look, look, you pulled my hair and I've got a bald patch.
06:58Holly went on at Stacey about this a lot.
07:02And Stacey felt, you know, quite protected towards her.
07:07Stacey was, she was a good friend.
07:09She was very, very loyal.
07:11And she's clearly very disturbed about Vincent's violence and worried about Holly.
07:21I always received the impression that Holly didn't really care about Stacey too much.
07:30She certainly didn't concern herself with Stacey's vulnerability at that age.
07:37Holly was obviously involved in a relationship that was characterised by violence and control.
07:44And Stacey was very impressionable and was influenced by that.
07:49It was a child being dragged into an adult's world, I think, without knowing how to deal with it.
07:57So, yes, perhaps there was some sort of inevitability about what followed.
08:08On the 3rd of September 2009, 17-year-old Stacey Hyde's life would change forever.
08:17Stacey and Holly Banwell had been shopping, I think, come back to Wales.
08:25They did a couple of pubs, drinking, drinking, drinking.
08:31What I know then, they went, got a taxi home.
08:35At approximately midnight, the two girls returned to Holly's flat together.
08:40Stacey just went and crashed on the bed.
08:45Vincent arrived, I believe, and started being quite abusive.
08:52He wasn't happy that Stacey was there.
08:55And she heard shouting and noise.
09:00Vince was attacking Holly.
09:04Stacey jumped on his back to try and get her off.
09:08He laid in to Stacey, and it was at that point that Holly made the 999 call.
09:17I need the police, I need the police.
09:19Oh, yeah, please, please.
09:20My boyfriend is smuggish, beating up my friends.
09:26She needed the police to come, and come quickly.
09:30It's Stacey, my friend's sister, and my boyfriend is beating her up.
09:38She hit me, and so she hit him, and now she's started on her.
09:44Oh, I'll get, I'll get the number.
09:47Vince was incredibly violent towards her.
09:50He was apparently punching her, kind of pulling her hair,
09:53and, you know, throwing her around.
09:55He tried to strangle her at one stage.
09:57I'm out in the corridor.
09:59Don't you fucking punch me on the face of me?
10:01Don't you fucking punch me?
10:03Do you know what I mean?
10:04I've got a smuggish.
10:05No, Stacey, put that down.
10:07At some point, a knife was produced.
10:16She's got a knife.
10:17She's got a knife.
10:19She's got a knife.
10:22She's got a knife.
10:23She's got a knife.
10:26I'm going to get an ambulance.
10:33But it ended in Vincent being stabbed.
10:37Oh, my God.
10:39Oh, my God.
10:45After the 999 call, from what I know, the police came.
10:48They found her curled up in the kitchen in a ball.
10:52Vince was taken to the hospital.
10:56He died in the hospital.
11:02And Stacey was arrested.
11:06Stacey is taken into police custody on the 5th of September, 2009.
11:12The 17-year-old is charged with the murder of Vincent Francis.
11:18I couldn't believe it.
11:20And in that moment, your whole life changes.
11:27This was a very young, vulnerable girl who had clearly been subjected to a violent assault
11:36before she stabbed Vince.
11:39He was a grown man, and she was a 17-year-old girl.
11:43She was a child, effectively.
11:47With this case, you've got to reconstruct the nature of the attack.
11:53Simon Spence is a King's counsel with experience in high-profile murder cases.
11:58The thing with self-defence is not only does the force have to be reasonable, it has to be necessary.
12:06And the law expects somebody, if they are able to, to retreat.
12:12It's reported that Vince Francis was stabbed 17 times.
12:17And six of them were to the back.
12:20On the face of it, it sounds like a frenzied attack.
12:23If she killed him, it was in self-defence.
12:26Well, Stacey undoubtedly killed Vince.
12:29The question is, why?
12:30She's terrified. Terrified.
12:33I mean, Stacey could have been the one that got killed.
12:36Easily. Easily.
12:49Stacey Hyde has been arrested and charged with the murder of Vincent Francis.
12:55Due to the severity of the charge, Stacey is remanded in a high-security prison while she awaits trial.
13:02You know, she was 17. She was a child still.
13:05Locked up in there with...
13:08You know, she was awful.
13:13I was in an adult jail, even though I was only 17.
13:17Remanded for murder.
13:19I was completely alone and scared.
13:27Wells is a small city.
13:29Was this big news?
13:30Absolutely, yes.
13:33It's all-consuming.
13:36Oh, the local newspapers, oh, they loved it.
13:39The reporting was wicked.
13:41Oh, they made her sound like some sort of maniac that she stabbed him 17 times and no compassion whatsoever,
13:48not thinking this is a young girl that's been attacked by a much older man.
13:51You heard the tape.
13:52He was attacking her.
13:55When you stab somebody in the back, it's rather difficult to argue self-defence.
14:01But, of course, there only has to be a doubt over it, and the defendant's entitled to the benefit of
14:06that day.
14:21What's it like going into a courtroom and seeing your niece in the dock?
14:25Horrendous.
14:27And you're in a situation you have no control.
14:30You're not really...
14:31You don't understand what's going on.
14:34And then also we have the family there as well, which obviously was very, very, very difficult.
14:39His family.
14:41Vince's family.
14:44I was a character witness.
14:46Never done that before.
14:48Quivering with nerves.
14:50And to see Stacey up in the dock behind glass, looking so young.
15:05I have a particular interest in cases that involve women in the criminal justice system
15:11and very much women who kill or are prosecuted for killing.
15:15What was Stacey's defence?
15:17Her defence was self-defence.
15:20It's because she was being attacked by Vince, primarily.
15:24The only defence that would guarantee an outright acquittal would be self-defence.
15:29There's three different potential verdicts that the jury are deciding on.
15:33Was it self-defence, murder or manslaughter?
15:35You don't know where it's going to go.
15:37It's very nerve-wracking.
15:39We were obviously praying it was going to be self-defence.
15:43Well, the argument would be from the prosecution,
15:45if you stab somebody with a large knife with sufficient force to sever the pulmonary artery,
15:52then it really follows, as night follows day, that you intend to cause really serious harm.
15:59We never even considered murder, never.
16:02It was never...
16:03Nobody really mentioned it.
16:08Vince was attacking Holly, so I jumped on his back to help her.
16:12Next thing I know, he was on top of me.
16:14I was certain he was going to kill me, strangling me with hatred in his eyes.
16:19What happened next was even more of a blur.
16:22Vince laid outside the flat, covered in blood.
16:32Stacey was protecting her friend Holly that night.
16:35Did Holly testify in court?
16:37Yes, she did. Yes, Holly did give evidence.
16:40But she was very much a witness for the prosecution.
16:53At the time of the 999 call, Holly was clearly afraid that Vincent was going to harm Stacey.
17:04It was all about that.
17:08After the event, she became very hostile towards Stacey.
17:14What was she saying?
17:18That Stacey had gone to fetch a knife and had come back and she stabbed Vincent.
17:27Made it sound like a very...
17:29..a very deliberate and almost premeditated act.
17:37OK, I'm sorry, where's she gone now?
17:42Um...
17:43No, Stacey, put that down right now!
17:49If I'd been prosecuting, I would have focused on whether she did indeed go to the kitchen to get the
17:55knife and come back.
17:57And you can rely on the good sense of a jury to say, well, they could have got away.
18:02Or, well, they couldn't get away and this was the only thing they could do.
18:06In Holly's case, she had been attacked by Vince.
18:10I think she just blamed Stacey for taking away, you know, her boyfriend.
18:15Well, I think the relationship between Holly and Vince was not a relationship that Holly wanted to disclose in the
18:22trial,
18:23even though she was cross-examined on it.
18:25She downplayed his violence towards her and minimised the threat that Stacey faced at that particular point.
18:36The 999 call was played to the court.
18:41And that cross-examination of Holly didn't explore the seeming contradictions.
18:51She hit me and so she hit him and now she's started on her and I need...
18:59I don't recall Holly coming up with any adequate explanation of her change of attitude towards Stacey and towards what
19:13had happened.
19:14I think quite often women minimise the level of control or violence that they're subjected to.
19:23They make excuses.
19:25It's difficult to admit and, you know, there's a great, there's a great deal of shame attached to being the
19:33victim of abuse.
19:35Holly's account was the most important evidence against her, against Stacey, and it was damning.
19:49The evidence was that they'd gone home very late.
19:52Stacey was very drunk.
19:54They had been drinking quite heavily before they went back to Holly's flat.
20:00Stacey had killed Vince.
20:02There was blood all over her, all over the flat.
20:06There was excessive number of stab wounds.
20:10So it all has an impact.
20:19The first day of the trial, she was very amiable. She was Stacey, you know, just telling it like it
20:25was.
20:26The second day she came across more defensive, maybe a little bit cocky.
20:31It turned out that they were coaching her in the prison.
20:37All the other prisoners had a mock trial.
20:40She'd been advised to fight back, as it were, and argue.
20:44And of course, she was impressionable.
20:47She was impulsive. She was vulnerable.
20:49There's Stacey, very gullible.
20:51You know, loves everybody.
20:55Oh yeah, what they're saying, you must be right.
20:57I must do that.
20:58And then it completely backfired.
21:02As the trial progressed, I became more anxious about it.
21:11I didn't feel she had a good defence.
21:16It wasn't at all about this vulnerable child.
21:22It wasn't an appeal to the sympathy of the jurors.
21:28I could sense the jury switching off.
21:33So I was extremely anxious about the outcome.
21:39The jury deliberate for four hours.
21:43That was awful.
21:44The waiting.
21:45The waiting.
21:48It seemed ominous when they returned.
21:54You feel sick, because you have no idea.
21:57It's like, it could go either way.
21:59You know, it could be self-defence, which is what we were hoping for.
22:04And then she was given a murder verdict.
22:15I felt devastated.
22:19Stacey was found guilty of murder.
22:23When it was murder, oh, wow.
22:27Stacey just fell on the floor.
22:29Just collapsed.
22:34Stacey's plea is rejected.
22:37She is found guilty of murder.
22:40Murder doesn't require an intention to kill.
22:43A lot of people think it does, but it doesn't.
22:45An intention to cause really serious harm is enough to make an unlawful assault murder.
22:51For reasons I don't fully understand,
22:55juries are very, very harsh when women are violent.
22:59And, you know, seem to judge them very severely.
23:04Women aren't supposed to be violent.
23:05And that's not how they're supposed to respond.
23:10So Stacey was convicted of murder.
23:12Got nine years.
23:14Complete shock.
23:16We never thought about that.
23:18No, didn't expect it.
23:22She was imprisoned.
23:24A vulnerable teenager.
23:26I don't know what more to say than that, really.
23:29A naive, vulnerable child.
23:45I think for anyone going to prison, it just, you know, it's, they try and portray it as some sort
23:52of holiday camp.
23:53Believe me, it's not.
23:57When she was sent to Holloway, oh, oh, our hearts just dropped.
24:02Because we knew then she was mixing with all sorts, all sorts.
24:09She wrote to me saying how much she hated being amongst murderers and paedophiles and the rest of humanity, really.
24:21She just felt out of her depths.
24:26I was petrified.
24:28I put the covers over my head, sure that in the night I would be attacked.
24:34She was a young girl.
24:37Threatened.
24:38Fearing for her life.
24:54Sometimes you just want to scream and yell and throw things for being given this life and bad luck.
25:00But you can't.
25:01She'll lose everything.
25:03You know, whenever you, you went to visit her, she would look immaculate, hair immaculate and, um, happy, bubbly.
25:11Instead, you smile and wave and pretend you're not dying inside.
25:16This was for our benefit, so we didn't worry about her.
25:19That's how sweet she was.
25:21But you knew as soon as she left us, I mean, leaving was heartbreaking.
25:26Heartbreaking.
25:29I'm so nervous.
25:32No-one ever prepares you for the things you'll see.
25:35You're here in jail.
25:40What happens next?
25:41What do you do?
25:43We start talking about appeals.
25:45The process is fairly straightforward.
25:47You have 28 days from the date of conviction to lodge an appeal.
25:52Either because fresh evidence comes to light, or some other ground emerges which you weren't even aware of.
25:59If they think there's some force in the argument, then he will give leave to appeal.
26:05What the Court of Appeal is very unwilling to do is to go behind a jury's verdict, unless there's a
26:11good reason for doing so.
26:12I was like a dog with a bone.
26:15I'm writing letters here, there and everywhere.
26:17You know, local MPs.
26:19And then I wrote to Justice for Women.
26:24Stacey's aunt, Julie Hyde, contacted Justice for Women and asked if we could help.
26:30The charity that I set up focuses on violence against women and girls and criminal appeals of women who are
26:38convicted of killing violent men.
26:42Do you get a legal team that is prepared to take on Stacey's case?
26:47And also that believe in you and believe in her?
26:51Now, it wasn't actually quite a typical Justice for Women case, in the sense that Vincent Francis was not actually
26:58Stacey's partner.
26:59However, he was violent and abusive towards his partner, and he was very violent towards Stacey on the day in
27:09which she killed him.
27:11I was deeply impressed with Harriet, and I felt, now we have somebody in charge who knows what they're doing.
27:20And she inspired me with confidence.
27:24We're never saying that this woman didn't do the crime.
27:29The question was what had led this particular woman to act in the way she had.
27:35Was the crime she was convicted of the right outcome?
27:39I think for Stacey's, well, obviously then it started giving her hope, but then she was afraid to hope too
27:44much.
27:45We want to get her out because we know she shouldn't be there.
27:51The court of appeal is very resistant to allowing appeals or allowing a second bite of the cherry.
27:58The only basis on which you can create grounds of appeal is if there is fresh evidence.
28:07I saw her a number of times in prison to take her account.
28:12What seemed particularly striking about Stacey was her very childlike presentation.
28:19She was a bright, happy child, but she suffered quite a lot.
28:26She was frequently bullied.
28:29She had problems with focusing, with attention.
28:33That got her into a bit of trouble at school.
28:36During that first trial, Stacey was kind of really in her own little world.
28:41She couldn't really take the process very seriously.
28:44She was sort of laughing during some of the evidence.
28:47You know, you can see why the jury would have just sort of said,
28:49this girl isn't really showing appropriate remorse.
28:52So I instructed an adolescent psychiatrist.
29:04If I was assessing Stacey, I would look at her history, specifically whether there are any personality traits that stand
29:14out, such as irritability, impulsivity, and her history of trauma and vulnerability.
29:21Stacey was only 17 when she killed Vincent, so she was still very young and not fully developed.
29:27For the appeal process, Stacey was reassessed by psychiatrists and psychologists.
29:33And they all agreed that she was more vulnerable than the courts had initially thought.
29:39They diagnosed her with ADHD, bipolar, and also she was bulimic.
29:44The most significant diagnosis was hyperkinetic disorder, but commonly known as ADHD.
29:53ADHD presents itself in a couple of different ways.
29:56There's the inattention side and there's the hyperactivity.
29:59Of course, the vast majority of people with ADHD don't commit criminal offences and are not violent.
30:05But because ADHD is associated with impulsivity and emotional dysregulation, people can act impulsively, not think through the thought of
30:12their actions, and not be able to control their emotions, which can lead to violence.
30:18When you looked at her account, she couldn't remember picking up a knife.
30:23Was there a trauma-type response that had meant that she may have dissociated at the relevant time?
30:31And we call this dissociative amnesia.
30:33So that's when an individual goes through intense stress, but as a way of the brain protecting itself, it doesn't
30:41remember or code these memories.
30:44So the individual has either a complete lack of memory of the event or fragmented memories.
30:51This psychiatric report was a really important development because it's basically saying this person committed an offence.
31:01But their responsibility at the time was diminished as a consequence of this mental condition.
31:09As soon as she was diagnosed, it all made sense.
31:14Now, they had an angle that would be a feasible reason to have an appeal.
31:24We had to find a very capable barrister.
31:29So, Clare Wade was instructed at that point.
31:33Stacey killed a man who she witnessed abusing her friend.
31:39Stacey suffered from ADHD, which hadn't been diagnosed.
31:43We worked on a previous case together.
31:45So, yeah, she was very legally adept and good at crafting grounds of appeal.
31:51If somebody's been wrongly convicted, to assist in helping them fight that wrongful conviction, it matters.
31:59It's as simple as that.
32:02You have to spend, you know, sometimes years digging around to find grounds of appeal.
32:08And when you then, you know, and then you go through this sort of lengthy process of trying to get
32:13permission and, you know, having to push and push and push.
32:16It's a big, it's a big process.
32:18Yeah, you want it done now, but you realise it's not that easy and it just drags on and on
32:23and on.
32:27Stacey has been in prison for three years, while the case for her appeal is being put together.
32:34Were you always worrying about?
32:35Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
32:36Of course, we all were.
32:38We all were.
32:39She was all over the place and she couldn't take in what was going on.
32:43She wrote so many letters to me while she was in prison.
32:48You brought some of the letters with you?
32:50Yes.
32:51Would you mind reading?
32:52Yes, I'd be happy to.
32:54It's, it's, there's so many of them.
32:57She was a regular correspondent, as I was with her, Miss Gould.
33:04No one will ever be a better teacher.
33:06I love you and thank you so much.
33:09I'm so sorry about everything that I've put all of you through.
33:14I promise I'll make you guys proud of me one day.
33:18Please don't forget about me.
33:20Love you all.
33:21Stacey, kiss, kiss, kiss, heart.
33:24They're covered in hearts and kisses.
33:31I think that probably sums it up.
33:42There was an assortment of expert evidence and it cohered.
33:47It was a much more robust defence.
33:49The application massively strengthened the defence of diminished responsibility.
33:56This evidence really hadn't been explored.
34:11The court of appeal felt that this was sufficiently strong to make it an exceptional case and in the interests
34:19of justice to allow the appeal.
34:21The new evidence is accepted.
34:24The new evidence is accepted.
34:25The court grants permission to appeal.
34:28The court grants permission to appeal.
34:29Finally, here we are.
34:46There was a campaign, so Justice Women, the campaign group, worked alongside Stacey's family and friends.
34:54So there were a lot of supporters with Stacey in the court as well.
34:58This is a big moment.
34:59It's a big moment.
35:01Yes, it's been a long time coming, but here we are.
35:04Fingers crossed that it goes our way or Stacey's way.
35:08The risk to the defendant is that if the court thinks that the application has no merit at all, they
35:15have the power to order the sentence to start running from scratch again.
35:20So if somebody spent six months in custody awaiting their appeal, then the court of appeal can say, those six
35:30months don't count when you start from day one again.
35:36You're in the hands of these three judges, and it's, you know, down to your skilled legal counsel to argue
35:44the point and to overcome the opposition of the crowd.
35:51There was a lot of material to go through.
35:54It's always quite sort of nerve-wracking.
35:58That was gut-wrenching.
36:03The appeal is successful.
36:08We got it in the end.
36:09Stacey's conviction is quashed.
36:12Oh, it was tremendous, yeah.
36:14We felt like we'd achieved something.
36:16Utter elation.
36:18It was huge relief, fantastic.
36:20So, you know, to get to that stage and to say, right, this conviction isn't safe, she's got another chance,
36:27was great.
36:28However, the next stage was, well, what happens now?
36:36So the conviction for murder no longer stands?
36:38We'd hoped that we wouldn't have to go through a retrial.
36:42The question was put to the prosecution, but they were not accepting that they would concede on diminished responsibility.
36:51They insisted that it went to a retrial.
36:58And the trial process starts again, so a fresh trial date.
37:02It's as if it was the first time it had ever been tried.
37:05How did you feel when you heard that?
37:07Well, we just felt incredibly frustrated because we thought it was unkind and cruel to put her through another trial
37:13at that age, having spent five years in prison.
37:16Because the worst thing is going through a retrial and then getting convicted again is just the most appalling scenario.
37:23The prosecutor in this case seemed to be very much cunning for Stacey, wanting to uphold the murder conviction.
37:32I knew it was going to be a big fight on our hands.
37:44So Stacey's already been in prison for five years. It's a long wait for this retrial.
37:50So poor Stacey had to spend another six months in prison.
37:54We were much more confident because we knew what to expect. We'd been round the block.
38:10So a retrial in Winchester. I mean, just looking at the jury, it just felt totally different.
38:17So that was it. We started again.
38:22I mean, there's every chance the jury could decide that she's guilty of murder all over again.
38:28Isn't there?
38:29Yes.
38:30I tried not to consider the alternative outcome too much.
38:41One of the tactics that was adopted was to play that 999 tape again and again, because it is deeply
38:47shocking.
38:48Certainly one of the worst 999 calls that I've ever listened to.
38:57It's very graphic, obviously, and bearing in mind the defence that Stacey Hyde was running at trial.
39:03It would be very important evidence indeed.
39:05The sheer fight and horror in that screaming, it had such an impact.
39:11All right.
39:13Call her. Call her. Call her.
39:16Call her.
39:16What are you doing?
39:17Yes, yes. Walk away. Walk away.
39:20Our barrister, defence barrister, kept playing that tape over and over again, I think about 17 times,
39:30to just really instill in the jury's mind what was going on.
39:34When we had Holly saying, he wasn't violent towards me, and she just stabbed him.
39:38you know it will be difficult to interpret that in any other way than that stacy is clearly
39:55being attacked because of the way she's screaming
40:09it does convey the level of threat that was faced at the time after hearing all the evidence the jury
40:28are sent out to consider the verdict the jury at the retrial were out for two days rather than four
40:36hours in bristol i think harriet had instilled so much confidence about the outcome that i at least
40:43hoped i was just about to go into the cells to see stacy and then we got a tannoy and
40:53we went into
40:53court um and i texted harriet and said um we're about to get a verdict if this didn't work then
41:02that was it really
41:23the jury decide that stacy hyde is not guilty of the murder of vincent francis
41:32when we heard the verdict it was just like wow you know it's just amazing so you know it was
41:37quite
41:37like i don't know how it got she's free it's a dream it's uh i i people believed in me
41:45and they gave me
41:45they gave me my family back and i'm so grateful to justice women my leading team and my family and
41:52you're euphoric really everyone had put so much into it and to get that result it was the best
41:59possible outcome for stacy i'm home for a second chance sorry a bit emotional
42:10but yeah thank you it was amazing it was like walking on air really and i think she was doing
42:19just that
42:25for a short while you had the optimism that you know gosh she's out so the only thing is because
42:30she was found not guilty had she served a prison sentence and been released she would have had
42:35help on the outside she would have support probation officers keeping an eye on her because she was free
42:43nothing no support it was okay for a few months bring when she was still like a 17 year old
42:52and she's got
42:52this freedom she'd been in prison for five or six years and they're very formative years how does she
43:00then cope in the world she couldn't go back to wells it's dangerous she knew some really nasty people
43:08really dangerous people so she had to go into hiding i was concerned she didn't write to me after the
43:16trial
43:17um i wondered how well equipped she was to carve out a new life for herself
43:27she'd go out not come home and went slowly over the years it just went worse and worse and worse
43:33that's when she started getting into cocaine and after that the life just crumbled and over the next
43:40over the next years i mean she got involved in prostitution drug dens oh it's just one thing after
43:45another she'd been released she had her whole life in front of her but she didn't feel worthwhile
43:54we want to hear that somebody goes off and uh you know they can restart their lives and all the
44:00rest of it
44:04sadly it's not a happy ending
44:17we weren't always in contact with each other it would be quite random and you know then we'd
44:21be in touch for a few days and it was always like that with stacy and um so she messaged
44:26oh hi i want
44:27to come out in june is that all right she's really in a good mood and all good and um
44:33that was on the
44:36ninth on the 11th i get a phone call she died
44:48eight years after leaving prison stacy hyde dies from health problems caused by bulimia
44:55she was 32 years old i was just hoping that she was out there somewhere having fun and
45:06making up for all those years so it was an awful shock to receive that news
45:12i i was just been waiting for that phone call and it was it was just like what a waste
45:20what a waste
45:23stacy didn't want to die she just didn't know how to live
45:36do you feel like this was definitely a miscarriage of justice yes yes yes without a doubt
45:40my niece should never have been convicted of murder no she should never have been
45:44locked up and she's not alone it's easy to think that if a miscarriage of justice is righted that
45:50everything's hunky-dory and you've got a happy ending but you don't because it can ruin people's lives
45:59i don't think many people who met her would think will forget stacy but i most certainly won't
46:06and the tragedy um of her life short life
46:17um will i don't think ever cease to affect me
46:24stacy would have wanted her story to be heard
46:27and then maybe it's not all in vain i have the best family a girl could wish for
46:36that's beautiful isn't it
46:41yeah i feel like she's here
46:46we were lucky
46:50so proud of her
46:54thank you thank you no thank you for listening
47:19thank you
47:29so
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