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| Stacey Hyde: 'There are many more who need their cases re-examined' | Stacey Hyde: 'There are many more who need their cases re-examined' |
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| Stacey Hyde cannot listen to the 999 call that graphically captures the moment she killed a man. It records the violent struggle six years ago when she was attacked by Vincent Francis and fought for her life. | Stacey Hyde cannot listen to the 999 call that graphically captures the moment she killed a man. It records the violent struggle six years ago when she was attacked by Vincent Francis and fought for her life. |
| Hyde, a 17-year-old with serious mental health disorders at the time of the killing, was labelled a murderer after Francis died of multiple stab wounds at her hands. Jailed for life, she battled to prove that she had acted in self-defence when he turned on her, grabbed her by the throat, swung her around by her hair and smashed her against a wall. | Hyde, a 17-year-old with serious mental health disorders at the time of the killing, was labelled a murderer after Francis died of multiple stab wounds at her hands. Jailed for life, she battled to prove that she had acted in self-defence when he turned on her, grabbed her by the throat, swung her around by her hair and smashed her against a wall. |
| Hyde’s conviction was quashed late last year by the court of appeal on the grounds that new evidence of her mental disorders substantially diminished her responsibility for the offence. She offered a guilty plea to manslaughter, but the Crown Prosecution Service and Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions, refused it. Hyde, a young woman at high risk of suicide and self-harm, spent a further six months in prison and was forced to face a fresh murder trial at which she was acquitted and finally freed last month. | Hyde’s conviction was quashed late last year by the court of appeal on the grounds that new evidence of her mental disorders substantially diminished her responsibility for the offence. She offered a guilty plea to manslaughter, but the Crown Prosecution Service and Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions, refused it. Hyde, a young woman at high risk of suicide and self-harm, spent a further six months in prison and was forced to face a fresh murder trial at which she was acquitted and finally freed last month. |
| Related: Stacey Hyde cleared of murder in retrial | Related: Stacey Hyde cleared of murder in retrial |
| Speaking to the Guardian, Hyde said she believes the criminal justice system continues to fail vulnerable women who are victims of male violence. “I think the DPP should consider her position. She should resign. She really needs to look at the decisions she is making, because she is wrong,” Hyde said. “You believe in the justice system, you think they will see the truth, and you will be home soon. But that isn’t the case. If you don’t have a good defence team who believe in you and fight for you like they were fighting for their own lives, you are going to be screwed. | |
| “I never considered myself a murderer. Whenever I talked to anyone inside – the prison officers, the other prisoners – we would talk about our cases and they would all say: ‘Stacey, you are not a murderer. It was self-defence.’” | “I never considered myself a murderer. Whenever I talked to anyone inside – the prison officers, the other prisoners – we would talk about our cases and they would all say: ‘Stacey, you are not a murderer. It was self-defence.’” |
| Like other vulnerable women wrongly jailed for murder after retaliating against violent men – such as Emma Humphreys and Sara Thornton, whose cases changed the law on provocation – Hyde had a difficult upbringing which featured neglect, abuse, childhood drinking, self-harm and adolescent mental illness. She was born and brought up in the Somerset town of Wells, where her mother often left her alone or with the neighbours while she worked at several jobs. Drinking and self-harming by 15 years old, Hyde had a teenage abortion and was raped three times. | |
| Her best friend, Holly Banwell, who was 10 years her senior, complained repeatedly to Hyde of the violence she suffered at the hands of her boyfriend Vincent Francis, 34. “She would come in all the time with sunglasses on because he had punched her in the face,” said Hyde, who worked in the City Arms pub in the town. | Her best friend, Holly Banwell, who was 10 years her senior, complained repeatedly to Hyde of the violence she suffered at the hands of her boyfriend Vincent Francis, 34. “She would come in all the time with sunglasses on because he had punched her in the face,” said Hyde, who worked in the City Arms pub in the town. |
| “She would wear hair extensions to cover the bald patches where he had pulled out her hair,” she said. The crown accepted that there had been 27 incidents of violence towards Banwell by Francis. A previous girlfriend also described his violence at Hyde’s retrial. | “She would wear hair extensions to cover the bald patches where he had pulled out her hair,” she said. The crown accepted that there had been 27 incidents of violence towards Banwell by Francis. A previous girlfriend also described his violence at Hyde’s retrial. |
| On 3 September 2009 Hyde was out with Banwell at a pub in the town, and the women eventually met Francis and returned to his flat late that night. Hyde crashed out in the bedroom. She woke to hear her friend crying for help in the early hours of the following day. | |
| “I remember parts of it as if it happened yesterday,” she said. “But there are bits I don’t remember at all, it’s completely blank. I remember waking up and feeling really heavy, like everything was in slow motion, hearing Holly scream, scream for help, like, really scared. | “I remember parts of it as if it happened yesterday,” she said. “But there are bits I don’t remember at all, it’s completely blank. I remember waking up and feeling really heavy, like everything was in slow motion, hearing Holly scream, scream for help, like, really scared. |
| “Then I remember running and seeing Vince attacking her and I remember jumping on his back to get him off her. And then … he’s on top of me, he’s strangling me, he’s so angry and I thought: ‘That’s it, I’m going to die.’ | “Then I remember running and seeing Vince attacking her and I remember jumping on his back to get him off her. And then … he’s on top of me, he’s strangling me, he’s so angry and I thought: ‘That’s it, I’m going to die.’ |
| “Then he is coming at me, it’s all dark and I’m screaming and screaming and I know I’m about to die. And he has got something in his hand. I told the police when they found me he had a knife, and then I remember having my hands on my head and seeing Vince on the floor and there was blood and everything seemed silent, everything just stopped. | “Then he is coming at me, it’s all dark and I’m screaming and screaming and I know I’m about to die. And he has got something in his hand. I told the police when they found me he had a knife, and then I remember having my hands on my head and seeing Vince on the floor and there was blood and everything seemed silent, everything just stopped. |
| “Then there’s a policeman putting his arms around me in the kitchen. I remember crying and crying and wanting to die. I was saying: ‘He tried to kill me and Holly.’ Later on they told me they had found me in the kitchen and I was about to stab myself. I was in shock.” | “Then there’s a policeman putting his arms around me in the kitchen. I remember crying and crying and wanting to die. I was saying: ‘He tried to kill me and Holly.’ Later on they told me they had found me in the kitchen and I was about to stab myself. I was in shock.” |
| The violent struggle which spilled into the hallway was recorded by a 999 operator after Banwell phoned the emergency services to call for help. She told the operator, against the backdrop of Hyde’s high-pitched screams: “My boyfriend is smashing, beating up my friend. She’s a girl. I need the police.” | The violent struggle which spilled into the hallway was recorded by a 999 operator after Banwell phoned the emergency services to call for help. She told the operator, against the backdrop of Hyde’s high-pitched screams: “My boyfriend is smashing, beating up my friend. She’s a girl. I need the police.” |
| Hyde was charged with the murder of Francis. She pleaded not guilty on the grounds of self-defence, but was convicted in 2010 at Bristol crown court and jailed for life with the recommendation she serve a minimum of nine years. | Hyde was charged with the murder of Francis. She pleaded not guilty on the grounds of self-defence, but was convicted in 2010 at Bristol crown court and jailed for life with the recommendation she serve a minimum of nine years. |
| Just 18, she was sent to the adult detox wing of Eastwood Park prison in Gloucestershire. “I was so scared. I remember one of the inmates high-fived me because she read about a girl stabbing someone 17 times. I was on my own in a cell, I was in shock, I was in denial. All around me women were screaming – there was noise everywhere.” | Just 18, she was sent to the adult detox wing of Eastwood Park prison in Gloucestershire. “I was so scared. I remember one of the inmates high-fived me because she read about a girl stabbing someone 17 times. I was on my own in a cell, I was in shock, I was in denial. All around me women were screaming – there was noise everywhere.” |
| Hyde is reluctant to talk about the “bad times” in prison, but says Holloway was the worst period for her. It was only with the support of women who became her “prison family” that she survived her incarceration, she says. Like her, these women had been jailed for murder and are fighting for appeals. They include Lizzie Donaghue, who was convicted of killing her husband, and Phillipa Hart, also convicted of murder. “I want to raise awareness of their cases,” said Hyde. “There are others, many others, who need to have their cases re-examined. Really and truly I would like to go under a rock and hide away. But I’m not going to do that. I’ve met some most amazing women in prison and I promised to help them.” | Hyde is reluctant to talk about the “bad times” in prison, but says Holloway was the worst period for her. It was only with the support of women who became her “prison family” that she survived her incarceration, she says. Like her, these women had been jailed for murder and are fighting for appeals. They include Lizzie Donaghue, who was convicted of killing her husband, and Phillipa Hart, also convicted of murder. “I want to raise awareness of their cases,” said Hyde. “There are others, many others, who need to have their cases re-examined. Really and truly I would like to go under a rock and hide away. But I’m not going to do that. I’ve met some most amazing women in prison and I promised to help them.” |
| "A person tried to kill me so it's either you die or you save your life" says Stacey Hyde on #VictoriaLIVE https://t.co/F4OtOcYScN | |
| Throughout her six years in prison, Hyde was deemed to be at high risk of suicide and self-harm and made attempts on her own life. It was through her aunt Julie Hyde that she contacted Justice for Women, and a new legal team – led by Harriet Wistrich of Birnberg Peirce – took up her case. | |
| One thing she has had to face while in prison and during her trials is the way Banwell has failed to support her. At both trials she appeared on behalf of the prosecution. At the retrial in Winchester, Banwell described Hyde as a “cold-blooded murderer”, a judgment the jury with their verdict clearly rejected. “I haven’t spoken to her,” said Hyde. “At first I felt sorry for her, I forgave her. I thought she was in denial, like a lot of women in the same situation as her. I don’t know how a human being can be so cruel, and I don’t see how the justice system can rely on such a witness.” | |
| Hyde said her lowest point came in November last year when, after the court of appeal quashed her murder conviction, she heard she had to face a retrial. “I didn’t understand,” said Hyde. “I was in the cell, and I asked what was going on. They said, ‘Your conviction has been quashed, but you are going to have a retrial.’ I just thought: ‘I can’t do a retrial.’ I’d lost my faith in the system. I thought: ‘They are going to jail me again for murder.’ | |
| “That was a really low point. I was sent into Holloway. I was alone. I spent the next four days crying in a cell. I had my 23rd birthday there. I got really down – I cut myself. It was the only way to get out of the pain.” | “That was a really low point. I was sent into Holloway. I was alone. I spent the next four days crying in a cell. I had my 23rd birthday there. I got really down – I cut myself. It was the only way to get out of the pain.” |
| Hyde’s murder retrial began in the week Saunders announced that Greville Janner would not be charged with 22 counts of historical child abuse because he had Alzheimer’s. “I was sat down and the prison officers were saying: ‘There’s that DPP, she’s letting this man go, but there’s all these innocent girls coming in here, and she doesn’t care about them.’ | Hyde’s murder retrial began in the week Saunders announced that Greville Janner would not be charged with 22 counts of historical child abuse because he had Alzheimer’s. “I was sat down and the prison officers were saying: ‘There’s that DPP, she’s letting this man go, but there’s all these innocent girls coming in here, and she doesn’t care about them.’ |
| Related: Stacey Hyde’s story is a shocking insight into how the law treats young, abused women | Julie Bindel | Related: Stacey Hyde’s story is a shocking insight into how the law treats young, abused women | Julie Bindel |
| “And I thought, ‘Here I am, under heavy medication, I’ve offered to plead guilty to manslaughter, and she is putting me on trial again for murder.’ The prosecution of me throughout was defined by ego and arrogance and a determination not to admit they were wrong.” | “And I thought, ‘Here I am, under heavy medication, I’ve offered to plead guilty to manslaughter, and she is putting me on trial again for murder.’ The prosecution of me throughout was defined by ego and arrogance and a determination not to admit they were wrong.” |
| Hyde’s mental condition, which includes diagnoses of personality disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), meant the court had to appoint an intermediary to sit in the dock and explain the process to her each day at trial. | Hyde’s mental condition, which includes diagnoses of personality disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), meant the court had to appoint an intermediary to sit in the dock and explain the process to her each day at trial. |
| What puzzles campaigners is why, after landmark cases like those of Humphreys and Thornton, Hyde was subjected to a retrial for murder, rather than the crown accepting her offer of a guilty plea to manslaughter. “It was cruel and unnecessary to make Stacey go through a retrial and remain in prison a further six months,” said Wistrich. “She was an extremely vulnerable 17-year-old at the time of the offence. When you closely examine the evidence, in particular the 999 call, it is clear Stacey was being beaten up by Francis just before the stabbing took place, that she was screaming in terror – there was no evidence of premeditation or motive beyond that of responding to calls for help from his girlfriend Holly. The crown pursued this case with a vigour that was totally disproportionate.” | |
| Hyde, who is being supported by a family friend, said she thinks about Francis’s family all the time. “I understand they will probably hate me forever because they see me as the reason that their loved one has died and it hurts them,” she said. “But I just want them to know, I want them to know I’m sorry. I hope in time they can understand and forgive me.” |