THE mother of road-rage victim Lee Harvey was furious last night after lover Tracie Andrews finally admitted killing him.
EXCLUSIVE by BILL DANIELS
Lee's mum Maureen, 53, said: “She is doing it to save her skin. She knows she's got to admit her crime before she can be considered for parole.”
Andrews, 30, made her astonishing confession in a letter sent from jail where she is serving life for murder. She claims she “lost all control” after Lee punched her and threatened her with a knife. Andrews' mum was also furious that her daughter, who has served 21 months, had never hinted she was about to confess.
Irene Carter, 54, said: “The first I knew was when I read the paper. She has never given me an inkling. I am bitterly angry and very upset.”
Irene said she had secret suspicions her daughter was guilty of stabbing Lee to death as they returned from a Sunday evening drink.
“Right from the start there were some things about her story which just didn't add up.
“Before Tracie was arrested she was living with us and I asked her stepfather to get her drunk one night to try to get at the truth. They saw off a bottle of vodka between them as well as wine but still Tracie didn't make a slip.”
Andrews always insisted her 25-year-old lover was killed in a “road rage” attack after two men chased their car as they drove back home to Alvechurch, Worcs.
She stuck to her false story throughout her trial and a failed appeal.
Now she admits killing Lee after a row about her ex-lover Andy Tilston.
Fell
She says they both got out of the car and Lee pulled a knife.
Andrews wrote: “He came straight up to me and grabbed my hair. He said ‘See if Andy wants you with a f****d up face’. He had a knife and I was scared. With that I kneed him. He fell down and pulled me down too.
“We fell over to the grass verge opposite the car. He hit me. I fell back. I got up and tried to hit him back. We was shouting at each other all the time. He punched me again. I fell.
“I saw the knife on the floor, picked it up and when he went for me again I just reacted with the knife. I must have stabbed him. Then he stood still and shouted ‘You f*****g bitch’ then he hit me so hard I fell again.
“I got up halfway and all I can remember is seeing red. I just went mad.”
Lee was stabbed 35 times in the head, neck and body.
Andrews added: “I was shaking and had lost all control. I have never ever in my whole life lost control like I did this night.”
But Lee's father Ray, 54, dismissed her confession as a “fairytale”. At home in Birmingham he said: “She murdered my son.”