THREE Appeal Court judges reserved their decision yesterday on an appeal by Tracie Andrews, jailed for life last year for murdering her fiancé. She claimed that he had been killed in a “road rage” attack.
Lord Justice Roch, sitting with Mr Justice Laws and Mr Justice Butterfield, were told that her conviction was “unsafe” because of “damaging” publicity surrounding her case. Andrews, 29, a former model, had denied stabbing her lover, Lee Harvey, 25, more than 30 times.
Ronald Thwaites, QC, for Andrews, claimed that the trial judge had “seriously under-estimated the risks to a fair trial and to the appearance of fairness created by the pre-trial publicity and by the on-going publicity”.