TRACIE Andrews's account of a road rage-style attack in which she says her fiancé was stabbed to death contained vital “missing minutes”, a murder trial jury was told yesterday.
This unexplained period, as Lee Harvey lay dying, was used by Andrews as “thinking time” to invent an explanation for a crime she had committed herself, Birmingham Crown Court was told. David Crigman, QC, prosecuting, described Andrews as a deceitful woman and a liar with a “vile and vicious” temper that exploded on the night of Dec 1 last year.
Andrews, from Alvechurch, Hereford and Worcs, denies murdering Mr Harvey, 25, and says he was killed by an unidentified motorist in a roadside attack. Andrews denied she stabbed Mr Lee with a penknife after they had argued. She could not explain the discrepancy between her timing of the incident and witness statements, saying she was in shock at the time.
Andrews said that the attack, which took place in Cooper's Hill, near Alvechurch, was over quickly, lasting no more than five to 10 minutes. But Mr Crigman said there was a period of between 17 and 19 minutes that could not be accounted for in Andrews's statement, during which she did not attempt to raise the alarm.
He said if she had not been guilty she would have been up “the lane like greased lightning, wouldn't you?” Mr Crigman said Andrews was coming to terms with the effects of her temper and concocting a story during that time.
The trial continues.