TRACEY ANDREWS, who was jailed for life for murdering her fiancé, whom she claimed was killed by a “road rage” attacker, went to the Court of Appeal yesterday in an attempt to have her conviction ruled unsafe because of adverse media coverage.
TRACEY ANDREWS, who was jailed for life for murdering her fiancé, whom she claimed was killed by a “road rage” attacker, went to the Court of Appeal yesterday in an attempt to have her conviction ruled unsafe because of adverse media coverage.
Andrews, 29, denies she stabbed Lee Harvey after a row near their home in Worcestershire, but was found guilty by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court in July 1997. He had been stabbed more than 30 times in the face, neck and back.
At the appeal her counsel, Ronald Thwaites, QC, said that by the time of the trial - six and a half months after the murder - there was “no juror in the country who had not heard of the case”.
The former model and barmaid, who is serving her sentence at Bullwood Hall prison, Essex, was present during the hearing but spoke only to confirm her name. Mr Thwaites told the court: “Her name became synonymous with unmitigated wickedness, cunning and duplicity in the public mind.”
During her trial, the prosecution case was that Andrews attacked Mr Harvey, 25, with a knife, which she later tried to conceal, before concocting a story that a road rage attacker had killed him.
Mr Thwaites said that the trial judge had failed to recognise how many details of the case, and of Andrews's personal life, were in the public domain. Particularly damaging were newspaper reports alleging that Andrews had a history of violence towards former boyfriends. “He seriously underestimated the risks to a fair trial, and to the appearance of fairness, created by the pre-trial publicity and by the ongoing publicity, especially in the locality from which the jury panel was chosen,” he said.
Mr Thwaites said that a verdict of manslaughter on the grounds of provocation, due to Harvey's violence during the relationship, should have been returned.
David Crigman, QC, for the Crown, rejected claims that Andrews had been unfairly portrayed by the press, saying the reports had weighed heavily in her favour. Andrews had used the media to proclaim her innocence and to appeal for witnesses to the fictitious road rage attack.
The appeal judges are due to deliver their ruling at an unspecified date in the near future.