Woman 'didn't know boyfriend would shoot man she had one night stand with', murder trial hears

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A woman accused of murder told police she did not know her boyfriend was going to shoot and pour acid on a man she had a one-night stand with, her trial has heard.

Father-of-two Liam Smith, 38, was lured out of his home on Kilburn Drive in the village of Shevington in Wigan and blasted at close range with a gun by Michael Hillier.

Hillier, 39, then poured corrosive liquid, probably sulphuric acid, on Liam's face and body, burning away at his flesh, a jury at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester was told.

Mr Smith was then left for dead in the street outside his house, with the chemicals still "fizzing" on his body when he was found shortly after the attack in the early evening of 24 November 2022.

Mr Smith, an electrician, had had a "brief liaison" with Hillier’s co-accused, former nail technician Rachel Fulstow, 37, with a one-night stand in a York hotel in 2019.

When she became Hillier's partner the next year the court he was not happy about the fling and was "led to believe she had been raped", Jason Pitter KC, prosecuting, told the jury.

Both Fulstow, from Andrew Drive, York and Hillier, from Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, deny murder.

Hillier has admitted manslaughter, while Fulstow has pleaded not guilty to the same charge.

She also denies a single count of perverting the course of justice.

Fulstow was initially treated as a witness by police until she was arrested in February.

She was taken to Ashton-in-Makerfield Police Station, Greater Manchester, where a detective told her "things had changed" due to "inconsistencies and further developments" in the investigation.

Fulstow was told she was now under suspicion for joint enterprise murder by assisting or encouraging Hillier to kill Mr Smith, as a result of the sexual encounter a few years earlier.

During one of her police interviews, read out to the jury, Fulstow told detectives: "I did not know Michael was planning or going to do it. What happened, happened.

"I told Michael about what happened, in essence because we were becoming more serious. It was non-consensual.

"It had happened two to three years before.

"Michael wanted me to go to the police, I did not want to at that stage, years later.

"He asked me what the guy was called but I didn’t know that much."

Fulstow said she told Hillier that Mr Smith was from Wigan and had his own business, but he then went on to find out more information about him and she herself Googled him, "out of curiosity".

Fulstow also claimed Hillier would be "verbally abusive" and "belittle" her during their relationship and also told police Hiller would "go on and on and on about the Liam situation.

"He said he was going to confront him and knows where he lives."

The trial continues.