Woman accused of murder denies making killer packed lunch and wishing him luck before acid attack

Granada Reports Tim Scott at Minshull Street Crown Court

A woman who is alleged to have plotted the shooting and acid murder of her Tinder date has denied making the killer a packed lunch and wishing him good luck before the attack.

Rachel Fulstow, 37, is accused of conspiring to kill 38-year-old Liam Smith who she had a one-night stand with in a hotel in York.

She denies murder and said that she only knew Mr Smith had come to harm when her boyfriend Michael Hillier, 39, turned up at her home after the fatal attack.

Speaking in Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester, Fulstow said she was petrified of Hillier, a "significant" drug dealer, so instead lied to detectives investigating the killing.

However, she agreed that she viewed Hillier, a body-builder who she met on a dating app, as an "alpha male" that she viewed as her last opportunity to settle down have children with.

Mr Smith had been lured from his home in the village of Shevington in Wigan, shot in the face then had sulphuric acid poured over him as he lay dying, Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester heard.

The father-of-two, an electrician was declared dead at the scene last November.

The trial heard how Mr Smith's murder was allegedly prompted by a "one-night stand" between him and Fulstow, at a York hotel in 2019, which angered her new boyfriend Hillier, whom she met more than a year later.

The jury heard how Hillier was "led to believe" that the one-night stand was a "non-consensual" sexual encounter, leading to Mr Smith's death.

Louise Blackwell KC, defending Hillier, suggested telephone calls, text messages and searches on her phone showed she was in on the plot to harm Mr Smith.

The jury was shown Fulstow had searched for "How long it takes for a car to burn out?" after Mr Smith died, Ms Blackwell said.

On 4 November, 2022, the court heard, Hillier told Fulstow he was going to "confront" Mr Smith at his home in Wigan.

That morning Fulstow researched ambulance and police response times on her phone and next searched for an adult website.

Ms Blackwell said: "You don't look to be particularly concerned?"

Fulstow responded: "I didn't believe he was going to do it."

The jury also heard how Fulstow searched for the weather forecast in Wigan on the day of the fatal attack.

Police also found 10 images on her phone, close-ups from Google Streetmap, of the view around Mr Smith's home.

Fulstow said she told Hillier during the one-night stand with Mr Smith that they were both drunk, she went back to his hotel room and woke up to find him having sex with her.

She told him to stop, which he did and then he apologised, the whole incident lasting a minute or two.

She said she did not regard the encounter as rape and denied beginning to talk about taking "revenge" with Hillier.

Ms Blackwell said: "He was your knight in shining armour. Your protector."

Fulstow replied: "No. These are his words."

Ms Blackwell then asked Fulstow about the morning Mr Smith was attacked.

She said: "Did you kiss him goodbye? Did you wish him good luck? You even prepared a packed lunch."

Fulstow replied: "No. That did not happen."

Under cross examination by Jason Pitter KC, prosecuting, Fulstow admitted that after the sexual encounter with Mr Smith she stayed the night with him and had lunch with him the next day.

Fulstow agreed she knew Hillier was a drug dealer, who was "flashy" and a show-off, with a "fancy car", using rooms in his Sheffield home to grow and sell cannabis, the "spoils" of which she enjoyed.

He also had "criteria" for women to be his partner that he expected "his women" to comply with, one of which was not to have had a one-night stand, the court heard.

Mr Pitter said: "You must have feared you might lose him. You were worried your chance to settle down and have children were going to disappear?"

Fulstow replied: "Yes."

Hillier has admitted manslaughter but denies murder, along with Fulstow.

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

The trial was adjourned until Friday.