Drug dealer and ex-lover jailed for killing Wigan man in gun and acid attack over Tinder date rape claim
A drug dealer and his former girlfriend have been jailed for murdering a father-of-two who was shot in the face and had acid poured on his body.
Michael Hillier tracked down Liam Smith and waited outside his home in Wigan for nearly 10 hours before the attack.
The 39-year-old plotted the assault over a 10-month period with his then girlfriend Rachel Fulstow, 37, who had claimed 38-year-old Mr Smith had raped her after a Tinder date.
Hillier, from Sheffield, has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 33 years in jail after being found unanimously guilty of murder following a six-week trial at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester.
Fulstow will also face life behind bars, with a minimum term of 30 years, plus 18 months for perverting the course of justice, after being found guilty of murder and one charge of perverting the course of justice, after lying to police.
The judge called this a “brutal and cold-blooded murder” and said the pair decided “to exact your own vengeance. The two of you decided to act as judge, jury and executioner”.
The judge added: “You showed no remorse whatsoever.”
Michael Hillier
Rachel Fulstow
Killers went on holiday after brutal murder
During the trial, the court heard Mr Smith was lured out of his house at about 6.40pm on 24 November 2022 by Hillier, who shot him in the face before pouring acid onto his face and body, followed by soda crystals.
The couple then went on a two-week holiday to Jamaica just days after the killing.
When the former lovers returned home, Hillier was arrested and Fulstow was initially treated as a witness.
Police later arrested her as a suspect after she was found to have lied during interviews.
Fulstow’s phone showed she had made internet searches into Mr Smith’s electrical company and Mitsubishi Shogun cars, like the one used by Hillier and later burned out after the murder.
On the morning of the killing, she also checked the weather in Wigan.
Mr Smith’s family shouted “yes” and “thank you so much” before sobbing and hugging as the jury found both defendants guilty of murder on Wednesday.
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Victim Liam Smith
Former couple turned on each other during trial
Hillier, who was handcuffed in the dock, stared over at his former partner as the verdicts were returned.
The trial heard conflicting accounts from the former couple, who turned on each other with different versions of events.
Fulstow had met Mr Smith on a date in York in 2019, the court was told. She said they had “non-consensual sex” at a hotel in the city.
But Fulstow did not describe what happened as rape, she told the trial, and did not report it to the police.
The court heard she went for lunch with Mr Smith the day after the one-night stand.
She began dating Hillier two years later in 2021.
Fulstow said he could be verbally abusive and unpredictable and was not happy she had a one-night stand with Mr Smith.
Hillier, who told the court he was a drug dealer involved in producing and distributing cannabis on a large scale, said he and Fulstow had both planned the attack on Mr Smith.
He claimed Fulstow told him she had been “graphically raped” by Mr Smith.
Hillier, who had admitted manslaughter but denied murder, told the jury: “We decided jointly between the two of us that we would deal with the matter ourselves and seek justice ourselves and go down the vigilante route.”
Fulstow, an international travel and tourism management graduate from Leeds Met University, said she was “petrified” to go to the police about her boyfriend.
She told the court the first she knew of the attack on Mr Smith was when Hillier turned up at her house the following morning and told her.
Two pro-Palestinian demonstrators have thrown red powder on Tower Bridge – just moments before leading runners in the London Marathon went past.
The protesters were arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and remain in custody, said the Metropolitan Police.
A video shared by Youth Demand, which is calling for a trade embargo on Israel, shows two people jumping over a barrier that separates spectators from the race course.
The pair, wearing t-shirts that say “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel”, are then seen standing in the middle of the road on the bridge.
Pic: LNP
They throw red powder in the air as an official marathon car goes past displaying the race time.
A motorbike with a cameraman on board continues along the route, while a second motorbike stops and one of the riders gets off and pushes the pair out of the way, just before the men’s elite runners pass.
Several police officers then jump over the barrier and detain the pair, the footage shows.
There appeared to be no impact on the marathon.
More than 56,000 participants were expected to take part in the 26.2-mile race through the capital.
Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the men’s elite race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s-only world record in two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds.
Assefa beat the previous best of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.
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Pic: LNP
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “At around 10.38am, two protesters from Youth Demand jumped over barriers at Tower Bridge and threw red paint on to the road.
“Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters from the path of the men’s elite race which was able to pass unobstructed.”
The force added that they were “quickly supported by police officers who arrested the protesters on suspicion of causing a public nuisance”.
The Met said the paint “appeared to be chalk-based” and was not expected to “present a hazard to runners yet to pass this point”.
Counter-terrorism police are investigating after an incident involving a crossbow and a firearm left two women injured in Leeds.
Police were called to Otley Road at 2.47pm on Saturday to reports of a “serious incident involving a man seen with weapons”, West Yorkshire Police said.
Officers arrived at the scene to find two women injured – and a 38-year-old man with a self-inflicted injury. All three were taken to hospital, with the man held under arrest, but their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
“Two weapons have been recovered from the scene, which were a crossbow and a firearm,” Counter Terrorism Policing North East said in a statement.
The incident happened on the ‘Otley Run’ pub crawl, with one venue saying it was closed for the evening due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
Officers guard one of the crime scenes
Officers inside the cordon in Leeds
Counter Terrorism Policing’s statement added: “Due to the circumstances surrounding the incident, Counter Terrorism Policing North East have taken responsibility for leading the investigation with the support of West Yorkshire Police.
“Extensive enquiries continue to establish the full circumstances and explore any potential motivation.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described it as a “serious violent incident” and said she was being kept updated by police.
“Thank you to the police and emergency services for their swift response,” she said. “My thoughts are with the victims and all those affected by this attack.”
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