Liam Smith: Woman unaware of Tinder date killing, jury hears

A woman has told a jury she did not know her new boyfriend was about to shoot and attack with acid a Tinder date she had a "one-night stand" with.

Rachel Fulstow, 37, said the first she knew Liam Smith, 38, had come to harm was when her boyfriend Michael Hillier, 39, turned up at her house in York after the fatal attack.

His body was found near his home in Shevington, Wigan, on 24 November.

Mr Hillier, of Sheffield, and Ms Fulstow, of York, both deny murder.

Mr Smith had been lured from his home 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 was declared dead at the scene.

His murder was allegedly prompted by a "one-night stand" between him and Ms Fulstow, at a York hotel in 2019, which angered her new boyfriend Mr Hillier - who she met more than a year later, the trial has heard.

Mr Hillier has admitted the manslaughter of Mr Smith but denies murder along with Ms Fulstow, who denies helping her boyfriend carry out the murder plot.

The jury heard Mr Hillier was "led to believe" the one-night stand was rape.

Ms Fulstow, giving evidence from the witness box in her defence, said she met Mr Smith through Tinder and he travelled to York to meet up in September 2019.

She said they went out and got drunk and they ended up having sex but she said it was not consensual.

Michael Hayton KC, defending, asked her why she went for lunch with him the next day. Ms Fulstow said she did not regard the episode as rape and would not call it that.

She said: "He apologised, we spoke about it and I accepted that and we carried on.

"It was non-consensual but that is not the word [rape] I have used or have ever used. I just wanted to forget about it."

About 15 months later, she met Mr Hillier on the dating app Hinge, the court heard.

But she said there were problems in their relationship, with Mr Hillier being verbally abusive, moody, unpredictable and had mental health issues.

He was also a heavy user of diazepam, she said, and was not happy she had the one-night stand with Mr Smith as this was "not classy" and it was something he kept bringing up.

But Ms Fulstow, an international travel and tourism management graduate from Leeds Met University who also worked for a property management company, said she had no knowledge Mr Hillier was planning to harm Mr Smith.

The first she knew was when Mr Hillier turned up at her home after Mr Smith's death, she said.

Mr Hayton asked her: "We know you did not contact the police to tell them about the violence Mr Smith had been subject to. Why not?"

Ms Fulstow replied: "Because I was terrified of telling the police. Because I was petrified. Of Mike."

Mr Hayton continued: "Were you involved in the killing of Liam Smith?"

Ms Fulstow replied: "No."

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

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

The trial continues.

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