Rachel Fulstow and her boyfriend Michael Hillier were convicted of the murder of Liam Smith in the United Kingdom
According to court documents Rachel Fulstow had told her partner Michael Hillier that she had been sexually assaulted by Liam Smith, there is no evidence this assault ever took place. Fulstow and Liam Smith had met on Tinder and after a night of sex would meet up for lunch the next day
Michael Hillier would convince Liam Smith to come out of his home where he would be fatally shot and dosed with acid. Fulstow would tell police that Hillier could not stand that she had dated Smith before him
Rachel Fulstow and Michael Hillier would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to life terms
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Rachel Fulstow Case
Rachel Fulstow, 37, of Andrew Drive, was found guilty of the murder of Liam Smith, 38.
Her co-accused, Michael Hillier, 39, who had admitted manslaughter, was also convicted of murder at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester.
Mr Smith was shot in the face and then had acid poured over him outside his home in Wigan, Greater Manchester, on 24 November last year.
Hillier told the court that he and his girlfriend Fulstow both planned to attack Mr Smith after Fulstow claimed he had raped her.
Fulstow, who worked for a property management company, denied knowing her then partner had planned to harm him.
Mr Smith’s family shouted “yes” and “thank you so much” before sobbing and hugging as the jury found both defendants guilty of murder today (Wednesday).
Hillier, who was handcuffed in the dock, stared over at his former partner as the verdicts were returned.
Two jurors appeared tearful after coming back to court after six hours and 44 minutes of deliberations.
The court heard Fulstow met Mr Smith on dating app Tinder and the pair went on a date in York in 2019, when she said they had “non-consensual sex” at a hotel in York.
She did not describe it as rape and said she went for lunch with Mr Smith the following day, the court heard.
In 2021 she began a relationship with Hillier but said he could be verbally abusive and unpredictable and was not happy she had a one-night stand with Mr Smith.
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.
Fulstow, an international travel and tourism management graduate from Leeds Met University, said she was “petrified” to go to police about her boyfriend.
The court heard the couple went on holiday to Jamaica together days after the killing.
Hillier, who told the court he was concerned in the production and distribution of a large-scale cannabis operation, said they had both planned the attack on Mr Smith after Fulstow disclosed she had been “graphically raped” by him.
He 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.”
The public gallery in court was cleared during his evidence as members of Mr Smith’s family reacted to his description of the victim as a rapist.
Judge Maurice Greene told jurors they did not need to decide what happened between Mr Smith and Fulstow.
During his summing up, he said: “As to what really happened on that night we will probably never know and it probably doesn’t matter.”
The court heard Mr Smith was lured out of his house at about 6.40pm by Hillier, who shot him in the face before pouring acid onto his face and body, followed by soda crystals.
Fulstow’s phone showed she had made internet searches Mr Smith’s electrical company and Mitsubishi Shogun cars, like the one used by Hillier and later burned out.
On the morning of the killing, she checked the weather in Wigan, the court heard.
Rachel Fulstow was also found guilty of a charge of perverting the course of justice.
The case was adjourned for sentencing tomorrow
Rachel Fulstow News
A couple who “acted as judge, jury and executioner” have received life sentences for the murder of a Wigan man they accused of rape.
Liam Smith, 38, was shot in the face at point-blank range on 24 November last year by a Sheffield drug dealer, Michael Hillier, 39, who then poured sulphuric acid on his victim in order to “seek justice” for his partner, who claimed Smith had raped her in 2019.
Rachel Fulstow, 37, from York, denied knowing about the attack on Smith until afterwards, when she was too scared to come forward, she said.
Hillier and Fulstow were sentenced at Manchester’s Minshull Street crown court on Thursday to a minimum of 33 and 30 years respectively for plotting and carrying out the murder.
Judge Greene described it as a “brutal and cold-blooded” murder. “It was decided between you; you would exact your own vengeance,” he told them. “The two of you decided to act as judge, jury and executioner.”
Addressing Fulstow, Greene said it was “almost incomprehensible” that she acted the way she did. “Whatever happened between you and Liam Smith can never be justification for what you and Michael Hillier did.”
As they were led from the dock, shouts of “monsters” and “scum” could be heard from the public gallery. Smith’s family said they had been devastated by his murder and the accusation levelled against him.
His sister Gemma read a victim impact statement before the sentencing. She said: “To ever refer to Liam as my brother does not do him justice. He was my rock, the one constant person in life who had my back. We always looked out for each other no matter what. The one person I could depend on.
“This murder has absolutely broken me. He was such a kind-hearted soul and would literally do anything for anyone. He would literally give the shirt off his back.”
She added: “It’s inhumane. No family should have to go through this. Liam was robbed not only of his life, but his dignity. On every single level, our lives have been destroyed.
“I love you so much, Liam, and always will. You did not deserve this. I’m so, so sorry.”
During the trial, the court heard how Hillier and Fulstow went on holiday to Jamaica together in the days after the killing, leaving police to piece together what had happened to Smith in a case involving what they described at the time as a “sickening display of violence”.
After two dozen house searches and numerous public appeals, the couple were tracked down and arrested in January this year.
DCI Gina Brennand, of Greater Manchester police’s major incident team, described the case as “a proper whodunnit from the start”.
“I had a victim that we knew nothing about,” she explained. “No witnesses, no suspects, no weapon, no motive, and very little evidence to go on.”
She said her thoughts were with Smith’s family. “They will never ever get over this tragedy, nor should they be expected to, and the actions of Michael and Rachel were nothing short of despicable.”
