The case of Stacey Hyde, who was convicted of murder as a teenager and later cleared, is featured in the second episode of Channel 4's true crime series The Accused: Beyond Reasonable Doubt, airing Thursday night at 10pm.
What Happened to Stacey Hyde?
In 2009, 17-year-old Stacey Hyde stabbed Vincent Francis, 34, the partner of her best friend Holly Banwell, to death during a drunken fight in his flat in Wells, Somerset. She was arrested and charged with murder, and in 2010 a jury found her guilty, sentencing her to a minimum of eight years in prison.
At the original trial, the jury heard evidence of 27 incidents of domestic violence between Francis and Banwell, and that Francis had been violent towards a previous partner. When police arrived, Stacey said: "He tried to kill me … I had to help Holly."
Was Stacey Hyde Released and Cleared?
After five years in prison, campaign group Justice for Women secured a retrial. At the retrial, the jury accepted that Stacey acted in self-defence and cleared her of murder. She was immediately released. Jurors heard a call from Holly Banwell telling police that her boyfriend was 'smashing, beating up my friend'.
Following her release, Stacey changed her name to Anastasia Darlison and moved from Bristol to Cornwall to start a new life. She struggled with PTSD, bulimia nervosa, hepatitis C, kidney failure, and alcohol and cocaine abuse. She died at age 32 in April 2024, nine years after her release.
Impact and Aftermath
An inquest on May 1, 2025, recorded her cause of death as bulimia nervosa. A statement from her mother Diane read: "After a campaign for her release, she appealed and was found not guilty of murder due to self-defence and was immediately released. She had spent five years in prison and she didn't cope well after her release and turned to a life of prostitution, self-harm, drugs and alcohol." In the years before her death, Stacey was admitted to hospital 11 times, including two cardiac arrests.
Harriet Wistrich, CEO of the Centre for Women's Justice, said: "Many women are convicted of the murder of their partner where, like Stacey, they accept their actions caused the death but maintain that they were not guilty of murder, either because they acted in self-defence or because they were only partially culpable … The law is not fit for purpose when it fails to properly take into account domestic abuse and the structural inequality between men and women."
