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A new BBC documentary investigation examines the case of the so-called killer couple, Michael Hillier and Rachel Fulstow, who were convicted for murdering Liam Smith, a 38-year-old father of two from Wigan. The catch? Rachel was not present at the scene of the crime - she was in a different city altogether and claims that she wasn’t part of the plans at all.
Liam had met Rachel on a Tinder date in 2019. After the date, Rachel said they had 'non-consensual sex' at a hotel and that they went for lunch together the following day. When Rachel and Hillier started a relationship two years later in 2021, he was unhappy that she'd had a one-night stand. Then, in November 2022, Hillier shot Smith in the face outside of his home in Shevington and poured acid over him. Rachel claimed that the first heard of the attack when Hillier turned up at her house the following morning and told her.
Killer Couple: Love On Trial is presented by journalist Layla Wright, who examines the case. The BBC synopsis says: ‘Fulstow, who was not at the scene of the crime, is serving 30 years behind bars but says she was in an abusive relationship and unaware of the plans.’
The documentary presents one core issue: in the eyes of the law, Rachel is a convicted murderer. But if she didn't fire the gun, and if her claims are true, should she spend as long in prison as the man who did? Read on for everything you need to know about the one-part documentary and the real-life case.
Hillier and Rachel met on Hinge in 2021. In a 200-page diary that Rachel wrote while in prison, she said that they fell in love within months. Their first conversation was about their ‘shared good morals’, with Rachel writing that Hillier had listed himself on his dating profile as being ‘honest, loyal and chivalrous’.
‘When you look at this now, she looks like any girl you could know,’ says presenter Layla Wright in the opening of the documentary, which shows pictures and video clips of the couple on holiday in Jamaica, smiling at dinner and posing next to a waterfall. Those pictures were taken less than a week before Liam Smith was killed.
Rachel went on to say that she was in a coercive relationship with Hillier, writing that he regularly pressured her to have sex with him. She claimed that she only found out her boyfriend had murdered Liam when he turned up at her house after the attack, and proceeded to go on holiday with him six days later out of fear - something she later detailed that she didn't want to do, but felt she had to out of fear.
‘I knew not reporting him was morally wrong... but it’s what I had to do to protect myself,’ she wrote. The prosecutors later said that even if she was fearful of him, it would not give her a defence in the circumstances of this particular case.
Reading court documents, Layla Wright explains that Rachel's telephone was used to carry out internet searches regarding ambulance response times and the length of time for a car to burn, prior to the attack taking place. She also looked up Liam’s business and address. However, there was no direct evidence that she had expressed a desire for Liam to be harmed or to explicitly link her to the firearm used in the attack.
Rachel was convicted of murder and perverting the course of justice in August 2023. She is currently being held at HMP Styal, according to The Justice Gap.
In the documentary, Hillier said that it was ‘never the plan to take the life of Liam Smith’. He claimed that it was a 'revenge attack' and said that himself and Rachel decided to go down the ‘vigilante’ route when she'd told him she 'had been raped' by Mr Smith. In the documentary, Rachel’s mother suggested that he was actually angry about the fact she had had a one-night stand with Liam. What actually happened is unclear.
Hillier said that Rachel's allegations about pressuring her into sex were false and said she ‘was categorically not in an abusive relationship’. He claimed that Rachel had lied and manipulated him and then betrayed him, that he thought his actions were honourable, and that he ‘couldn’t see past his partner’s own want for justice’.
In 2023, Hillier was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 33 years in prison. He is currently at HMP Frankland.
The documentary is currently available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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Chiara Wilkinson is the Deputy Multiplatform Editor of ELLE UK, looking after the Culture + Life section on the website. She was previously Deputy Editor at Time Out and Senior Digital Editor at ArtReview and has written for British Vogue, The Guardian and Vice, covering arts, culture, wellness and travel. Chiara was named one of PPA’s 30 Under 30 awards and was shortlisted for Best Features Writer at the BSME awards.