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| Case file: Tracie Andrews One evening in December 1996, police officers were called to a quiet country lane near the English town of Alvechurch, Worcestershire. They found a blood-spattered Tracie Andrews cradling her dead boyfriend, Lee Harvey. He had suffered almost 40 stab wounds. Andrews claimed that he had been the victim of a road-rage attack, and that when she had tried to stop it, the assailant had beaten her off, then driven away. A couple of days later, Andrews made emotional appeal in the media for the attcaker or any witnesses to come forward. However, the only people to have seen the couple at about the time of attack had noticed no other vehicles. A young girl in the vicinity had heard an argument, but only between a man and a woman. As the police began to make further inquiries, they learned, contrary to Andrews' assertion, that the couple's relationship was somewhat tempestuous, and that once she had attcked him with a bottle. She had also threaten a previous boyfriend with a knife. At this stage, the forensic evidence began to make a major contribution to the investigation. The pattern of bloodstains found on Andrews clothing and at the scene of the crime did not tally with her description of events; a clump of her hair was discovered between Harvey's fingertips; and most telling of all, a blood stain inside one of her boots provided a genetic match with Harvey's DNA. Police had retrieved part of a knife from the crime scene, but had not recoevred the weapon itself; the stain in Andrews' boot was about the size of the blade. They deduced that she had attacked him in a fit of rage, hidden the knife in her boot, and disposed of it later. Andrews was charged with murder and accused of having attempted suicide shortly after Harvey's death because she was guilt-ridden. Andrews maintained her innocence in court, but the jury found her guilty. She received a life sentence. |
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