‘Stacey didn’t want to die. She just didn’t know how to live’

A WOMAN who was cleared of murder at a retrial after spending five years in prison “didn’t want to die but didn’t know how to live”, an inquest into her death has heard.

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Stacey Hyde, who later changed her name to Anastasia Darlison, moved to Cornwall to escape a life of abuse in the hope of starting afresh.

When her conviction for murder was quashed in 2015, she had already spent five years in prison for the fatal stabbing of Vincent Francis, her friend’s violent and abusive boyfriend at the flat they shared in Wells.

An inquest into her death held in Truro heard of the incredible challenges the 32-year-old faced throughout her life. Ms Hyde not only had a difficult childhood but was sent to prison at 17 for killing her friend's boyfriend.

After five years in jail, and with the help of a campaign by Justice for Women, she won the right to a retrial and was eventually cleared of murder having convinced a jury that her act had been one of self-defence. She was released immediately.

The hearing was told how Ms Hyde, who was born in Southmead, Bristol, found it difficult to cope with life outside the prison system and she fell prey to others who abused her. She became an alcoholic and also used heroin and cocaine and would be injected with drugs by others.

Diagnosed with PTSD in prison, Ms Hyde had a history of bulimia nervosa, hepatitis C, kidney failure and drinking alcohol to excess. Hoping for a better life, Ms Hyde moved first to St Austell before settling in Mullion near Helston.

In a moving tribute read out in court on her behalf and also on behalf of Stacey’s mum Diane, her aunt Julie Hyde, said: “At 17 she killed a man and was convicted of murder and was sentenced to spend a minimum of eight years in prison.

“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. She suffered from bulimia too.”