A young woman who faced a retrial for the murder of man with a history of domestic violence has been acquitted after a jury heard how she acted in self-defence. Stacey Hyde, 22, was ordered to face a second trial by the director of public prosecutions, Alison Saunders, after the court of appeal quashed her original murder conviction last year.
The appeal court said the conviction was unsafe after new medical evidence showed Hyde had a mental disorder when she killed Vincent Francis.
Lawyers for Hyde, from Wells, Somerset, offered a guilty plea to manslaughter, but Saunders refused and ordered the 22-year-old to be retried for murder. A jury acquitted Hyde on Thursday at Winchester crown court following a three-week trial.
Justice for Women, which took up Hydes case following her conviction, questioned the public interest of putting her through a second trial.
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