A Truro inquest heard Stacey Hyde lived a troubled life before her death – suffering from alcohol and drug abuse as well as a several mental health problems after clearing her name
A young woman who was cleared of murdering her friend’s boyfriend after spending years behind bars was found dead not long after clearing her name. Stacey Hyde was jailed aged 17 for stabbing Vincent Francis, the partner of her friend Holly Banwell, to death, and spent five years behind bars before she won the right to a retrial thanks to tireless efforts from campaign group Justice for Women.
She was eventually cleared of the murder after convincing a jury she had acted in self-defence and released immediately, with jurors hearing a call from Ms Banwell telling police her boyfriend was “smashing, beating up my friend” as the three drank at her flat in Wells, Somerset. But an inquest opened into her death in Truro, Cornwall, heard that, despite winning her freedom, she “didn’t want to die but didn’t know how to live”.
The inquest heard that Ms Hyde later changed her name to Anastasia Darlison and moved to Cornwall from Bristol to start fresh and escape a life of abuse. After her release, she found it difficult to cope with life outside prison, and fell prey to abusers, eventually becoming an alcoholic who used heroin and cocaine, and was injected with drugs by others, DevonLive reports.
She was diagnosed with PTSD while spending time behind bars, and had a history of other mental health conditions, including bulimia nervosa, hepatitis C, kidney failure and drinking alcohol to excess.
Her aunt Julie Hyde read out a statement from her mum, Diane, telling how Ms Hyde didn’t “cope well” following her release from prison. She 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.”
Mrs Hyde said that, despite living in Greece, she was close with her niece, and told the inquest “her life was a train wreck” when she lived in the UK. She added: “She was the sweetest, kindest, most generous and funniest person I knew. Stacey didn’t want to die. She just didn’t know how to live.”
Ms Hyde was admitted to hospital 11 times in the years before she died on April 11, 2024, with her past experience with bulimia nervosa giving rise to a history of electrolyte imbalances. She had suffered two previous cardiac arrests before her death.
She died after a horror 48-hour vomiting bout and complaints that she couldn’t keep her fluids down, with tests at the Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske in Truro after a consultation with her doctor finding her electrolyte levels were all over the place. Her potassium levels – imbalances of which can cause nausea, collapsing and cardiac arrest – were also off balance.
Ms Hyde was found unresponsive after her admission to A&E, and, despite desperate efforts from doctors who administered CPR for 30 minutes, she was declared dead. Her cause of death was recorded as bulimia nervosa.