The Accused Beyond Reasonable Doubt: What happened to Stacey Hyde after teen wrongly jailed for murder tragically died age 32
Stacey changed her name and fled to Cornwall but she struggled to copeThe Accused: Beyond Reasonable Doubt tonight features the real life case of Stacey Hyde, who was wrongly jailed for murder in her teens.
Stacey was convicted of stabbing to death her friend Holly Banwell’s violent and abuse boyfriend, Vincent Francis, as he attacked her.
In a harrowing moment, viewers of the Channel 4 documentary will hear Stacey’s terrified screams in a 999 call.
Yet the “vulnerable” 18-year-old was sent to Holloway Prison, banged up alongside rapists and paedophiles, and lived in fear for five years.
Viewers of The Accused: Beyond Reasonable Doubt, will learn that her conviction was eventually quashed.
But it was too late. The damage had been done. By the age of 32, Stacey was dead.
Here’s what happened to Stacey Hyde and her tragic death after she was freed from prison.
The Accused: Beyond Reasonable Doubt’s Stacey Hyde
Stacey’s story is the second to air in the new series of The Accused: Beyond Reasonable Doubt.
Viewers of the documentary will hear how the bubbly teenager had fallen in with the wrong crowd in her home city of Wells, Somerset.
She struck up a friendship with local hairdresser, Holly, and would often be found in the pub. Holly’s boyfriend Vincent, 34, was violent towards Holly.
When the girls returned to Holly’s house drunk one night in 2009, Vincent began attacking her. Stacey, then 17, stepped in to defend her friend and Vincent turned on her, punching and pulling her hair.
Holly made a desperate 999 call and Stacey’s shrieks of fear could be heard loud and clear. Panicked Holly told the call handler: “My boyfriend is smashing, beating up my friend!”
She then says: “No, Stacey put that down!”
Stacey stabbed Vincent 17 times and was charged with murder. A jury later dismissed her self defence claims and she was jailed for life with a minimum of nine years.
When was Stacey Hyde freed from jail?
Stacey’s aunt, Julie Hyde, worked tirelessly to overturn Stacey’s conviction. She enlisted the help of charity Justice For Women and, thanks to its dogged legal team, Stacey’s murder conviction was eventually quashed.
Co-founder and human rights lawyer, Harriet Wistrich, had ordered a psychiatric report. It found Stacey’s responsibility for attacking Vincent was diminished due to undiagnosed ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).
A retrial was ordered and, in June 2015, the second jury found Stacey not guilty of murder. She was finally free to go.
Viewers will tonight see 23-year-old Stacey’s first few giddy steps of freedom as she left Winchester Crown Court, with balloons tied to her wrists.
“It’s a dream. People believed in me. I’ve got my family back!” she says, clearly in disbelief.
But although she appeared to have been given her life back, traumatised Stacey struggled to cope in the real world.
How did Stacey Hyde die?
Following her release from prison, Stacey initially began campaigning for women’s rights. She would give talks for Justice For Women about her experience.
But Stacey went missing in 2017, prompting a police appeal. She had herself become a victim of abuse, so later moved to Cornwall and changed her name to Anastasia Darlison.
Her hopes of starting afresh were quashed, though. Stacey’s life spiralled, she became an alcoholic and began using cocaine and heroin. Viewers of The Accused: Beyond Reasonable Doubt will hear that she even turned to prostitution.
Stacey also had a long history with the eating disorder bulimia. She tragically died on April 11, 2024, aged 32.
An inquest later heard Stacey had been admitted to hospital 11 times in the year before her death. On two occasions, she had suffered heart attacks.
Stacey had visited her GP on the day of her death as she had been vomiting for 48 hours. Blood tests confirmed her electrolyte levels were extremely irregular and she was found unresponsive several hours after arriving at A&E.
Medics spent 30 minutes attempting to ressucitate Stacey but she was declared dead. The inquest ruled she died from bulimia nervosa.
Andrew Cox, senior coroner for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, said: “She didn’t cope well after being released and fell in with the wrong crowd and took drugs and alcohol as a way to cope with what happened in her early life.
“Alcohol or drugs were not responsible for her death neither was suicide. In fact she had been looking forward to going abroad to go and visit her aunt in Greece. As such this a death from natural causes.”
When is The Accused: Beyond Reasonable Doubt on?
Stacey Hyde’s tragic story features in The Accused: Beyond Reasonable Doubt on Thursday June 25, 2026. The episode airs at 10pm on Channel 4, with a finish time of 11.05pm.
The documentary will also be available to stream on Channel 4 at the same time. You can also catch up with last week’s episode on Channel 4, which looked at the story of Jason Moore.
Jason, from East London, is currently behind bars serving a life sentence for a murder he insists he did not commit.
Read more: The Accused Beyond Reasonable Doubt: Where is Jason Moore now and who is Abdul Ahmed?
