Trial Sentencing and Family Impact

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Build's new palladium, Obsidian, and blue cards turn your spending into flexible rewards that you can redeem with top airlines, hotels, and more. Apply at joinbuilt dot com slash Acast J Oi N bLT d. com slash A cast Terms and limitations apply Subject to approval and eligibility, Bilt cards are issued by ColumnN A, member FDIC pursuant to license from Mastercard International Incporated ACAS powers the world's best podcasts Here's a show that we recommend I'm Monica Regel, nutritionist, author, and host of the Nutrition Diva podcast We dig into the questions that you are actually asking if it's okay to drink coffee on an empty stomach whether it's possible to retrain your sweet tooth, which ultra processed foods you might actually want to include in your diet? we take a closer look at diet trends. sketchy claims and track down the science so that you can feel more confident about what's on your plate. New episodes are released every Wednesday. Find Nutrition diva on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening, and be sure to follow or subscribe so you don't miss a single episode ACast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere Acast d. com In december two thousand nine, a sixty three year old woman was brutally murdered inside her own home in a high rise block in Cranhill Glasgow on Christmas Day Hannah Smith had spent the afternoon exactly how she always did. P, watching TV Keeping in touch with family and looking forward to seeing her granddaughters later that evening. When she failed to answer a door, it was assumed she hadd simply drifted off for the night Nobody could have imagined what had really happened behind that locked front door At first, attention fell on a neighbor who'd been pestering Hannah in the days leading up to Christmas A man who'd crossed the line from friendship into something far more uncomfortable. police began to piece together Hannah's final movements and examine the evidence inside her flat, a much darker truth began to emerge One that pointed in a very different direction In this episode of British Murders withith Stuart Blues, we're discussing the murder of Hannah Smith It's a case involving a shocking investigation that uncovered betrayal violence, and a killer who had been welcomed into the victim's home many times before Before we begin, please take a moment to follow the show on your podcast platform of choice. It's a free and simple way to support British murders and it helps the show reach a wider audience. Ratings and reviews are always hugely appreciated, and if you want ad free episodes, early access and a range of exclusive content, you can support the show further at patreon dot com forward slash British murders and join in one of my tiers I want to mention something important at the start of this episode before we get into the actual story. Because this one was actually requested by a member of Hannah's family great niece, Kelly. And when she reached out to me, the reason she gave for wanting me to cover the store rate really stuck with us She said I feel my lovely aunt's story deserves to be told Especially now as the woman who took her life is likely to be free again so soon It's not every week that a family member reaches out asking for a case to be covered But it does happen. And it really hits home that there are people out there living with the loss of a loved one whose story has or sometimes hasn't been covered on a podcast Behind every case we talk about here on British murders behind every headline, court report and archive clipping There's a real person at the center of it all. and surviving loved ones who are also victims themselves. As for Hannah Smith, the person at the heart of this story She was someone who mattered deeply to the people around her someomeone whose absence is still felt many years later Even now, her famil still speak about her with a huge amount of love There's a real warm there you can feel straight away. So with that little bit of context set, Today, we're telling Hannah's story And it's with her that will start Hannah Smith had been born Hannah Curry on december twenty first, nineteen forty six, just four days before Christmas and just over a year after the end of the Second World War She grew up in Queensley in Glasgow's East End with her parents Marion and Robert Curry Queenslely sat right next to Cranhill and formed part of the wider Easter House district It was one of those classic Glasgow housing schemes built after the war, with rows of homes, strong communities, shops and schools where everyone knew each other. The original estate itself was demolished in the early to mid nineteen nineties, and it's since turned into an industrial estate when Hannah was growing up, it was very much home. She was the youngest of five children Her older siblings were Hugh. James, Marion and Alexander And the family had already experienced heartbreak long before Hannah's own life was cut short because Alexander tragically took his own life in the nineteen seventies or possibly early eighties By all accounts, Hannah was especially close to her mum Marion, who was known to the family and her friends more affectionately as Minnie The two of them add a proper close bond. They weren't just a mother and daughter of them too Pals Over the years, Hannah would move in and out of her mum's home depending on what was going on in her life And they stayed close right up until Marion passed away in nineteen ninety six. Her dad Robert had died five years earlier in nineteen ninety one So it was a tough old time for the siblings, I'm sure But back in the day, people remembered Hannah and Marion as a proper double act There always seem to be tea on tap biscuits getting passed around constantly And they had great patter always making other people laugh They'd head off to the Bingo together and spend hours putting the world to rights Even so That's not to say they never clashed heads from time to time One family memory really sums them up and it's one Hannah's great niece mentioned in an email, which provided most of the background detail you're hearing regarding Hannah's family life around once and found both Hannah and Marion sat in the living room with towels wrapped around their heads Wondering what on eararth they were doing It turned out they'd had an argument that somehow escalated into a full blown Food fight Then one of them, depending on who was telling the story called strawberry jam Over the other's head By the end of it, both of them had jam in the hair and were laughing while trying to blame each other. Now seemed to be who Hannah was A warm, funny and lively Glasgow Lassse who you'd seldom see without a huge smile adon in her face you are vibrant Fun loving friendly And go on with everyone She'd married in her early twenties, but not much is known publicly about her husband. other than his surname was Smith and that he later passed away making Hannah a widow There's some suggestion he may have been from the Bristol area But what we do know for sure is that they had two children together a son called Andrew and a daughter called Trresa. Andrew eventually moved out to Bristol himself when he was in his early twenties, but he and his mum stayed close spoke on the phone nearly every weekend But like with so many other people, life wasn't always kind to Hannah. struggled with alcoholism for years. The battle became even harder after the death of Tace in roughly two thousand two After experiencing such a loss, it's not exactly difficult to understand why she turned to the drink Tracy had gone through a rough patch in her late teens and became involved with drugs and other drug users. For a while, she'd managed to turn things around, getting engaged to a decent bluck and becoming a muma' self to two young daughters Things looked like they were heading in the right direction But some of her old friendships, ones which serve no purpose but to drag her back down to the depths of addiction Sadly stad around As a result, traces slip back into that dark world and lost her life after oversing One of the people Hannah blamed more than anybody for a daughter's death was a woman called Amanda Nicole. Nicole was from Lamhill on the north side of Glasgow and had lived a chaotic and deeply troubled life herself She'd become pregnant at just fifteen and had struggled with drink and drugs from a young age In two thousand one, when she was just nineteen, Nicool survived a vicious murder attempt after being attacked in a run flat with a concrete slab. She suffered a serious brain injury. atch to her face and skull and multiple other injuries Doctors carried out emergency brain surgery that lasted four hours And somehow, pulled through Afterwards, she received a criminal injuries compensation payout of sixty thousand pounds. callall it one hundred fifteen thousand in today's money when adjusted for inflation accccording to a former partner Money quickly disappeared soon line in the pockets of heroin and crack cocaine dealers Her ex later said he'd begged Nicole to put some money aside for their children But instead, she spent a lot over the course of a three month drug binge Her addiction spiraled because of that, to the point where she later turned to sex work to fund it She also became completely estranged from her son and daughter with the children's father eventually getting residency through the courts He also described frightening violent incidents which occurred during their time together including her pulling a knife on him on more than one occasion To bring the story back to Hannah, she truly believed Nicole had played a part in Tracy relapsing. were still She believed Nicole may have even provided Trereset with the very drugs that killed her. Yet despite all of that Despite blaming Nicool for her daughter's death, Hna to help her That says a lot about the sort of person she was If Nicool turned up needing food Canner would try and sort something if she needed support. Han of listened Sometimes she'd even hand over a bit of money which was often the main thing Nicole wanted from Hannah Maybe part of her felt a sort of responsibility to Nicole because of Tracer Perhaps she just didn't want to see another person lose their life the same way her daughter had, and hopope Nicole could still turn things around But as Nicool's addiction worsened, Hannah saw less and less of her And to be fair, by then, Hannah was carrying enough trauma herself She dealt with anxiety and she also struggled with agrophobia sometometimes finding it really difficult to leave a flat Even so, she remained close with her family, especially her two granddaughters There meant the world toour She also remained close to her sister and two surviving brothers, as well as her sister in law Janet, known as Jenny who was married to Hannah's brother Hugh. By december two thousand nine, Hannah was living alone on the fourth floor of a high rise flat on Sutra Place in Cranhill. Tranhill is an inner city area of Glasgow that had a reputation of poverty, crime and drug problems. Unlike a lot of Glasgow estates, it could feel rough around the edges a bit appears to have been redeveloped in recent years. I've never been myself, so I have no idea what it's like. The housing scheme, as it was at the time, was still where Hannah called home back then And in the weeks leading up to Christmas that year, there was another issue brewing within the high rise A man living next door had become a regular part of Hannah's life. Round and check in on her Niiped to the shops if she needed anything and would often bring her alcohol They'd sit in and watch Telly together which provided Hannah with some much needed company. To her, it was a meaningful friendship and nothing more him It was something he wanted to take further He wanted more than to just be mates and had been pestering Hannah for a physical relationship for some time That's something she had no interest in though. Hannah mentioned it to some of her family members and seemed genuinely upset by it, and the pair had fallen out not too long before Christmas about the whole situation Some sources said they fell out a few days before, others said up to three weeks before the big day At the time, it probably felt like one more uncomfortable situation to deal with and nothing more But looking back now Those tensions in the lead up to Christmas two thousand nine would take on a much darker significance Hanah had been trying to keep to her usual routine at the time And one of the last confirmed sightings of her was at Cranhill Post Office Even with the winter weather turning nastair She'd made the effort to head out People in the post office knew her well as she'd been going there for years and was a familiar face And in a way, that small trip out would become one of those heartbreaking details afterwards Because nobody knew it, but it' be the last time they saw her alive. We're just gonna take a quick break here. When we return, we'll jump straight into this story's main timeline. See you soon. Qion, When was the last time a display ad changed your mind Now think about the last time a friend told you about something they loved. Different feeling, right? That's how podcast advertising works A host who's built real trust with their audience talks about your brand in their own words in their own voice. It doesn't interrupt the experience. It's part of it. With ACast, you can access the world's largest podcast marketplace. Choose the right shows, the right audiences, the right format. thenen watch the data tell you it worked. You're not buying impressions You're buying influence. Learn more by visiting acast d. com slash advertise Welcome back. Right. Let's get straight into that main timeline Christmas dayay itself had started off quietly. Hannah's sister in law Jenny gave her a customary call as she did every year. It hadd become a bit of a tradition between them to sing Christmas carols to each other down the phone And that year was no different. Jenny sang jingle bells and Hannah joined in It was one of those lovely family moments we all experienced to some degree Nothing dramatic or unusual. Christmas one hundred one And Hannah sounded cheerful as she always did She was especially looking forward to seeing her granddaughters later that evening By then, they were teenagers, around thirteen or so present Hanakku gets would be to see their excited faces. call with Jenny ended, Hannah said she was gonna settle on the couch and watch the tellle which was, as expected for her. She had a quiet nighting to look forward to with the TV on and maybe a wee drink or two beside her. She mentioned she'd be watching East Enders that night If you remember that Christmas episode in two thousand nine, it was the one where Archie Mitchell was murdered in the Queen Vic Millions were watching And while all that drama played out on screens across the country Something horrific was unfolding inside Hannah's flat Later that evening, her granddaughters arrived as planned and knocked on the door But to their surprise, there was no answer At first, he thought she may have simply drifted off to sleep, which wouldn't have exactly been unusual So they left her to it and headed home, planning to try again the next day On booxing day, they came back to the flat, but once again there was no answer to their knocks They were getting worried at that point because their gran knew they were coming and wouldn't ordinarily miss the chance to be in their company for the world But they were young and didn't really know what to do beyond telling their dad At the same time, Hugh and Jenny had also been trying to ring Hannah. but were equally as unsuccessful in their contact attempts By december twenty seventh, Hannah's granddaughters had contacted Hugh And at that point, Ian and his brother James decided enough was enough and headed straight to Sitra place. door and got no reply, just like everyone before them And there was no way of getting inside. Q later said that by then, he'd already got a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach Call it sibling instinct He feared something bad had happened to his sister. But at worst, he thought it might be a death due to natural causes or something Hannah had been struggling with stomach ulcers at the time So Hugh feared she may have collapsed alone in the flat and passed away Police were soon informed of the situation And on the Monday, december twenty eighth Officers from Strathclyde Police arrived at the high rise at around six twenty PM Qgh and James stood nearby as officers forced entry using an enforcer or battering ram And Hugh would never forget what happened next The door swung open with a loud bang. It was immediately clear that something terrible had happened inside those four walls. Blood everywhere splattered across the hallway walls and beyond The officers quickly moved the brothers back and called for further support as they didn't want them to see the devastation inside Ambulance crews were soon summoned, as were additional officers and forensic teams By then, Hugh and James already knew the harrowing truth of what had happened Hannah Smith had been murdered in an unbelievably violent attack during which she suffered forty five stab wounds in total. There were slashes across her body. Her throat had been cut And even the backs of her legs and her ankles had been slashed indicating her attacker had done their utmost to ensure she could not escape the onslaught The largest wound beneath her throat was subsequently deemed to be the fatal injury based on the post Martin results Investigators later established that the attack had begun in the living room And at some point, Hannah had tried to get away They knew that because blood trails showed the violence had continued into the hallway as she attempted to escape And then somehow it ended back in the living room where she was left to die on the floor This was a small frail woman who was all alone in what should have been the safety of her own home on Christmas Day She never stood a chance Afterwards, a killer locked the front door and took Hannah's keys on the street word spread fast Police immediately began door to door inquiries throughout the tower block Every flat was due to be visited, ensuring all possible clues were followed up Detective Chief Inspector Ian Cunningham told residents they had not yet established a motive but reassured everyone they were doing all they could to catch whoever had done this He described it publicly as a sustained prolonged and vicious attack while also making a direct appeal He said the attacker may well have been bloodstained and urged anyone with suspicions to come forward rather than protect somebody Prols were sent into the area to reassure worried locals because the people of Cranhill were genuinely shaken by what had gone on post office, the owner couldn't believe what it was hearing He'd known Hannah for around twenty years and described her as a lovely woman who always stopped to speak with him He remembered commenting only days earlier on how good it was to see her managing to get out in such rough weather adding that Hannah had become more withdrawn after Tracy died and that people often helped her out with her shopping Nobody could get the head round it But within Hannah's own family, suspicion landed very quickly on one person a neighbor The man living next door who'd been pestering Hannah for something more than mere friendship Everything seemed to fit putting it under immense pressure and they'd very recently fallen out to Hannah's loved ones, he seemed the obvious culprit. But he had a strong alibi pololice soon ruled him out and moved on to other potential leads By all accounts, he was devastated by what had happened And even though he wasn't responsible, investigators were convinced Hannah had known whoever came through that door. ret selective about who she opened the door to and let inside So the logic of her knowing a killer made a lot of sense In those first few days, the police were looking closely at several people And before long There was a major breakthrough. On New Year's Eve, two thousand nine Officers arrested twenty eight year old Amanda Nicool The very woman Hannah had tried to help. The same woman Hannah blamed for her daughter Tracy's death That sudden arrest came after one of Hannah's neighbors told police she'd seen Nicole entering the flat on Christmas dayay So she was likely the last person to see Hannah alive Forensics then confirmed her involvement with Hannah's death by linking Nicole directly to the scene because Hannah's blood was found on her clothes and trainers. The arrest stunned the family. Be some of them knew who Nicole was and how often she and Hannah were in contact due to the link to Tracer. But suddenly the pieces started falling into place You see, Hannah had kept Trace's engagement ring after she died Not want to care about sentimental value over monetary Nicool had reportedly tried to steal it more than once over the years in an attempt to sell it. The likelihood was that Nicole may well have gone to the flat looking for money or the ring itself though in the end, the ring wasn't taken Nicole stole what she could after killing Hannah which amounted to a whopping twenty pounds in cash and some cigarettes. She also took with her the murder weapon, which was a knife from Hannah's own kitchen And only after the arrest did the family learn the true extent of what Hannah went through? Here's what the police believed happened inside the flat At aroundround ten PM on Christmas D dayay Nicole had gone to visit her dad who lived in the same block of flats as Hannah By then, Nicool had consumed a large amount of drink and drugs, so her inhibitions were drastically lowered It doesn't excuse what she did, but it's important to note. After seeing her dad, Nicole then made her way to Hannah's flat Precisely what happened next is not one hundred percent known whether Hannah opened the door without realizing who it was because she wasn't wearing her glasses or she thought it was her granddaughter's, or she knowingly let her in No one can say for certain We do know that our glasses were later found folded neatly on the coffee table though But regardless of how or why she managed to gain entry Once Nicole was inside, Things quickly turned. Police believed she asked Hannah for money as she had done so many times before and Hannah's family still strongly suspected Tracy's ring was part of the motive Argument soon broke out between the pair and Hannah told Nicole to get out at one point reportedly shouting that she was nothing but a junker Nicole then walked into the kitchen. to b knife returned to where Hannah was and launched the prolonged attack. later using the excuse of her being high on drugs at the time as to why she'd done it. When it was over She simply store what she could Tana's front door behind her and disappeared into the night. Soon after her arrest, she appeared at Glasgow's Sheriff court, but offered no plea or declaration Upon its conclusion, she was remanded in custody for further examination For Hannah's family, there was some relief that police had found a suspect But it came with another awful reality This hadn't been a random attack by a stranger or a would be robbery gone badly wrong Hannah had spent years trying to help the very person who ended her life in such brutal fashion The same person she blamed for her daughter's death was now responsible s her own The case eventually reached the High court in Glasgow, where Nichol stood trial before Judge Lord Turnbull By then, Hannah's family had already spent months carrying the weight of what had happened I can't begin to imagine that the shock grief and the constant replaying of the previous Christmas day in their minds on repeat During the proceedings, Nicole did at least admit to murdering Hannah whichich isn't much in the grand schema of things, but it's something. The reason she gave for doing so, however Chillin She said she'd been carrying feelings of hatred towards Hannah because she blamed her for Trace's death and that anger had built up over time On that fateful night, it finally spilled over into deadly violence Ct it emerged that Nicool used the knife to cut Hannah's throat not once, but twice before proceeding to stab her over and over again