A vile killer was caught on CCTV laying in wait for his victim 10 hours before a violent acid attack.
Dad-of-two, Liam Smith was shot in the face and had acid poured over him by Michael Hillier.
The 38-year-old was ambushed outside his home in Wigan, Greater Manchester after Hillier’s then-girlfriend Rachel Fulstow told him that Liam had raped her.
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Footage showed 39-year-old Hillier surveying Liam's home, staying outside the property in a car for 10 hours before the attack.
Wearing a hooded humper, he is then seen shooting Liam in the face and dousing his body in chemicals.
On Wednesday (August 23) both Hillier and Fulstow were handed life sentences, with Hillier ordered to serve a minimum of 33 years behind bars and Fulstow a minimum of 30.
Before Judge Greene sentenced the pair, a member of the public gallery shouted: "Kill yourself" and "Liam will be waiting for you" at the couple, while shouts of 'scum' could be heard in the courtroom.
Liam's devastated family cheered and thanked the judge after the ruling at Minshull Street Crown Court.
Hillier, who admitted manslaughter but denied murdering the electrician, told the court how he and Fulstow had both planned to attack Liam.
But she denied ever knowing her ex had planned an attack.
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Fulstow and Liam had gone on a date in 2019 after meeting on Tinder. She claims they had "non-consensual sex" at a hotel in York and did not describe it as rape, adding the pair went for lunch the following day.
Two years on, Fulstow and Hillier started dating. She later claimed he was verbally abusive and unpredictable and that he was not happy she'd had a one-night stand with Liam
Fulstow claimed she first became aware of the attack when Hillier turned up at her house the following morning and told her. The court heard Fulstow say she was "petrified" to go to cops about him.
In the days after Liam's death in November 2022, the wicked couple went on holiday to Jamaica. But Hillier's version of events sheds a different light on the story.
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He claimed the pair had planned the attack together after Fulstow said she had been "graphically raped" by Liam.
The killer told the jury: "We decided jointly between the two of us that we would deal with the matter ourselves and seek justice ourselves and go down the vigilante route."
Fulstow's phone history showed she had made internet searches of Liam's electrical company and Mitsubishi Shogun cars, like the one used by Hillier and later burned out.
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She also checked the weather in Wigan on the morning of the killing. Judge Maurice Greene told jurors they did not need to decide what happened between Liam and Fulstow.
He said, summing up: "As to what really happened on that night we will probably never know and it probably doesn't matter."
Liam's family shouted “monsters” as the pair were taken down to the cells.
His sister Gemma Smith called Fulstow a “lying, murdering b***h”, adding: “Liam has done nothing wrong. He’s completely innocent.”
In a statement read outside court after the sentencing, Mr Smith’s family said: “His name has been tainted throughout this trial and that wasn’t him. It is not our Liam. He has been denied the chance to publicly clear his name.”
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