A WOMAN and her ex-boyfriend have today been found guilty of murdering a man in an acid attack after she claimed he'd raped her.
Liam Smith, 38, was shot in the face before having chemicals poured over him while he was outside his own home in Wigan, Greater Manchester, last year.
The horror attack unfolded after Rachel Fulstow, 37, told her then-boyfriend, Michael Hillier, 39, that Liam had raped her on a Tinder date.
The pair have today been convicted of murder.
Liam's grieving family shouted "yes" and "thank you so much" as the monster couple were handed their conviction.
Hillier had admitted manslaughter but denied murdering the electrician.
The 39-year-old told Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court he and Fulstow both planned to attack Liam.
However, she denied knowing her then-partner had even planned to undertake the attack.
The court heard how Fulstow and Liam had gone on a Tinder date in 2019, and she claimed they had "non-consensual sex" at a hotel in York.
The woman did not describe it as rape, and said the pair went for lunch the following day.
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Two years later Fulstow and Hillier started dating.
She later claimed he was verbally abusive, unpredictable and was not happy she 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 Hillier.
The sick couple then went on holiday to Jamaica in the days after the horror attack.
However, Hillier told a different version of events.
He claimed the pair had planned the attack together after Fulstow said she had been "graphically raped" by him.
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."
As to what really happened on that night we will probably never know and it probably doesn't matter.
The court also heard how Hillier was heard saying in a secret jail recording how he'd wanted Liam "to suffer".
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."
The court also heard how Liam had been lured out of his house not long before 7pm on November 24, 2022.
CCTV showed him driving by, and wandering the streets with a hooded jumper on.
Hillier then shot him in the face before horrifically pouring acid onto his face and body – before he also poured on soda crystals.
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.
On the morning of the killing, she checked the weather in Wigan, the court heard.
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Fulstow was also found guilty of a charge of perverting the course of justice.
The pair will be sentenced tomorrow.
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