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00:11I'm David Wilson, emeritus professor of criminology, and for over 30 years, I've
00:18investigated the phenomenon of murder and what it is that might motivate someone to kill.
00:27Every murder case is different, but time and again, a deadly pattern emerges of warning
00:34signs and red flags.
00:39In this new series, I investigate some of the UK's most harrowing murder cases to understand
00:48how and why these terrible crimes occur.
00:55This is Murder U.K.
01:09It's a moment that no parent can forget, a call for help from their child.
01:15And for Gary Cunningham Senior, it's the beginning of a tragic story that's going to challenge
01:22our assumptions about vulnerability and violence.
01:32He found me on a Sunday afternoon.
01:35It was in the November.
01:37He says, Dad, can you come and pick me up?
01:40It's November 2019.
01:43It's wet and windy, and Gary Cunningham Junior, aged 29, has been staying with his girlfriend.
01:51When Gary got in the car, he burst out crying, and he says, she's only stabbed me in the arm.
01:57I says, you need to report her.
01:58That woman is dangerous.
02:00He was still trying to play it down.
02:02I feel like that was, he was at his breaking point then.
02:05I've never seen him cry.
02:09Gary's girlfriend is 26-year-old Olivia Labinjo-Halcroft, a young woman who, on the surface, appears
02:18to have everything going for her.
02:20She was awarded a scholarship to a very prestigious school in Solihull.
02:24She's definitely intelligent.
02:26There's no doubt about that.
02:27She was very bright.
02:28She engaged with the activities to the point that she was even on a debating team.
02:32And she did so well that she actually went to university to study politics in 2011.
02:45At Nottingham University, Olivia begins a new chapter.
02:49One that includes academic promise and the early signs of a more complex personal life.
02:57She begins a relationship.
03:01Thomas Hughes is Olivia's new boyfriend, a labourer from her hometown of Birmingham.
03:09The relationship isn't a healthy one.
03:12As Olivia's time in university progresses, it becomes apparent to her friends and people
03:18around her that she's experiencing mental health difficulties.
03:21This could be as a result of the pressures of university, of studying quite an academically
03:27demanding topic.
03:28But also she was in a volatile relationship, which is also likely to have an impact on her
03:33sense of self, her mood and her confidence.
03:42At university, Olivia begins drinking heavily and using cocaine.
03:48More than just student excess, substance misuse becomes both a coping mechanism and a catalyst,
03:56fueling emotional instability and deeper behavioural decline.
04:04In 2013, during her final year at university, Olivia discovers she's pregnant by her then boyfriend,
04:13Thomas Hughes.
04:14Thomas Hughes.
04:15We know that things came to a head for Olivia and she prematurely left university.
04:20And this is when her mother came and took her back home.
04:27Back in Birmingham, Olivia's relationship with Hughes continues.
04:32And in 2014, they have a son, Arthur Labinja Hughes.
04:37But within a year, Olivia is a single mother.
04:42And from the outside, it would appear as if she's in some kind of psychological free fall.
04:48You know, she's a uni dropout, she's a single mum, she's got a history that's patterned by instability.
04:55And those kinds of cumulative traumas can push a person's coping mechanism to the absolute edge
05:05until actually they'll break down entirely.
05:15In a bid to regain control and structure, Olivia joins the army reserves.
05:22The discipline and identity offered by military life could offer a way forward.
05:31Olivia made attempts to change her life.
05:33And this is evidenced by the fact that she actually made Lance Corporal in the army reserves.
05:37But Olivia's growing dependence on alcohol begins to take its toll.
05:43And the young mother soon has her first encounter with the criminal justice system.
05:48We do know that her drinking increased to the point where she was convicted of drink driving
05:53about a year and a half after the birth of her son.
05:56Just months after regaining her licence, Olivia is back before the courts,
06:02once again facing prosecution for drink driving.
06:07Less than ten miles away, Gary Cunningham is living his own life.
06:12But soon his path and Olivia's will collide with devastating consequences.
06:20Gary is charismatic, warm and deeply loved.
06:24But like many young men, his struggles sit just beneath the surface.
06:35Once he got into his teens, he developed Tourette's quite badly.
06:41He was given medication for that.
06:43And he was also diagnosed without ADHD.
06:46As Gary enters his teens, his ADHD and Tourette's is increasingly going to be how other people see him
06:59and how he increasingly sees himself.
07:03And so the once outgoing teen who thrived on attention is increasingly going to try and control his neurodivergence
07:18and mask the person who he really is so as to prevent himself from being judged and isolated.
07:28Sometimes he would have major problems with people obviously, you know, taking the mickey
07:34as you do when you're a teenager to school.
07:36But he tended to cope with it quite well.
07:41He tended to hide a lot of his tics.
07:45Channeling the restlessness that often comes with ADHD, Gary finds focus through action
07:53and throws himself into his hands-on work.
07:56He was pretty handy with his car.
07:59He used to like, you know, working on his car.
08:02And he was very good with electronics as well.
08:05He's got a DJ set upstairs, which he played regular and messed about with regular.
08:10But one of Gary's main passions was his drum and bass.
08:15His room is just litters in all the tickets for venues and events that he's ever been to.
08:21But he loved his music.
08:23Gary loved music so much.
08:25And he loved dancing.
08:30Beyond his teenage years, however, Gary begins dating a local girl and appears to be finding his stride.
08:38He shows signs of stability and is more settled and managing the challenges that once held him back.
08:48In January 2013, Gary and his girlfriend make an announcement to their families.
08:54Around his mid-twenties, his daughter was born.
08:59I think that did kind of settle him down a bit.
09:01Being a good father for Gary means trying to manage his Tourette's.
09:06He was really trying to suppress his tics, which unfortunately led him to other forms of medication rather than take
09:13his doctor's approved medication.
09:15He actually spoke to a health professional when discussing his ADHD and recognised that his binge drinking was becoming worse
09:21and more problematic.
09:23And that's when he tends to use alcohol as a kind of suppressant or even, you know, drugs as well.
09:31That was mainly just drum and bass nights. I think that was the whole, that's what you and your mates
09:36do.
09:36You go out, you have a rave, you take some drugs, you drink a lot and you have a good
09:40night.
09:41The combination of drink and drugs changes his usually friendly personality.
09:47Aged 25, Gary's relationship with his girlfriend takes an ugly turn.
09:55In 2013, Gary was convicted of criminal damage and battery. He assaulted the mother of his child.
10:02We all have a period in our life where we think maybe we would have drank a bit too much.
10:06Gary would probably agree that sometimes maybe he did.
10:18Because I'd warned him many a time about, you know, drink driving.
10:24Never stopped having to go about him, you know, drinking and driving.
10:31But he wouldn't listen to me.
10:36That says at some point you are going to get caught.
10:39In the winter of 2017, he is...
10:42Fortunately enough, they didn't send him to prison.
10:45They probably won a drinking rehabilitation course.
10:57Gary's family hope the sentence will be a turning point,
11:00a chance to confront his addiction and find stability.
11:05Mandated treatment brings structure.
11:08But when vulnerability meets vulnerability, it can also spark risk.
11:14On the same course is 26-year-old Olivia Labinjo-Halcro.
11:20Meeting at a drink driver's course may not have been the best place for them to meet,
11:25because ultimately the thing that they both struggle with is the very thing that brought them together.
11:29Olivia and Gary begin a romantic relationship.
11:34Within weeks, Gary introduces Olivia to his family.
11:39And it's a meeting his father will not forget.
11:45He brought her back one night in June.
11:47And I remember it quite well, actually.
11:48It was a lovely sunny day.
11:51And the pair of them had been drinking.
11:54But I don't think Gary was much worse aware than what Olivia was.
11:58She was quite well intoxicated.
12:00All of a sudden, she turned around to me and says,
12:02I want to marry your son.
12:05And I thought, well, that's a bit odd.
12:08Why would you say that?
12:10You know I want to marry him, don't you?
12:12I says, I don't even know how long you've been together.
12:16How long you've been together?
12:18And she says, long enough, she says.
12:20But I want to be with him the rest of my life.
12:23And I thought that was really, really odd.
12:25Two people are united by pain, but unequipped to handle each other's chaos.
12:32Gary's father sees the warning signs.
12:34But like many on the outside, he can only watch, powerless and hoping he's wrong.
12:45Couldn't make him or tell him.
12:48But I did advise him.
12:49I says, Gary, I says, that woman's not right in the head.
12:53And that was the same night.
12:55I first met her.
12:57And he says, Dad, she's just got mental health issues.
13:01I says, OK, son.
13:03OK.
13:05We'll see what happens.
13:07Deep down in my heart, I knew that it was going to be inevitable.
13:10It was just when it was going to happen.
13:26Gary and Olivia connect through partying, but this is about escape.
13:33In other words, their relationship rather than support.
13:38Although for Gary, Olivia's energy is magnetic.
13:42It's what keeps their relationship together.
13:48Olivia lives with her younger son, Arthur.
13:52And Gary, estranged from his own daughter, takes to the little boy.
13:57Oh, he loved him to bits.
13:58He says, you know, he said he's a great son, Dad.
14:01I says, well, bring him up and, you know, we'll have to meet him one day.
14:05I think for Gary, having that little family unit with Arthur and Olivia,
14:10it did appeal to him.
14:12But nobody could take that place of his daughter.
14:15But for Gary's father, there's one big problem.
14:20The only appeal that I know, as far as I could see,
14:24was that they were both good drinking buddies.
14:27They like drinking, probably drink until the end of the night,
14:30maybe even longer, and take cocaine.
14:33So that was, I believe, in fact, what I know,
14:36was the only attraction to her.
14:38I knew that Gary took drugs, but he was taking more drugs
14:41when he was with Olivia.
14:43To Gary's father, Olivia appears boastful.
14:48Apparently she was in the signals.
14:51And that she earns £50,000 a year.
14:54And she's told me that,
14:55within a space of two, maybe three hours of meeting her.
14:59It's not the kind of thing you say to anybody,
15:00in any circumstances, really.
15:03Your salary is what your salary is, whether it's good or it's bad.
15:07Olivia doesn't reveal she is, in fact,
15:10a voluntary reservist in the territorial army.
15:14It turned out she was actually a T.I.
15:17And, in fact, she hadn't had a good reputation there, Eva,
15:21because of her drinking.
15:26Despite family concerns and early warning signs
15:29about Olivia's behaviour, the relationship continues to escalate.
15:34In 2018, Olivia found herself pregnant.
15:39It's a moment that could have marked a turning point
15:43in their chaotic relationship.
15:46But what follows leaves Gary blindsided.
15:50Olivia was pregnant with his child,
15:52or so he believed was his child.
15:56They didn't speak about it.
15:58Olivia came back one night and said,
16:01I've had an abortion.
16:02He was devastated.
16:04He was genuinely devastated.
16:07Despite the instability and chaos,
16:10Gary continues to stay involved.
16:13What really becomes apparent is the relationship
16:15between Gary and Olivia is toxic.
16:18It's on, it's off, it's on, it's off.
16:21There's reports of violence perpetrated with both of them.
16:24They were both as bad as each other
16:25in terms of arguing at times, you know.
16:29You could see there was a lot of arguing in Texas.
16:33And the violence is escalating.
16:36It's during an argument over a takeaway meal
16:39that Gary is stabbed.
16:45It was a fork in the foot.
16:47It was a silly argument.
16:49We went on a night out and he told us
16:51where Olivia had stabbed him in the foot and in the elbow
16:55just a couple of weeks back.
16:57And he still had the scar.
17:00Despite the violence, Gary won't report the incident.
17:04Whether out of loyalty or fear,
17:07involving the police simply isn't an option he's willing to take.
17:11He says, Dad, I can't report it to the police.
17:13I says, why not?
17:15He says, because she's got a young son of four years of age.
17:19He was scared that she would lose custody of her son
17:21because he said, oh, you'll be ashamed for the son.
17:24She's a good mom.
17:25He says, if the social services get involved,
17:28he says, they're going to take him off her.
17:31I think he was just protecting her
17:32because that's the kind of person Gary was.
17:39For those around Gary, the signs are impossible to ignore.
17:44There are bruises, there are scars.
17:46There's a kind of emotional withdrawal.
17:50And for the victims of domestic violence,
17:55especially when those victims are male,
17:58there's a problem about the family intervening,
18:01not wishing to draw attention to what might be happening
18:05from the fear of that might push the victim further away.
18:09I went over to see Gary
18:12and he'd come out of where he lived
18:15and he had scars down his face that weren't there
18:19when I last saw Gary,
18:22which then raised my eyebrow
18:24and I asked Gary where he got them from.
18:28And he said, I got them from Olivia.
18:30She likes to attack me.
18:32I was shocked at her violence.
18:35That was his...
18:37That was the overall impression I got.
18:39That's 100%.
18:40He couldn't believe that she'd done that.
18:42In a haze of alcohol, in a haze of cocaine use,
18:46people aren't quite sure what is real or what isn't real.
18:48And that can also add to this cycle of destruction,
18:52volatility and toxicity.
18:54It does.
18:56Olivia stabs Gary again, this time with a potato peeler.
19:01And I said, why has she done that?
19:04He says, because she wouldn't stop arguing about me going out.
19:10And that she wants me to stop at the flat.
19:12Present in the room at the time of the attack
19:15are Olivia's son, Arthur, and his father, Thomas Hughes, who is visiting.
19:20She can do that in her own house, with her own son there.
19:24She's a danger, not only to everybody else or people around her,
19:28but also to her son.
19:30Now that's...
19:31He says, I can't report it, he says.
19:33He told me he felt shame because he is a male
19:36and stuff like this doesn't happen to males,
19:39but actually it does.
19:40But he just couldn't find a way to leave.
19:45The latest attack triggers something in Gary.
19:48A shift.
19:49After months of turmoil, shame and silent endurance,
19:53it becomes clear he can't keep living this way.
19:57For the first time, he starts to break free,
20:01ending things with Olivia and finding comfort in someone new.
20:06I was aware that he'd got with somebody else.
20:10And I thought, thank God for that.
20:12He's got rid of her and, you know, he'd met a nice girl.
20:16And, erm, things seem to be going well.
20:19But the relief at Gary no longer being with Olivia is short-lived.
20:25When Gary stayed at mine in December in 2018,
20:28Olivia was ringing his phone out.
20:31I then text him on New Year's Eve saying,
20:34I can't believe that you've gone back to her.
20:37I hope nothing bad happens to you.
20:40He ended up going back to Olivia.
20:48I think he felt some kind of guilt on her.
20:52Erm, he didn't want to leave her because of her mental state.
20:57And he felt sorry for her.
21:03Like many victims of coercive relationships,
21:08the line between choice and compulsion becomes very blurred.
21:14And I often find that possessiveness plays a big part
21:20in the dynamic of their relationship.
21:22And that's where a lot of her jealousy come from,
21:25because she wanted to know all about this girl that he'd been seeing.
21:28He told me he couldn't actually have my number stored in his mobile,
21:32erm, because it would spark arguments,
21:34who's Abby, etc.
21:37Friends have already seen changes in Gary,
21:40the drinking, the isolation.
21:42But now the impact is even more stark.
21:46His appearance, energy and spirit all seem drained,
21:50as if something in him is slowly being worn down.
22:00When I saw Gary in December 2018, I said to him,
22:05you look unwell, and he had visibly lost weight.
22:08She wore him down, and he put on a mask to make out if it was OK.
22:17And really, behind that mask, he was hurting.
22:20His mental health declined.
22:22Erm, he told me he felt suicidal.
22:26The way she'd spoke to him in front of people,
22:28just derogatory comments.
22:31The stories started to come through from friends
22:34about how they'd been in this house.
22:37And she told one of Gary's friends,
22:40I could kill him and get away with it
22:43and use my post-traumatic stress disorder
22:47as an excuse, cos I'd been in the army and I've served.
22:50He told me he was scared of her.
22:53He didn't know what she was capable of.
23:06On February the 22nd, Gary Cunningham Senior
23:11receives a call from his son, one of many in recent months.
23:19On the evening, round about 8 o'clock on the Friday, I think it was,
23:23I get a phone call off Gary.
23:26And he says to me,
23:29Dad, can you come and pick me up?
23:32Repeated calls for help,
23:34especially from someone who was once fiercely independent,
23:38signals something deeper,
23:40perhaps a sense of entrapment, of being unstable.
23:45And since Gary had lost his licence,
23:48he begins to lean much more heavily on his father,
23:51not just for lifts, but I think perhaps for moments of escape,
23:56moments of safety.
23:58But this time, Gary will have to find his own way home.
24:02To be quite honest, because he was with her,
24:06that's probably one of the main reasons why I didn't pick him up,
24:09cos he knew very well that I didn't want him to be with her.
24:12And he obviously wasn't taking any notice of what I was asking him to do.
24:16So,
24:18that's probably one of the reasons
24:20why I didn't make the effort to drive all the way back home.
24:24So he says, you can't pick me up then?
24:26I says, no son, I can't.
24:28And that was the last conversation I had with him.
24:40In the quiet residential streets of Harbourn,
24:44a leafy suburb of Birmingham,
24:47something is about to break the stillness.
24:50A passerby has made a troubling discovery
24:53in the stairwell outside Olivia Labinjo Howlcrow's flat.
25:01Around about 11 o'clock on the morning of the 23rd of February 2019,
25:05the police receive a Treble 9 call from a member of the public
25:09who is clearly distressed
25:11and found a male lifeless in the stairwell
25:14just outside Olivia's address.
25:16They identify that the victim is Gary
25:20and so they go up to Olivia's address and knock on the door.
25:25The shockwave of the discovery
25:27reaches Gary's family.
25:29His sister Katie hears the news.
25:32She instinctively knows who's responsible.
25:36There's no hesitation, no doubt.
25:40She said, she's done this to my brother.
25:45And they said, who?
25:48He said, his girlfriend, she's done this.
25:50And they said, what makes you think that?
25:52And she said, because she's been abusive to my brother.
25:55And a few months ago, she stabbed him before.
26:00Gary's father is the next to get the news,
26:03though nothing could prepare him for it.
26:06For families of domestic violence victims,
26:10this moment is as surreal as it is devastating.
26:19We had a knock at the door, it was Katie with a friend, Kelly, and the police.
26:26I didn't realise at the time it was the police.
26:31And Katie came in, she says, um,
26:35you need to sit down.
26:40Sister Katie says her.
26:43Why do we need to sit down?
26:46I don't need to sit down, don't be stupid.
26:49And I remember standing there when they told the mum and the dad what had happened.
26:54And...
26:55they fell apart.
26:57And that was when the police...
26:59told me that...
27:03found the body I could land in.
27:08How do you know it's Gary?
27:10And she says she's been...
27:13formerly identified.
27:17I watched them die that night themselves.
27:19It was the worst thing I've ever seen.
27:22They say that...
27:24all we know is...
27:28that, er...
27:29he'd been stabbed.
27:32And there's somebody under arrest...
27:35for his stabbing.
27:38I even said to the police, I said, I know it is.
27:40I said, it's that I live here, isn't it?
27:43It's a line of enquiry the police are pursuing.
27:46Olivia says she knows nothing about what has happened.
27:50She was sitting in her pyjamas, drinking vodka.
27:53She's just lying there watching TV.
27:55She couldn't care in the world.
27:57I'm watching Mrs Doubtfire, seemingly unaware of what had happened.
28:01The police asked if there's anything had gone on.
28:03No, nothing's gone on here. Why?
28:06But to the officers at the scene,
28:08the calm seems like a facade,
28:10and it doesn't take long for the cracks to show.
28:15Police also found a blood-stained pink knife in the sink,
28:20which was an indication that something violent had transpired in that space.
28:23And so Olivia is arrested on suspicion of Gary's murder.
28:27And her response is fairly nonchalant.
28:30You know, she doesn't seem overly bothered by that,
28:33doesn't seem surprised.
28:34They arrested her in handcuffs and took her out past Gabby's body.
28:39Because she apparently turned around to the officers,
28:41I was supposed to have done that.
28:44You're having a laugh. I ain't done that.
28:47She told the police that he killed himself.
28:51Police will have to build a case.
28:53There will be no confession.
28:55Unknown substance abuser,
28:58Olivia's blood is taken for testing.
29:02And that comes back that she has both cocaine and alcohol in her system.
29:07Didn't admit she had drugs in, it was just alcohol.
29:10Even though she tested positive for cocaine,
29:13she still says to the police on the interview
29:15that she never took cocaine in her life.
29:17When you look at the levels of cocaine and alcohol
29:21that was in Olivia's bloodstream at the time of the murder,
29:25I would say that although she shouldn't be behind a wheel and driving a car,
29:30she should be fully aware of what her actions are.
29:35The post-mortem reveals that Gary has been stabbed multiple times.
29:40The nature of the injuries suggest not a momentary loss of control,
29:46but sustained violence.
29:49It points to someone acting not out of fear, but out of rage.
29:55He had a stab wound to his chest,
29:59but the fatal blow was actually to the back of his leg.
30:03And in fact, there were three stab wounds to the back of his legs.
30:06Nobody deserves to die in the manner that Gary died.
30:10It's...that's another thing that's really difficult to take.
30:13The fact that he was just left,
30:15from what I understand,
30:16he could have actually been saved
30:18if somebody would have reached him in time.
30:20Even an ambulance would have got there, or, you know, police,
30:23or somebody just would have picked up the phone,
30:25but unfortunately that didn't happen
30:27and he was left there for a long time during the night.
30:31The question remained,
30:33what has happened to Gary Cunningham?
30:36Having been processed in custody,
30:39Olivia is then interviewed by murder squad detectives
30:42and they put a number of questions to her.
30:45And at that point, Olivia decides to go no comment
30:49and doesn't answer any questions put to her by the police officers.
30:53Olivia may not be talking,
30:55but her phone tells a story.
30:59It's commonplace in any investigation to seize and examine mobile phones,
31:04and that's exactly what they did in this particular case.
31:07What they discovered was that there were a number of text messages sent
31:10between Olivia and Gary,
31:12clearly showing that there had been a number of arguments
31:14and, on occasions, violent outbursts.
31:18We'd seen other messages where there'd been other men
31:21who she was also seeing as well as Gary.
31:23We found that Olivia had sent previous messages to other partners in the past
31:28and she was clearly the aggressor in each of those messages.
31:32A lot of sexual talking,
31:35putting herself out there with the messages.
31:38She was very confident.
31:40She was a very confident girl with her messages.
31:43Through interrogating Olivia's phone,
31:46the police uncover, you know, emotional, volatile messages
31:51which tell us something about how she was coercively controlling
31:56and those kinds of digital footprints are really important
32:01in trying to explain and understand the escalation in her behaviour.
32:08Olivia is eventually charged with Gary's murder
32:12and she's placed on remand and sent to prison.
32:21As Olivia awaits trial, an unexpected twist emerges.
32:27While on remand and prison, she makes a serious allegation,
32:31one that shifts the narrative once again.
32:35According to the police, Olivia called them from her cell
32:38to report a sexual offence.
32:40She even said that Gary had raped her,
32:43did not that he was killed.
32:45There was no evidence of that.
32:47And I think this is potentially part of Olivia's manipulation
32:51in that she's had time to reflect on the seriousness
32:54of what has happened between her and Gary.
32:57She's now trying to get a defence in fairly early on
33:01and trying to discredit Gary and show him as the aggressor.
33:05Olivia shows no intention of taking responsibility for Gary's murder.
33:11Her allegation may see any verdict reduced to manslaughter.
33:17Her actions are response to the rape.
33:21She admitted to manslaughter.
33:24And that wasn't good enough for us.
33:26We wanted murder.
33:28The prosecution were a bit apprehensive at first,
33:32but we eventually convinced them that we believe it's murder.
33:36Especially 12 times of stabbing.
33:50In the summer of 2019, at Birmingham Crown Court,
33:55Olivia Labinjo-Halcro stands trial for killing Gary Cunningham.
34:00Her defence paints a picture of Gary as violent.
34:07During the trial, it came out, as we expected,
34:11that Gary had previous convictions for violence.
34:15And Olivia used that to her advantage
34:18to paint this picture of Gary, who was a violent individual,
34:22who would regularly assault her.
34:24Gary's family are shocked by Olivia's behaviour in court.
34:29Very aggressive kind of attitude.
34:34As if to say, why am I here, kind of thing.
34:38She never had an inch of remorse.
34:41One day, she was actually laughing with the security guards
34:44that were in behind the screen of the courts.
34:49Olivia's case rests on the fact
34:52that she has acted in self-defence.
34:55Basically saying that she'd been raped by Gary.
35:00They took her underwear, they tested everything for DNA.
35:03There was nothing, no bruising, no nothing.
35:07After 15 days on trial,
35:10the jury arrived with their verdict.
35:13At stake, is she a murderer
35:16or has she killed with diminished responsibility?
35:20One sentence for murder carries life.
35:23The other, manslaughter, can be a shorter prison sentence.
35:28The jury then came back with a conviction.
35:32So she was tried for murder,
35:34but unfortunately she was convicted of manslaughter
35:36under diminished responsibility.
35:38Claiming that she didn't know what she was doing,
35:40she had mental health problems.
35:44Three weeks after her trial,
35:47Olivia Labinjo-Halcroe is sentenced to 18 years
35:51for Gary's manslaughter.
35:53For his family, it brings some relief,
35:56a step forward to justice and closure.
36:01It was pretty good, actually, 18 years.
36:04I thought that was pretty good.
36:06We were quite happy with that.
36:08But Gary's family's relief is short-lived.
36:13Her and her defence team mounted an appeal
36:16against the conviction, saying it was unsafe.
36:21The trauma is far from over for Gary's family
36:26because Labinjo-Halcroe refuses to accept the jury's decision,
36:31which, in my experience, is a response that's not uncommon
36:35for those perpetrators who would prefer to see themselves
36:39as the victim as opposed to the perpetrator
36:42within the narrative that they construct for themselves.
36:50The police told us that she had appealed against the sentence.
36:55And it was obviously going to have to be heard
36:56in the High Court in London.
37:01Gary Cunningham Senior attends the appeal,
37:04unaware it will leave him even more devastated than before.
37:10They didn't make a decision there and then.
37:14They went away to obviously discuss it
37:16and we found out approximately about two weeks later
37:18that the case had been quashed.
37:24Having been convicted and sentenced for 18 years
37:27for killing Gary Cunningham, in July 2020,
37:31Labinjo-Halcroe's conviction is overturned due to a technicality.
37:38The judge asked the jury to make up their own mind
37:42as to whether or not Gary's convictions were relevant
37:45and if the defence hadn't proven the point
37:49that Gary was a violent individual,
37:52then they should dismiss it,
37:53when in fact actually it was accepted that Gary had a violent past
37:58but it wasn't for the defence to prove that,
38:01it was for the prosecution to prove that he wasn't violent on that occasion.
38:04So that conviction was quashed.
38:06For Gary's family, it's a cruel blow.
38:10Absolutely gutted.
38:12Every trial was set
38:14and the defence and the prosecution went for another trial.
38:20So, obviously, we had to go through the whole process
38:24of going there and we had to see her walk in and out of the court every day
38:29with her mum as free as a bird.
38:40At the retrial, everything is uncertain and the stakes for Gary's family couldn't feel higher.
38:47You expect on a retrial that everyone's probably up their game a little bit.
38:52You know, they've looked at the weaknesses in the first trial and they've addressed those weaknesses.
38:57And I think with Olivia, what this gave her an opportunity to do was give more time to the thought
39:03around the self-defence angle.
39:05She was trying to paint Gary in a bad way so she'd come out smelling as fresh as a daisy.
39:11So it wasn't nice for Gary and Louise and there was a few times that they broke down.
39:15It was horrible to try and hear her say what she said.
39:19She tries to paint Gary as the aggressor, hoping to come out of the trial untarnished.
39:26For his family, listening is agonising.
39:33But actually, when you look at self-defence, you know, she's got to be showing that she was defending herself
39:38because she feared for her life and that Gary was attacking her.
39:41Yet, we couldn't find any obvious defensive injuries on Olivia at that time.
39:47Labinja Halcrow's defence tactics aren't successful.
39:52I knew the jury would come to the same, virtually the same conclusion
39:55because it doesn't take a barrister or a judge to work out the kind of woman that she is, to
40:01be quite honest.
40:03And she didn't give an account of self-defence at that time and I think that was her downfall.
40:07She did nothing to call the ambulance, call the police and explain what had gone on at that time.
40:12So, arch manipulator was a chosen words from the judge.
40:19And the second judge seen right through her.
40:22And obviously the jury as well.
40:24The words that stuck out for me in that court was from the judge when he sentenced her.
40:30He said, you're a very clever girl, but you have manipulated and you have continued to try and manipulate this
40:37whole system with your games.
40:40She did it to get what she wanted from who she wanted.
40:44And I thought that was quite telling.
40:46And actually, when you look at her behaviours after charge and in prison, forming this kind of defence, I think
40:52that was pretty spot on, to be honest.
40:57On the 1st of July 2021, Olivia Labinjo-Halcro is again found guilty of the manslaughter of Gary Cunningham.
41:07This time, the sentence is 11 years in prison.
41:14There's a lot of hurt still, because they know she's never given her evidence.
41:24They don't know the truth.
41:27They never will know the truth.
41:28Because she's a liar.
41:30So even if she does tell them something, it doesn't mean to say that what she said is true.
41:35So they'll always live in that, in that we don't know.
41:48Gary kept a suffering to himself, silenced by stigma, loyalty and a need to protect Labinjo-Halcro's son, Arthur, the
41:58young boy caught in the middle.
42:00But the silence changed nothing.
42:03In the years that followed, Arthur Labinjo-Hughes became another victim of a system that couldn't see what was coming.
42:17Having been sentenced, Olivia is obviously out of the picture, and her son, Arthur, is then placed with his natural
42:24father.
42:25A couple of years later, Arthur is killed through neglect by his father and stepmother.
42:31They are then prosecuted for his murder.
42:34This is particularly tragic, because not only have we got Gary as a victim, but we've now got Arthur at
42:41six years old.
42:44Arthur's killers, Emma Tustin and Thomas Hughes, were sentenced to life in prison for the murder of six-year-old
42:53Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.
42:55Tustin will serve a minimum of 29 years, Hughes a minimum of 24.
43:02As for Gary's family and friends, they're determined that other men shouldn't suffer in silence.
43:11You read about these things, and you don't expect it to happen to a member of your family, which, you
43:18know, when it does, it's a real wake-up call.
43:22Basically, if there's any guys that are out there, you know, who are going through the same kind of thing
43:29and struggles, you just need to get out.
43:32You need to get away from it.
43:34Male victims of domestic abuse are far more common than many people realise.
43:41But they're far less likely to be recognised, believed or supported.
43:48And what Gary's story demonstrates is that silence and stigma can cost lives.
43:56You sit back and start to think, hang on, exactly how much support is there out there from the male
44:01domestic side of things?
44:04I personally think that it needs to be spoken about more.
44:08There needs to be more campaigns.
44:10And actually, it's OK not to be OK.
44:14You probably would feel a bit shameful about it because, you know, you're a man, you're meant to be tough,
44:20you're meant to be strong.
44:21And reaching out and speaking to somebody about it, you don't want to be judged.
44:26No one deserves what he went through. No man, no woman, nobody should ever go through that.
44:34Men should come forward and not be ashamed or, you know, scared of the consequences.
44:41It happens. You just need to find the strength and find the right guidance.
44:45And I'm sure, you know, things will be all OK in the end.
44:51Now, those who loved Gary fight to keep his memory alive and to ensure that stories like his are no
45:00longer ignored.
45:02Gary's one of those people you can't forget. You will never forget him.
45:06He's one of these people that have come on his will to leave Amarth.
45:09We always talk about him and remember the stupid things that he'd done and what a good lad he was.
45:16And it shouldn't have happened.
45:22We all heard more than it's going on his will, it's going on his will.
45:30Just quickly.
45:32But not the thing.
45:32Do you nothing.
45:36Do you think?
45:38Do you think it's the way you can't?
45:41Do you know what he looks like when you're gonna die?
45:47Do you think it's the way it might be?
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