- 5 hours ago
True Crime Presents Season 2 Episode 1
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00:0136-year-old Wayne Coventry is looking for a partner.
00:05Wayne just wanted to be loved.
00:07But has he found the right one?
00:09Cadenia, she's got an evil streak in her, definitely.
00:13If she couldn't have Wayne, no one else could have him.
00:15Sometimes choosing a partner is the most dangerous thing we can do.
00:19He was absolutely exotic with her. He loved her to death.
00:23His devotion comes at a cost.
00:26Cordelia stabbed him in the back with a broken plight.
00:28Blood everywhere.
00:30She just smacked, as if she knew what she was doing.
00:33Wayne Coventry, Cordelia Farrell, a fatal match.
00:53A bird's eye view of an ordinary town,
00:56which in 2019 saw an extraordinary love story involving a man called Wayne Coventry.
01:04A man close to his family.
01:07I was quite overprotective of Wayne.
01:10I was nine when he was born, and I loved it, having another little brother.
01:18Always got a smile on his face, like a Cheshire cat.
01:22I've never known anyone smile so much, to be fair.
01:25He just always had a grin on his face.
01:31He was bubbly and a normal child.
01:36He used to make us laugh a lot.
01:40Even as he grew up, he still used to make us laugh.
01:45Occasionally, the brothers overstepped the mark.
01:48I'd done something wrong when I was younger.
01:52I'd nicked loads of archery equipment.
01:54Police come out and search my mum and dad's eyes.
02:00Stolen some bows.
02:02And they did them behind the shed in the garden.
02:06Police couldn't find nothing.
02:08I'm just about to leave, and then my little brother's popped up
02:10and goes, that'd be all in the shed.
02:13And obviously, that was it.
02:16Yeah, got nicked there and then on the spot.
02:18And that's one thing that always stuck in my mind.
02:21He got away with it until he opened his mouth.
02:30As a teenager, Wayne falls for a local girl.
02:34According to older brother Sean, they have a good relationship.
02:38The first girl he went out with, he was with her for roughly 18 years.
02:44He was like a one-woman man, which was really good.
02:47When he was with someone, he was devoted to them.
02:50He was only 16, I think, when they had the first child.
02:54He ended up with three children.
02:56A girl, then a boy, and then a girl again.
02:59He did love the kids' mum to bits.
03:01Always had done.
03:02His kids meant the world to Wayne.
03:04He absolutely adored them.
03:11I lived together, and I moved down Devon together.
03:15Yeah, he moved there with his partner and his kids.
03:20Didn't see him for years after that.
03:23They were great together until, I don't know exactly what,
03:26I think they just petered out.
03:29In June 2017, the end of the relationship marks a painful turning point for Wayne
03:35as he faces the reality of leaving his children 200 miles behind.
03:42Then, obviously, he moved back, moved up to Bromsgrove.
03:46He had his children stay with him at weekends and stuff like that.
03:49He doted on his children.
03:52His kids meant the world to him.
03:53He missed them when he weren't around them.
04:04Wayne will have been dramatically impacted
04:07by losing the family that he built up in his first relationship.
04:13This is somebody whose meaning, purpose in life, is now gone.
04:18It's somebody who now needs a strong figure, a dominant figure,
04:23somebody to lead him, give him direction.
04:26That somebody would be Cordelia, sometimes known as Delia Farrell.
04:31Wayne told me once and twice he'd been speaking with Cordelia.
04:37They lived in the same area, so they bumped into each other.
04:44He brought her up here.
04:45They had Sunday dinner and that.
04:48I mean, they're quite funny as a couple as well.
04:51My brother used to have this hot sauce,
04:52I don't know where he used to get it from,
04:54but it's the hottest thing I've ever tasted in my life,
04:56and they used to play each other up.
04:58And when they'd done them a Sunday dinner and that,
05:00my brother's come in and got it,
05:01and he squirted it into a roaster.
05:03She was like...
05:05Yeah, he seemed very happy.
05:08He just fought for that one person, and he did.
05:13He proper fell for her.
05:16There was no getting them away from each other.
05:18He absolutely fought the world over.
05:21To start with, he did introduce me to her,
05:24and we did talk.
05:28Wayne and Cordelia were mostly laughing together
05:30and enjoying each other's company,
05:32but then there was that part of her
05:34that just was totally different.
05:41I took an instant dislike to her
05:44with her attitude and everything.
05:46She used to hide from me.
05:48I mean, locking herself in the toilet or in the bedroom
05:51just because I was there was ridiculous.
05:54I mean, I've never armed a female.
05:57She couldn't think that I'd knock her about or anything.
06:00I've never hid a female in my life,
06:02so I used to think he was stupid.
06:05Every time Wayne's father visits,
06:08we have Cordelia hiding, staying well out of the way.
06:11For me, it's as if she doesn't want to fully understand Wayne.
06:18She doesn't want to hear more about Wayne,
06:20to meet his family,
06:21because to do so would humanise Wayne.
06:25And at the moment,
06:26Wayne is just playing a particular role,
06:29a particular character within a melodrama
06:32that I think the two of them have created.
06:34Sometimes they could be excellent together.
06:36When they got on, they did get on.
06:39But then when they didn't, it was bad.
06:44Cordelia's behaviour can in part be explained
06:47by the fact that she was diagnosed
06:49with an underlying personality disorder.
06:52And the personality disorder that she got diagnosed as having
06:55was emotionally unstable personality disorder,
06:59which used to be, in my day,
07:00called borderline personality disorder,
07:02the borderline between neurosis and psychosis.
07:06But in layperson's terms,
07:08what that means is simply
07:10you're riding an emotional rollercoaster
07:14with somebody that has this diagnosis.
07:17They're volatile.
07:19They're self-destructive.
07:20And that's partly because they have no sense of self.
07:24And so some days they're really kind.
07:27Some days they're really pleasant to be around.
07:29And the very next day,
07:31sometimes within an hour,
07:33they can be a completely different personality
07:36because they have no fixed sense of who they are.
07:41And of course,
07:42if you're riding a rollercoaster,
07:44emotionally,
07:46some days you want to love and care.
07:49But the very next day,
07:51you might want to kill.
07:54With Cordelia knowing that Wayne was a decent chap wanting a loving relationship,
08:00this gave Cordelia the upper hand.
08:03It gave her the opportunity to control that relationship.
08:08If he went anywhere,
08:09you'd have to know where or why.
08:11You didn't want him being around other women.
08:15Even though he weren't into other women when he was with someone,
08:18he weren't that kind of person.
08:19Wayne wasn't.
08:20But Cordelia,
08:21obviously,
08:22thought he was.
08:23Wayne might not have been that type of person,
08:26but he does begin to make up stories of affairs with other women,
08:30which triggers Cordelia's jealous streak.
08:34There was jealous streak with Cordelia as well,
08:36which is extremely worrying.
08:37And surprising, really,
08:39when you think,
08:39if Wayne doted on her that much,
08:41why would she be jealous?
08:42Because he's the one for her.
08:45If she didn't want him doing something,
08:47she'd stop him.
08:50Kind of paints a picture of this controlling,
08:52coercive behaviour by Cordelia.
08:55She stopped him doing a lot of things
08:56and seeing a lot of family members.
08:58Very controlling.
09:08During this time,
09:09Wayne has few pleasures in life.
09:11Wayne loved his mouth,
09:13because he loved him.
09:15Always tinkering about with cars or bikes, he was.
09:18But his favourite was bikes.
09:20He loved his bikes, why?
09:24He loved his motorbike.
09:26He got it while he was living down Devon.
09:30Then, one day,
09:32the motorbike is stolen.
09:35So, one had stolen his motorbike
09:37and they dismantled it.
09:40We found it further up the road,
09:42in an alleyway,
09:44dismantled.
09:45Around this time,
09:47Luck just didn't seem to be on his side.
09:50So, we never got to ride the bike again.
09:56Those who know Cordelia and Wayne
09:58are increasingly concerned.
10:01Sometimes fuelled by drugs and alcohol,
10:03they often fight because, of course,
10:06drugs and alcohol are going to make them disinhibited
10:09and some of those underlying tensions come to the surface.
10:18They'd had a number of arguments.
10:20She would wind him up on occasion.
10:22She would watch YouTube videos that starred her ex-boyfriend in there
10:26to try and get a rise from him
10:28and almost sort of looking for a fight with him.
10:34She'd get dressed up
10:35and then say that she's going out to make blokes and that
10:37because she knew it had wind him up.
10:40I mean, she used to phone him up
10:42whilst having sex with other men
10:45just so he could hear it
10:47and everything
10:48when it would get to him.
10:49What Cordelia does,
10:51this calling him while she's having sex with other men
10:55and watching videos of ex-partners,
10:58tells me two things.
11:00One, that to Cordelia,
11:03sexual power is incredibly important.
11:08And number two,
11:09that she doesn't feel she can achieve this
11:12through normal, healthy means.
11:14Every time Cordelia carried out some kind of abuse on Wayne,
11:19the inhibitions were reduced further.
11:23Each and every act just set the scene for the next.
11:27We tried her hardest to get him away from her,
11:29but obviously you can't protect her
11:31when it's going through something like that.
11:33He wasn't ready to leave her.
11:34He loved her too much.
11:36The more you allow
11:37and permit this toxic behaviour to continue,
11:41the more normalised that toxic behaviour becomes.
11:46You forgive it.
11:47You expect it.
11:49To be in a controlling and coercive relationship
11:52for a long time normalises
11:56what is actually toxic within the relationship.
12:00And of course,
12:01if that is allowed to continue,
12:04that's very dangerous indeed.
12:06If you've tried to explain to him that you've got a wrong one,
12:11he wouldn't listen.
12:13As far as he was concerned, she was the right one.
12:16He was that bizarly with her.
12:20He absolutely loved her to death.
12:23But his father, Barry, becomes increasingly concerned.
12:26Some of the things he overhears are extremely worrying.
12:31She used to threaten him a lot over the phone.
12:34I've even heard her turn around and threaten to kill him.
12:36The fact that he expects this kind of treatment,
12:40so when he receives it,
12:43it's just what he anticipates.
12:45And he blames himself to some degree,
12:49and it triggers him to seek her approval more,
12:53rather than having the effect that it should have,
12:55which is to make him immediately leave the relationship.
13:01Wayne never thought about leaving Delia.
13:04He even turned round and said,
13:06would he come and live with me?
13:08I'd got a bed in the conservatory.
13:10He could have stopped in the conservatory,
13:12live with me.
13:13But no, he wanted to be with Delia.
13:17Everybody tried the hardest.
13:19Everybody tried to explain this is bad for you.
13:21You can't keep on going through what you're going through,
13:23but he stuck with it.
13:26That's how much he loved her.
13:27He used to say, I can't, Sean, I love her.
13:30You just can't do nothing, can you?
13:32It's increasingly clear Cordelia and Wayne
13:35are in a toxic relationship that they are both wedded to.
13:40It's quite clear that Wayne was keen to continue
13:44with the relationship with Cordelia, as she was with him,
13:47so it's very difficult to try and manage that situation
13:49when both parties don't want to leave.
13:51Having only recently separated from his partner of 18,
13:5518 years, Wayne doesn't want to be alone.
13:58They work together in a relationship,
14:01but in a very dysfunctional, pathological way.
14:05Most people would run for the hills
14:08when experiencing this kind of psychological abuse
14:12within an intimate relationship.
14:14Only Wayne's family know about the abuse he claims to suffer
14:18at the hands of Cordelia.
14:20In this situation, we've got a man who hasn't reported domestic abuse.
14:26And, of course, there are some overlaps
14:28with why women don't report domestic abuse,
14:31fear of shame, for example.
14:33However, there are added elements when the man is the victim
14:38and the woman is the perpetrator.
14:40And, of course, that relates to ideas,
14:42often outdated ideas of masculinity.
14:46By being seen as being the victim of a woman
14:50who is domestically abusing the man,
14:52the man's sense of who he is is fundamentally altered,
14:58he believes, in the eyes of our culture.
15:09In 2019, the police received a telephone call from Wayne
15:14complaining that he'd been attacked by Cordelia.
15:19She went round to his flat and that,
15:21and they were having a bit of food and a bit of drink,
15:23and then she sort of pretended that she wanted to have sex,
15:27so she put her hand down his pants.
15:30The next thing he knows is she's grabbing on his testicles,
15:33really badly pulling down on it.
15:37It was a vicious attack.
15:38He described being grabbed by the testicles
15:40and literally pulled around the room.
15:43Because of the pain and everything of that,
15:45my brother actually passed out at that stage.
15:48And the next thing he remembers is coming round with her,
15:51literally trying to bite it off.
15:54She was scary when she wanted to be very.
16:05Cordelia is violent because, in her case,
16:10her underlying personality disorder
16:12doesn't give her a fixed centre that she's comfortable with.
16:17She's constantly frightened that she's going to be abandoned,
16:21and therefore that sense of being emotionally volatile
16:25is because it comes from a place
16:28where she doesn't actually know who she is.
16:32When you look at photographs of Cordelia,
16:34it's quite clear she's a very sexual woman,
16:37and she would be very conscious
16:39of how she could use her looks in relationships
16:45as a means by which she could control her partners.
16:49Add to that her emotional volatility,
16:53that's a very dangerous combination of factors.
16:59Eventually, when he got her out,
17:00he thought the police and the ambulance had turned up,
17:02so he was going to open the door,
17:03and that's when she stabbed him in the back with a plate as well.
17:12When the police actually arrived,
17:13what they established was that not only she had bitten him,
17:16but also stabbed him in the back with some broken crockery,
17:19so this was quite serious.
17:22I mean, 58 sets of teeth marks,
17:24yeah, they were all in his bits, his testicles.
17:26So at that point, Cordelia was arrested
17:28and taken into custody for questioning.
17:32She said she was defending herself from an attack from Wayne,
17:36but what was surprising was there were no injuries on Cordelia.
17:40At the conclusion of that interview,
17:42she makes a chilling statement.
17:44One of them will end up dead.
17:51He called me from the hospital while he was in the hospital bed.
17:54You knew it was going to happen eventually,
17:56you know what I mean?
17:57She just went that far with things.
17:59It was just unbelievable.
18:02This wasn't a usual domestic dispute
18:05whereby the couples have had a row
18:07and just fallen out and raised voices.
18:09This was a particularly vicious, nasty physical assault
18:12on a man by a woman,
18:14which is unusual in itself.
18:16It was embarrassing to say that you're getting beat up
18:20and terrorized a boy woman.
18:23Many didn't all sign it to me,
18:25but you could see it.
18:27And it was hard to watch when it was happening.
18:31When it's a male victim,
18:33often there's a deep-seated sense of shame and embarrassment
18:36at being attacked by a female perpetrator.
18:41We hardly spoke on the way back.
18:45I asked him if he wanted to come and stay at mine,
18:49but no, he wanted to go back to his own flat.
18:53So I took him back there,
18:55but he didn't say much,
18:56he didn't speak much about it.
18:59Cordelia would one day tell a court
19:00she suffered at the hands of Wayne too.
19:03He was never charged with an offence,
19:05but there's little doubt
19:07theirs is a highly volatile and toxic relationship.
19:12Having interviewed Cordelia,
19:14and had her account where she is claiming
19:16that she was defending herself from an argument.
19:18The police don't have sufficient evidence to charge her,
19:22and so she's released.
19:24The police need to investigate further.
19:26While they do, safeguards are put in place.
19:31Cordelia was actually under two different non-molestations orders
19:35from things that she was doing to my brother.
19:37Non-molestation orders issued by the courts
19:40protect a victim of abuse
19:42by preventing their abusers from contacting them.
19:46But Wayne and Cordelia are still seeing each other.
19:50Oh, he was at risk, but you couldn't tell him.
19:55He wouldn't listen to anybody.
19:58There was no getting them away from each other.
20:00He absolutely fought the world over.
20:02When you look at the assault that took place on Wayne by Cordelia,
20:05any normal person would step back from that and think,
20:08that's it, that's the end of the relationship,
20:10you know, I've had enough.
20:11But that didn't happen with Wayne and Cordelia.
20:16The pattern we see here is Cordelia being the one to attack Wayne.
20:22He reacts, he responds,
20:24but he's rarely proactively initiating violence.
20:31However, around this time,
20:34Wayne reveals a shocking incident to his older brother.
20:37I received a message off him,
20:39so I don't think we need to speak.
20:42And then all of a sudden,
20:43I was in a picture of my brother
20:45that I didn't even recognise him.
20:47He was just all black and blue.
20:52Seeing pictures of him,
20:53I couldn't stand him being beaten up like that.
20:57I wanted to get him here and keep him safe as well,
20:59so I didn't get a taxi from the hospital,
21:01which was in Birmingham all the way up there.
21:04After the mysterious beating,
21:06Wayne's family rallies around.
21:08We sort of kept lying up there.
21:10Being a bigger brother and that,
21:11I just wanted to try and protect him as much as I could.
21:14In fact,
21:15Wayne is now staying with his brother, Sean,
21:17in an attempt to keep him away from Cordelia.
21:21But he can't resist her.
21:23He kept on disappearing and that.
21:25As he was saying,
21:26he was saying in a hotel with one of his mates.
21:30We put two and two together
21:31and we realised it was Cordelia.
21:34And Cordelia couldn't do anything wrong in his eyes.
21:38That's how much he thought of her and how much he loved her.
21:41He didn't want to be apart from her.
21:44Their relationship is like an addiction,
21:48something they feel they need,
21:50yet it brings them emotional
21:53and increasingly now physical pain.
21:56And it's a difficult cycle to break,
21:59growing more intense over time.
22:02And it's an addiction
22:03that is heading towards disaster.
22:17Wayne Coventry's bond to Cordelia Farrell
22:20is too strong.
22:23Despite promises to family that he would,
22:25he can't stay away.
22:28The couple are meeting in secret.
22:30They've been sleeping in the tent together.
22:32After what happened in September
22:34and all the other things that she'd done with him.
22:37When we found out that there was a sign in the tent,
22:39we did say to Wayne, my brother,
22:41to bring Cordelia up and stay here.
22:44Because we thought he'd be better off staying here
22:46because we could keep an eye on him.
22:47She said to my partner and myself before
22:49that she'd like to bicker with him
22:50to keep him on his toes.
22:53She used to dollop and say to him
22:55that she was going out even if she weren't going out
22:57just so she could wind him up.
23:03The one thing Cordelia needs more than anything
23:06is to feel powerful within her relationships.
23:09And Wayne needs to be with somebody valuable,
23:12somebody dominant, somebody powerful,
23:14somebody significant.
23:15So the more she abuses him through this behaviour,
23:18the more he wants her.
23:19And the more he wants her,
23:20the more powerful she feels.
23:23They work together in a relationship,
23:26but in a very dysfunctional, pathological way.
23:30It's a very effective relationship,
23:32but one that is heading for disaster.
23:37She looked at us one day and she went,
23:39my name's Dee.
23:40And then she sort of turned around to him
23:41and went, my name's Cordelia.
23:43As if she brought two different sides to her.
23:48She's developing different strategies,
23:50different personas with different names
23:53are coming forward.
23:54When she was loving and bubbly and that,
23:56it was good.
23:57But then she could just snap.
24:00And then everything just went apart.
24:02It will be evident to other people
24:04that this is somebody very changeable,
24:06unpredictable,
24:07that they don't know what they're going to get.
24:09And it's because there is no stable core to Cordelia.
24:14This is somebody who is forever poised for battle,
24:19ready to be triggered.
24:24One minute should be fine
24:25and the next minute it should be a totally different person.
24:27People with this personality disorder
24:30are incredibly reactive, triggerable.
24:33They are volatile emotionally.
24:35They're not able to cope with any kind of disrespect
24:39or dishonour or any kind of assumed attacks
24:42on them and who they are at all.
24:46My partner actually said to Cordelia,
24:48in front of Wayne,
24:49you're going to end up killing him, you are.
24:52She just smirked.
24:55Behind the closed doors of Sean's home,
24:58the matters of Wayne and Cordelia are coming to a head.
25:02They got up in the morning,
25:04there was sort of bickering.
25:06Ever willing to taunt her boyfriend,
25:09Cordelia spots an opportunity.
25:11My daughter came here.
25:13She was a prison officer,
25:14so obviously she used to turn up in her prison gloves
25:16and everything like that.
25:18And Cordelia tried it on with my daughter,
25:20in front of my brother,
25:21to try and wind him up.
25:23She just kept on putting it on her,
25:25trying to sit on her lap,
25:26trying to flirt with her.
25:31She started doing him upstairs in the bedroom
25:34where she scratched all his face
25:35and ripped his T-shirt.
25:37I've had to run up and sort of say,
25:39well, I didn't come down and leave it.
25:41And he'd come down,
25:42he'd sit in the living room with me
25:43and she'd just carry on,
25:45just trying to get a reaction out of him.
25:49But she couldn't get a reaction out of him
25:50and I kept on pulling him away to stop
25:52it getting any further.
25:55There was a point where she kicked him down the stairs
25:58and I had to run out to see what was going on again.
26:00She turned around and said that he'd kicked her up the stairs,
26:03but it was Wayne that came flying down the stairs.
26:08It just got worse through the day.
26:12My brother did retaliate
26:13and sliced some of her clothes up,
26:15two of her jackets that she had.
26:18Wayne's retaliation makes her behaviour worse.
26:22This is everything that she cannot bear.
26:25This is everything that she is fighting against.
26:27This sense of feeling overpowered.
26:30The move wasn't one Farrell was going to accept.
26:35My brother's coming in through the gate
26:37and my 11-year-old son is stood in front of my brother like that,
26:41as if protecting him.
26:43Even my son witnessed what was going on
26:46and was obviously trying to protect his uncle, Wayne.
26:48There's a few people at the house.
26:51Wayne and Cordelia go into the kitchen
26:53and an argument ensues.
27:03Standing up for himself is not what Cordelia expects of Wayne.
27:08The feeling of being challenged would have overwhelmed her,
27:13triggering every instinct to fight back.
27:16And in the heat of the confrontation in the kitchen,
27:20the most common place in Britain where somebody will be killed,
27:24Cordelia reacts.
27:26It's roughly about 7 o'clock.
27:29I had a commotion from in the living room,
27:31so I've come to the gate there,
27:33and as I've got to the gate,
27:36Cordelia grabbed a knife out of the knife block
27:37that was on the side just there.
27:40She was stood at the cooker with the blade in her hand,
27:43and it was the biggest one out of the block.
27:46She was stood there with a knife behind my brother's back.
27:49Obviously, because I've seen the knife, I've shouted, Wayne.
27:52He sort of took a couple of steps forward,
27:54and then it was literally as if she was waiting for him to turn around.
28:00As he's sort of turned round,
28:03she's plunged the knife straight in and in.
28:08My brother-in-law shouted,
28:10Don't pull the knife out.
28:13But she just pulled it out and smirked,
28:16as if she knew what she was doing.
28:18And my son was stood there,
28:20right by the side of her when she'd done it.
28:22A little 11-year-old boy.
28:27It was like my brother didn't realise
28:28what had happened at that time.
28:31So he's carried on and walked to here,
28:33and then he sort of must have realised,
28:36so he's turned round,
28:37he's just sated Sean,
28:39and that was it.
28:40He sort of fell down onto the floor here.
28:44People say he's freezing.
28:45I've never understood it before,
28:47but I literally was stuck.
28:49I couldn't move.
28:53And then that's when I've come running in,
28:55phoning 999 for the ambulance,
28:58and the police and that,
28:59and obviously I've had to get down on the floor
29:02and start counting my brother's last breath
29:04as if it's on the floor.
29:08So having stabbed Wayne,
29:11Cordelia immediately flees the address,
29:13and we don't know where she's gone.
29:14This leaves Wayne in a critical state
29:16in his brother's arms.
29:18She had literally dropped the knife
29:20and walked out.
29:21My brother's dying on the floor.
29:25And then obviously he's in all the colour
29:27start to drain out.
29:31all his breathing had gone for me,
29:33and I was on the phone to the ambulance
29:34and they were asking me to count his breaths
29:36and everything like that.
29:37It was hard.
29:39I couldn't do it.
29:40I had to get someone else to come and do it.
29:56Sean found me
29:58and says that Delia had stabbed Wayne
30:01and she'd gone.
30:09When the ambulance turned up,
30:11I did run out there and try and say,
30:13look, he's not breathing,
30:14because he had actually stopped breathing.
30:16My brother-in-law was doing CPR and that.
30:19I was on the phone for three or four hours.
30:24During that time, the paramedics were there.
30:28They revived him for a couple of minutes.
30:34They kept him in here for hours
30:36and they'd done open-heart surgery in the kitchen,
30:38but they stated that when they got his heart out,
30:40there was no blood left in his body.
30:42She had severed the main artery to his heart.
30:47Eventually, when they'd finished doing the work,
30:50in here with Wayne,
30:51they'd literally come in and pronounce him dead at the time.
30:55It was heartbreaking.
31:04I couldn't sleep that night after that.
31:08I was awake, couldn't sleep.
31:11And then the following day, I come down.
31:15Sure.
31:17But of course, there was nothing I could do.
31:30All his bruising and everything that he'd had
31:33from the previous fight,
31:35because it was only a couple of weeks before,
31:38all come out on him
31:40when he was dead.
31:42So, it wasn't Wayne at all.
31:49Didn't look like him at all covered in bruises.
31:53For Wayne's brother and father,
31:55their worst fears had become a reality.
31:59She kept saying that she'd murder him.
32:02She even told my brother-in-law in the morning,
32:04my partner's brother,
32:05Wayne's dead today, I'm going to kill him.
32:08But you don't think nothing of that.
32:10You know what I mean?
32:11But obviously, she meant it.
32:15No, I never thought it would actually happen.
32:18I wanted to protect him.
32:20And I couldn't...
32:22The last thing he shouted was Sean.
32:31And I couldn't do nothing.
32:36Although it was a single stab wound,
32:38the attack was particularly vicious,
32:41requiring significant force
32:43to pierce through the chest.
32:46Cordelia was clearly enraged
32:48and intended to cause harm
32:50when she picked up the knife.
32:52So this has now become a murder investigation
32:55with Cordelia as the prime suspect.
32:58And she's on the run.
33:00Is anyone else at risk?
33:03Scared the living die looks like my son.
33:05I went after witnessing what he witnessed in here,
33:07watching his uncle get murdered
33:09and then dying.
33:11He was worried about her coming back.
33:17It's important to try and get hold of Cordelia
33:19as quickly as possible,
33:21not only to ensure that she is in custody
33:23and can't cause any harm to anyone else,
33:25but also she then can't cause harm to herself
33:27or destroy any further evidence.
33:33They've moved me and my partner to a hotel.
33:36All I obviously visit was forensic evidence
33:39and everything like that.
33:42So the police would be doing
33:43their normal sort of inquiries
33:45of door-to-door,
33:46speaking to friends and family,
33:48looking at her social media.
33:50If she had a mobile phone,
33:51then they'd be trying to track her through that
33:53and also any financial inquiries
33:55in certain locations
33:56that might help close the net
33:57and bring her into custody.
34:01Was Cordelia Farrell coming to terms
34:04with what she had done?
34:06I think that having killed
34:08somebody that clearly she was
34:11intimately involved with
34:13will have brought her face-to-face
34:15with the person that she has become
34:17and she now tries to run from that.
34:20She's not just running from the police,
34:22she's running from the reality
34:24of what she has become.
34:30If somebody doesn't want to be found,
34:32then it's fairly easy
34:34to go into hiding
34:36for a considerable period of time,
34:38particularly if you effectively go off the grid,
34:41you know, you turn off your phone,
34:42you're not on social media,
34:44you're not in contact with friends and family,
34:46you're just hiding out somewhere.
34:48Throughout the Midlands,
34:50as pressure mounts on police
34:51to find Wayne's killer,
34:53Farrell shocks detectives
34:55with her next move.
34:56Five days into the investigation,
35:00having discovered Wayne dead at that address,
35:05Cordelia surprisingly
35:06gives herself up to the police.
35:11That's not unusual
35:13under the circumstances
35:14if the police have been
35:15putting a lot of pressure
35:16on friends and family
35:17who may have been
35:18in contact with Cordelia.
35:21But then eventually
35:22when the phone call
35:23had gone through
35:23to say that she'd been got,
35:25it was a relief.
35:27The police still had a job to do.
35:30So having given herself up,
35:31police would have secured Cordelia
35:33very quickly,
35:34brought her into custody,
35:35and they would have
35:36forensically examined her.
35:38Make sure that she
35:39hasn't got any injuries herself.
35:41You know, was there a fight?
35:42Has she got any defensive injuries
35:43that need to be recorded?
35:46Has she got any forensic evidence
35:48on her that would suggest
35:49she is responsible,
35:50even though we've got eyewitnesses
35:51that say she was?
35:52She could still argue that.
35:54And so is there any forensic evidence
35:55that we need to recover?
35:56And also, you know,
35:57was she under the influence
35:58of alcohol or drugs at the time?
36:00And so various samples
36:01would have been taken for analysis.
36:04With Cordelia in custody,
36:06the police secured evidence
36:08and examined her for any injuries
36:10or signs of substance use.
36:13While eyewitnesses pointed to her,
36:16the investigation had to be thorough.
36:19Farrell may have handed herself in,
36:22but contrary to all the popular
36:24common sense myths,
36:25she's not going to admit to murder,
36:28and very few murderers actually do.
36:42The 37-year-old Cordelia Farrell
36:45has handed herself into the police,
36:48but despite witnesses
36:50to the murder of Wayne Coventry,
36:52the case will prove
36:53to be far from straightforward.
36:57When Cordelia is interviewed,
36:59the officers put a number
37:00of questions to her
37:01and she wouldn't answer any questions.
37:03And so the police are then left with,
37:05well, we've got Wayne dead,
37:07we've got the brother
37:09who's a witness,
37:10and we've got Cordelia
37:11who's been on the run.
37:14The only assumption
37:15we can make from that
37:16is that she's murdered Wayne
37:17and she intended to kill him.
37:19And so they go
37:20to the Crown Prosecution Service
37:22for an authority
37:23to charge her
37:24with murder of Wayne.
37:28Cordelia put up a plea
37:30for manslaughter
37:31as an alternative
37:32to the murder.
37:35And what she's saying effectively
37:37is that she admits
37:38to being responsible
37:39for the killing of Wayne,
37:40but that she didn't intend to do it
37:42and she didn't intend
37:43to cause him serious harm.
37:45It's an important legal distinction.
37:48Murder means life.
37:51Manslaughter can result
37:53in much less prison time.
37:54She just wanted
37:55to get away with it.
37:57She knew she'd have gone guilty,
37:59she'd have got longer.
38:02I thought Delia's plea
38:04of not guilty
38:05was absolutely ridiculous.
38:09She stabbed him in the neck.
38:11So where can she plead not guilty?
38:17And in fact,
38:18what she said
38:19was that she was
38:19defending herself
38:20because at some stage
38:22Wayne had put a knife
38:24towards her back.
38:26And so she grabbed
38:27this large kitchen knife,
38:29the largest knife
38:29in the block,
38:30and plunged it
38:31into Wayne's chest.
38:34And the police
38:35have to try
38:36and disprove that
38:37if they can.
38:38It's very difficult
38:40when you've got,
38:40you know,
38:41one person's word
38:42against another
38:42or when your victim
38:44is deceased
38:44and can't speak
38:45for themselves.
38:46And so you do your best
38:48to try and get
38:48corroborative evidence
38:49and, you know,
38:50the police would be
38:51relying on
38:51bad character evidence
38:53where Cordelia
38:54had this violent
38:55outburst on Wayne
38:56only a month
38:57before the murder.
38:59But obviously
39:00what Cordelia
39:01is also painting
39:01a picture of
39:02is that Wayne
39:02was violent
39:03and that she was
39:04merely defending herself.
39:06And so it's quite
39:07tricky for juries
39:08sometimes to try
39:09and work their way
39:10through that information
39:11and decide
39:12effectively
39:12who's telling
39:13the truth
39:13and who's not.
39:15Wayne's family
39:16would be chief
39:16witnesses
39:17in her trial.
39:19Well,
39:19when I was
39:20giving my evidence
39:20on the stand
39:21and I seen
39:22Cordelia
39:22in the dark
39:23she was actually
39:24smiling at me
39:24as if it was
39:25something to laugh
39:26about.
39:28She's got an
39:29evil streak in her.
39:30Definitely.
39:32The jury
39:33is given
39:34an outline
39:34of events.
39:36They hear
39:36about the
39:37non-molestation
39:38orders issued
39:39against Farrell.
39:41Even when
39:41she done
39:41them last
39:42two fingers
39:42to him
39:43she was still
39:44under the
39:44non-molestation
39:45so she could
39:46have gone
39:46to her
39:46honour of
39:47hand on that.
39:55The moment
39:55arrives.
39:57Will it be
39:58murder
39:58or
39:59manslaughter?
40:02Cordelia Farrell
40:03is convicted
40:03of manslaughter
40:04and sentenced
40:06to ten years
40:07for the killing
40:08of Wayne Coventry.
40:09The judge
40:10instructed
40:11that she serve
40:12a minimum
40:12of seven and a half
40:14years.
40:15Farrell was also
40:16given an
40:17eighteen month
40:18sentence
40:18for aggravated
40:20bodily harm
40:20to run
40:21concurrently.
40:23I think
40:24that the
40:25manslaughter
40:25verdict was a
40:26reflection of
40:27the fact that
40:28this was
40:29a voluntary
40:30relationship
40:31that the two
40:31were part of
40:32and that
40:34there were
40:34escalating
40:36episodes
40:36of violence
40:38that continued
40:39over a period
40:40of time.
40:41Therefore
40:42to some extent
40:43the manslaughter
40:44emerged out
40:46of that
40:46destructive
40:48relationship.
40:52It wasn't
40:53enough.
40:54Now we're
40:55near enough.
40:56I expect
40:57at least
40:59round about
40:59the twenty
41:00year mark.
41:02Ten years
41:02was nothing.
41:04I couldn't
41:05understand.
41:07I don't know
41:07how someone
41:08can get away
41:08with that.
41:10That just
41:11shows me
41:11that it's a
41:12dangerous person
41:13you're talking
41:13about.
41:14And I think
41:15she should have
41:15got what she
41:16deserved
41:16only instead
41:17of just the
41:17ten years
41:18that she got.
41:19My brother's
41:20lost his life
41:21and I'm never
41:21going to see him
41:22again but
41:22she gets to
41:23walk free
41:23in seven and a
41:24half years.
41:27It's wrong.
41:29For the family
41:31the trial
41:32could have
41:32turned out
41:33worse.
41:34A plea
41:34of self-defence
41:35might have
41:36seen Cordelia
41:37walk free
41:38but that claim
41:40was something
41:41the jury
41:41seems to have
41:42rejected.
41:44The jury
41:45dismissed
41:46any possibility
41:47that Cordelia
41:48was defending
41:49herself
41:49and I think
41:50what kind
41:51of helped
41:52them come
41:52to that
41:53conclusion
41:53was that
41:54Cordelia
41:55didn't hang
41:56around.
41:56You know
41:56this wasn't
41:57a reaction
41:58whereby
41:58I'm a word
41:59what have I
42:00done
42:00I need
42:00to get
42:01Wayne
42:01some help.
42:02She plunged
42:03the knife
42:03into him
42:04she removed
42:05it
42:05and then
42:05she ran
42:06away.
42:07The sentencing
42:08decision
42:09is devastating
42:10for Wayne's
42:11family
42:12as they
42:12try to
42:13come to
42:13terms
42:14with
42:14their
42:14loss.
42:16This is
42:17with all
42:17of our
42:18family apart
42:18it's totally
42:19destroyed
42:20me
42:20my partner
42:21and my
42:21son
42:21after what
42:22we went
42:23through
42:23we're all
42:24going through
42:25really bad
42:25mental health
42:26it's just
42:26hard
42:29and especially
42:30for an
42:3011 year old
42:31boy as well
42:32because he
42:33was stood
42:33right by the
42:34side of
42:34Wayne she
42:34put the
42:34knowledge
42:35for my
42:35brother.
42:38I'm still
42:38upset over
42:39it.
42:40I mean
42:41the pictures
42:42that I've
42:43got
42:44they're all
42:44laid out
42:45on a
42:45table
42:46which is
42:46just
42:47Wayne
42:49I've seen
42:49all the
42:50pictures
42:50and different
42:52bits and
42:52pieces
42:54they're all
42:54Wayne's
42:55this table
42:56I mean
42:57he's right
42:57by the
42:57side of
42:58my
42:59chair
43:00so I
43:01can see
43:02him every
43:02minute of
43:03the day
43:06for
43:06Sean
43:07spending
43:08time in
43:08the home
43:09where his
43:09brother
43:09lived
43:10brings a
43:11little
43:11consolation
43:13it's the
43:13last time
43:14I was
43:14with him
43:15I was
43:15here
43:15so
43:17looking to
43:18boy hopefully
43:19eventually
43:20yeah
43:21I've got his
43:22own little
43:22garden around
43:23the side of
43:23the house
43:24and then
43:24obviously
43:25he helped
43:25me build
43:25that gate
43:26where his
43:26plaque's on
43:35the gate
43:36for the men
43:37of the
43:37Coventry
43:38family
43:38their mission
43:39is clear
43:40to urge
43:42other men
43:42to break
43:43the silence
43:44and report
43:45abuse
43:46even when
43:47the abuser
43:48is a woman
43:51so if anybody's
43:52out there going
43:53through the same
43:53thing please get
43:54help or please
43:55listen to your
43:55family members
43:56or people that
43:57can see what's
43:58happening because
43:58they know a lot
43:59more than what
44:00you do
44:00I know it's
44:01hard but you
44:02need to try
44:02and listen
44:04I wish my
44:05brother had a
44:05done but he
44:06wouldn't be
44:06where he is
44:07now
44:09just miss him
44:12and I know
44:13for a fact
44:13if he'd have
44:14survived this
44:14he probably
44:15still would have
44:15dropped the
44:16charges
44:17because that's
44:17the sort of
44:18person he was
44:18he loved it
44:19a bit
44:20and no one
44:21could say
44:21nothing different
44:24when he found
44:25the right person
44:26he wanted to be
44:26with them all
44:27the time
44:27he was that
44:28sort of person
44:29he weren't one
44:30for cheating
44:30or going behind
44:31the backs
44:32or nothing
44:32he was good
44:35he just loved
44:36her too much
44:38he knew that
44:38it weren't right
44:39but he just
44:41couldn't turn
44:42his head
44:42he couldn't
44:43get away from
44:44it
44:52because he
44:53was besotted
44:53with her
44:54he couldn't
44:54act staying
44:55by himself
44:56he had to
44:57have somebody
44:58there
44:59and Delia
45:00happened to
45:00be the one
45:00he was with
45:01at the time
45:04Wayne's
45:04smile
45:04he was just
45:05contagious
45:11just like a
45:12Cheshire cat
45:14always grinning
45:15no matter
45:15what happened
45:16whether he was
45:17down or what
45:17he always had
45:18that's all
45:19always
45:20everyone used
45:21to go on
45:21about it
45:22it was contagious
45:24no matter
45:25what was going
45:25on
45:26he always
45:27had it
45:30I miss him
45:31a lot
45:42he doesn't
45:44he
45:59he
46:00he
46:00he
46:00he
46:02he
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