The Duchess of York’s former aide, Jane Andrews, has been sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of the murder of her 39-year-old lover Thomas Cressman. An Old Bailey jury deliberated for 12 hours before returning an 11-1 majority verdict.
Andrews, 34, had been accused of beating her boyfriend over the head with a cricket bat while he slept before stabbing him in the chest with an eight-inch kitchen knife after he had revealed that he did not wish to marry her in September of last year. She then left him to bleed to death in bed while she made her escape.
The verdict, which came at the end of a 14-day trial, was greeted with a gasp of joy by Cressman’s mother Barbara who had described Andrews’ accusations of rape and violence against her son as a “tissue of lies”. His father, 74-year-old multi-millionaire Harry Cressman, from whom Barbara is divorced, made a gesture of thanks towards the jury before sobbing as he hugged his ex-wife.
Andrews, dressed in black, sat in silence clutching a white handkerchief as Judge Michael Hyam spoke of her crime. “It is evident when you made the attack upon him you were consumed with anger and bitterness. Nothing can justify what you did,” he told her.
A statement later issued by Thomas Cressman’s family said: “Although the verdict we have just heard will not bring Tom back, we now have a conclusion. Our faith in British justice has been rewarded. The jury has confirmed the view of the family and the police that this was a case of premeditated murder, and that Jane Andrews’ lies to cover up her actions were not believed.”
Last night, with Andrews on suicide watch as she began her sentence at north London’s Holloway Prison, further details of the former royal aide’s financial finagling came to light. Her position on the Duchess of York’s staff included shopping for her employer, and she is believed to have cheated Fergie out of £10,000 in the course of her nine years’ service.
She cashed a cheque for £8,000 on a family bank account of former lover Dimitri Horne after he broke off their affair. And when police investigating Cressman’s murder searched the home the couple shared, they discovered £12,000 worth of silver bracelets, rings and necklaces stolen from the London jewellers where Andrews worked after being dismissed from the Duchess’ employ.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
