Road rage killer Tracie Andrews delivered an ‘Oscar-winning performance’ in deception at a police press conference just hours after murdering fiance Lee Harvey in a frenzied attack, a new documentary claims.
Andrews, 46, a former part-time model, became one of Britain’s most notorious female killers after she stabbed her partner Lee Harvey, 25, 42 times on the side of a road in Alvechurch, Worcestershire, in December 1996.
Just 36 hours after the killing, Andrews, then 27, appeared alongside Mr Harvey’s parents – holding his mother’s hand – at an emotional press conference and described how she’d tried to help her fiance, who she claimed had been murdered by a ‘large man with staring eyes’ after a high-speed car chase on a quiet country road.
As body language expert Cliff Lansley, who is used to train staff at the US Department of Homeland Security, reveals on the Investigation Discovery series Faking It: Tears Of A Crime – Andrews gave away six separate signs of deception while saying just eight words: ‘I just tried to stop the bleeding really.’
Cliff reveals she was unconsciously signalling she had staged it all through her behaviour and ‘award-worthy’ speech. She did this, he says, by using the word ‘really’ while slightly shrugging her shoulder, dropping the volume of her voice, swallowing hard and then pausing before her pitch shot back up.
Vicious attack: Barmaid Tracie Andrews, 46, became one of Britain’s most notorious female killers after she stabbed her fiance Lee Harvey, 25, to death on the side of a quiet country road in Alvechurch, Worcestershire, in December 1996. She claimed he was killed by a motorist
Emotional: A new documentary re-examines footage from the police press conference Andrews, right, took part in just days after the killing. She held hands with Mr Harvey’s mother, Maureen, centre with husband Ray, as she described how she witnessed her fiance’s killing
During the press conference, still bruised from the apparent attack, she fought back tears as she tried to convince the police, press and the public of the story that she hoped would keep her out of jail.
Forensic psychologist Kerry Daynes adds: ‘If I was going to give an Oscar to the best criminal acting performance, then I think I’d give it to Andrews because she comes on and she is, to all the world, the epitome of a woman who is battered, broken and in a terrible state.’
Ms Daynes concludes: ‘But what you find is, throughout the press conference, she seems to grow in confidence, and it’s actually that confident performance that is incongruent with what she wants to portray herself as, which is obviously the victim. So the growing level of, ooh, actually, I’m going a really good job of this, er, I’m being plausible, I’m getting away with this is what is her ultimate downfall.’
Andrews, a barmaid, killed bus driver Mr Harvey by stabbing him 42 times during a furious row as they drove home from a pub down a quiet, leafy lane.
However she later claimed her partner had been the victim of a vicious road rage attack; that he had been killed by the passenger of another car which had been ‘tailgating’ and ‘playing cat and mouse’ before forcing the couple to come to a stop.
Convincing: Forensic psychologist Kerry Daynes said Andrews delivered an ‘Oscar-worthy’ performance during the press conference as she presented herself as a victim
Battered and bruised: Andrews, who claimed she had been punched by Mr Harvey’s killer, was unconsciously giving away signs that she was lying through her speech and body language
Andrews, who said she was punched by her partner’s killer, lied to the police and to Mr Harvey’s parents, who appeared with her at the televised press conference two days later.
Indeed Mr Harvey’s mother Maureen even held Andrews’ hand as she tearfully described the fictitious road rage killer, believing she was telling the truth.
The press conference clip was also analysed by forensic psychologist Kerry Daynes, who works with some of Britain’s most complex and challenging criminals.
She says: ‘If I was going to give an Oscar to the best criminal acting performance, then I think I’d give it to Andrews because she comes on and she is, to all the world, the epitome of a woman who is battered, broken and in a terrible state.’
Furious argument: Andrews stabbed bus driver Mr Harvey more than 42 times with a pen knife
However during the press conference she starts to let her true self show.
Ms Daynes continues: ‘She seems to grow in confidence, and it’s actually that confident performance that is incongruent with what she wants to portray herself as, which is obviously the victim.
She seems to grow in confidence, and it’s actually that confident performance that is incongruent with what she wants to portray herself as, which is obviously the victim
Forensic psychologist Kerry Daynes
‘So the growing level of, “oh, actually, I’m going a really good job of this, er, I’m being plausible, I’m getting away with this” is what is her ultimate downfall.’
Journalists attending the conference were struck by the moment when Andrews widened her eyes as she recreated the look on the fictional killer’s face. Many commentators would later point to it as an example of Andrews’ own rage.
However genuine rage would look quite different to this, Mr Lansley explains.
‘[Some commentators] said she looks capable of anger and aggression but that’s a misinterpretation because in anger we don’t see the eyes so wide,’ he said. ‘In anger we see brows down and the eyes tighter against the eye balls.
‘Because she’s imitating the eyes that she saw. It’s emphasising the speech, and it fits with the story. So it’s consistent.’
Jailed: Andrews, 46, was convicted of murder at Birmingham Crown Court in July 1997
The televised appearance led to witnesses coming forward who reported how they had seen Mr Harvey’s car screech to a stop on the side of the road, but that there had been no other cars at the scene.
A resident who lived near to the murder scene also reported hearing the raised voices of a man and a woman on the night of the murder but no other male voices.
Months after Mr Harvey was murdered, his fiancee was found guilty of murder and handed a life sentence. She was released in 2012 after serving 14 years.
Faking It: Tears of a Crime’ airs on Friday at 10pm on Investigation Discovery
How Andrews became one of Britain’s most notorious killers
‘Victim’: Tracie Andrews claimed she was injured by the man who killed her fiance Lee Harvey in December 1996
Lee Harvey, an easy-going and fun-loving bus driver, met Tracie Andrews in a nightclub in 1994.
She was a glamorous single mother (her daughter was then aged four) who ran a market stall selling perfume and had big dreams of becoming a model.
Jealous and possessive, Andrews would fly into a rage if she wasn’t always at the epicentre of Lee’s world, and during their volatile two-year relationship they split up many times.
However police were only made aware of the couple’s fiery past once they began their investigation into Mr Harvey’s murder.
Mr Harvey was stabbed more than 37 times in what Andrews claimed was a road rage attack.
She concocted a story that he had been murdered by a wild-eyed maniac and made public appeals to trace the culprit.
Crime scene: Police examine the road where Mr Harvey was viciously murdered
Mounting evidence: A graphic from the time of the case rounds up the evidence
Andrews appeared on television clutching the hand of Mr Harvey’s mother Maureen as she made an emotional appeal for help to catch the killer.
But her murder trial was told there was compelling forensic evidence which showed she had killed him with a Swiss Army-type pen knife, following an argument.
Neighbours at the couple’s home in Alvechurch said they frequently heard shouting and the jury was told Andrews had violently attacked Mr Harvey and other former boyfriends.
She was jailed for life, with a recommendation that she serve a minimum of 14 years before she was considered for parole.
Almost two years later she confessed to killing Mr Harvey in a letter to her solicitor, but insisted she was acting in self-defence.
Staged rage: The science behind Andrews’ wide-eyed stare
Intense: Many remember this photograph of Andrews from the press conference
The image many remember from Tracie Andrews’ news conference is one of her with her eyes wide and mouth open as she recreated the look she had seen on the face of the fictitious road rage murderer with ‘staring’ eyes.
Commentators and journalists at the conference would later claim the look was the first indication that Andrews herself was capable of the kind of rage she claimed to have witnessed in the killer.
However body language expert Cliff Lansley explains in the documentary that this is a constructed look and that genuine rage would come across as quite different.
‘In anger we see brows down and the eyes tighter against the eye balls,’ he says. ‘Because she’s imitating the eyes that she saw. It’s emphasising the speech, and it fits with the story. So it’s consistent.’