It remains one of the most disturbing crimes to capture the public’s attention in the 1990s.
Tracie Andrews, then a 27-year-old mother of one, brutally stabbed her fiancé, Lee Harvey, 42 times with a Swiss Army-style penknife, ultimately severing an artery in his neck.
The attack was so savage that detectives initially accepted Andrews’ account that the couple had been targeted by two men in a road-rage incident.
But her version of events began to collapse during a now-infamous press conference. Sitting beside Lee’s grieving mother, Maureen, Andrews appealed for the alleged attackers to come forward—yet the inconsistencies in her story soon became apparent.
Channel 5 is revisiting the case in the true-crime drama Under Suspicion: Tracie Andrews – Lover, Liar, Killer, which airs ahead of the 30th anniversary of Lee’s murder in December.
The hour-long docudrama features actress Emma Rigby portraying the woman whose false road-rage claim became one of Britain’s most notorious murder deceptions.
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, Emma, 37, described becoming “all consumed” by the role. She said the intensity of playing Andrews left her struggling to sleep—and at times genuinely frightened.
Lee was only 25 when he was killed, and he, like Andrews, had a young daughter named Danielle. The couple had been driving home from the Marlbrook pub in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, to Alvechurch when Andrews attacked him after he pulled over on a quiet country road.
Pictured: Tracie Andrews, who claimed she was the victim of a road-rage attack in the Worcestershire village of Alvechurch in 1996
The 27-year-old mother of one stabbed her fiancé, Lee Harvey, pictured, 42 times with a Swiss Army-style penknife
Actress Emma Rigby portrays Tracie Andrews in the new television docudrama
Their turbulent relationship was reportedly shaped by jealousy, possessiveness and violent confrontations. Andrews had previously attacked Lee with a bottle.
Emma said: “I couldn’t sleep properly. I wasn’t sleeping while we were filming because I was completely consumed by her. She was such a complicated character that I don’t think I ever fully switched off. I was constantly reading about her, watching footage, listening to her voice and trying to enter that mindset. Most of us are empathetic, but she doesn’t seem to possess that quality.
“It was important to convey that emotional distance—the coldness and the absence of feeling. When you play a character, you can often find some connection or affection for them, but I found none with her. There was no attempt to redeem herself, and she has never shown that to this day.”
Emma also admitted she felt deeply uneasy before filming the scenes depicting Lee’s murder.
She said: “While we were filming, I was genuinely scared. I kept thinking about what Lee must have endured that night. During the scene in which Tracie attacks him, I remember shaking. There was so much adrenaline, and I couldn’t stop thinking about Lee—about how completely alone he must have felt.
“The fact that he was left dying while she did nothing underlines the horrific brutality and complete callousness of the crime.”
Emma, who joined the teen soap Hollyoaks at 15 before appearing in the BBC series Prisoners’ Wives, said she felt a particular duty to portray Andrews accurately for Lee’s devastated relatives.
She added: “It was the first time I had played someone who was a real person, and that brought an enormous responsibility. You are portraying someone who took Lee Harvey’s life and shattered his family. I wanted to ensure the audience understood who she really was.
Andrews was charged with Harvey’s murder after detectives determined that she had been in the car with him when the attack took place
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Emma Rigby (pictured), 37, told how she became ‘all consumed’ while playing evil Andrews that she hardly slept during filming
‘I don’t want people to like her or feel sorry her, or sympathise her, we were showing a journey that was all her own actions and consequence of what she decided to do.
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‘I was really horrified personally, and the level of disconnect and lack of remorse, the idea that she was completely narcissistic and incredibly manipulative. She’s quite terrifying, and I imagine for Lee that he was scared of her.
‘He probably was, of what she might do, because we see the lengths that she goes to. Maureen said in her interview that Lee had threatened to leave her, and that she’s said if I can’t have you no-one else can either.’
One of the things that Emma knew she had to get right was the now infamous police press conference. Tracie appeared in front of the press with a black eye to appeal for Lee’s ‘killer’ and the man that was with him, to come forward. As she described the killer as being a ‘fat man with staring eyes’ she pulled a face that was captured by photographers.
‘We did quite a few takes but we got it,’ she says. ‘I remember our director being slightly terrified when I first did it! But it was so important. The staring eyes image, the face that she pulled during that press conference, that was the real moment where the facade of her as a victim dropped and you saw this unhinged part of her personality with that photo.
‘The holes in her story which the press pointed out during the press conference, it really was this pivotal moment in the investigation where she transformed from victim to suspect.’
Writer and director Grant Armour used accounts from Lee’s mum Maureen from her book Pure Evil, and spoke to Senior Investigating officer Ian Johnston to piece together everything that happened after Tracie called the police with her version of the events. As well as reading the news coverage and watching the police press conference.
He also tried to track down Tracie and reached out to her daughter Karla who was initially going to meet with him before changing her mind.
Tracie Andrews, accompanied by her solicitor Tim Robinson in 1997
Tracie Andrews arrives at Birmingham Crown Court before being found guilty of murdering her fiancee Lee Harvey
He said: ‘We attempted to contact Tracie but it was very difficult to find her. We did actually make contact with her daughter, we were speaking with her and we were going to meet her but then she changed her mind and said didn’t want to take part.
‘Unfortunately we were not able to speak to Lee’s mum Maureen. She’s in her 80s now but we have spoken to Michelle, Lee’s sister. I had a really invaluable call with the SIO Ian Johnston, who led the investigation, and he was able to divulge things that happened behind closed doors, different moments that we had no idea about.
‘He was very helpful especially when it came to the interview under caution because we didn’t have a transcript of that. It was based on his memories and the evidence, essentially it was a no comment interview but there was also this moment where Tracie almost confessed during the interview, we tried to bring that moment to life.’
Tracie was charged with Lee’s murder on the 19th December 1996, just 16 days after that police press conference.
She was found guilty of murder during her month-long trial in July 1997 and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 14 years.
Fourteen years after her sentencing, she was released from Askham Grange Prison near York in 2011. Tracie had served the minimum term of her sentence.
She adopted the name Tia Carter and then Jenna Stephens, had surgery to alter her jawline and moved to a southern coastal town.
In 2017, she married bouncer Phil Goldsworthy, who she had met in the bar where she worked, and took the name Jenna Stephens Goldsworthy.
The hour-long special ends with Tracie telling police officers that she was more famous than Princess Diana following the public interest around Lee’s brutal murder and her deception.
Grant said: ‘It was in Maureen’s book, that she’d told police officers that she was more famous than Princess Diana! When I heard that line, I wanted it to be the final line of the film, and I’m not giving anything away, but it feeds into her delusions and idea of fame.’
Under Suspicion: Tracie Andrews – Lover, Liar, Killer, airs on Wednesday at 9pm on Channel 5.
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