A new BBC documentary shines a light on the controversial joint enterprise doctrine through the case of a woman currently serving a 30 year prison sentence for murder.

Rachel Fulstow met Michael Hiller on a dating app and they started a relationship. In November 2022 Hillier shot and killed Liam Smith outside his house. Smith and Fulstow had previously been on a date three years prior where she said they had ‘non-consensual sex’. The case against Fulstow and Hillier hinged on the fact that the couple had meticulously plotted the murder together to punish him for being ‘a sexual predator’, with Hillier carrying out the killing and subsequently dousing his victim’s body in acid. When Hillier pulled the trigger, Rachel Fulstow was 100 miles away.

During the trial the prosecution made clear that Fulstow wasn’t at the scene of the crime, but secured a conviction on the basis of joint enterprise – that she contributed to, premeditated and planned the murder. This was proven through her internet search history, but in this documentary CPS lawyers who prosecuted her admit that there was no evidence Fulstow had asked Hillier to murder Smith, or had even expressed that she wanted him to be hurt at all.

Through a lengthy account of Fulstow’s recollection of events that she has sent to BBC journalists from prison, the documentary pieces together what she says was the abusive nature of her relationship with Hillier, including his ‘extreme’ coercive control. Fulstow is currently serving her sentence for murder at HMP Styal.

The programme comes as the Westminster Commission on Joint Enterprise concludes its evidence-gathering phase and begins drafting its final report, which is expected to be published later this year.

Kim Johnson MP, who serves as a Commissioner on the Westminster Commission on Joint Enterprise, said: ‘No woman should lose her liberty simply because of who she knows, who she loves, or because she was unable to escape a coercive and abusive relationship. After hearing extensive evidence through the Westminster Commission on Joint Enterprise, one thing is abundantly clear: this law continues to cause profound injustice and must be urgently reformed.’

She added that women, in particular young women, are being swept into the criminal justice system even when they themselves are victims of domestic abuse and coercive control. She said joint enterprise ‘fails to distinguish between mere association and genuine culpability.