[tense music]
[narrator] Two troubled lovers. A shared timeline.
A desperate destiny.
It was a toxic relationship. They wasn't right for each other.
It was a recipe for disaster
and it was only gonna end one way.
I watched them die that night themselves.
It was the worst thing I've ever seen.
[narrator] Olivia Labinjo and Gary Cunningham,
nobody's idea of a perfect couple.
♪ I scream into the sky ♪
[narrator] Those around them can only watch and wait.
-[glass tinkling] -[woman] Deep down in my heart,
I knew that it was gonna be inevitable.
It was just when it was gonna happen.
-♪ I never wanted you to see ♪ -[siren wailing]
♪ The damage that you've done to me ♪
There's a lot of bad people out there, a lot of bad people.
Whether they be men, whether they be women.
♪ Twisted, I recognize ♪
♪ The hate behind your eyes ♪
♪ Crippled me inside ♪
[man] If you're in one of them relationships,
you need to get out of them.
It's as simple as that.
[ominous music]
[heartbeat thudding]
[phone buzzing]
[narrator] It is the weekend, when a father receives a call
for help from his adult son.
He phoned me on a Sunday afternoon.
It was in November.
He says, "Dad, can you come and pick me up?"
[narrator] Gary Cunningham, 29,
has been staying with his girlfriend.
When Gary got in the car, he burst out crying and he says,
"She's only stabbed me in the arm."
I says, "You need to report her.
That woman is dangerous."
[Kellie] He was still trying to play it down.
I feel like that was,
he was at his breaking point then.
Never seen him cry. He says, "Dad, I can't report her to the police."
I says, "Why not?"
He says, "Because she's got a young son,
of four years of age."
He says, "if the social services get involved,"
he says, "they're gonna take him off her."
[narrator] Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow,
a young woman with seemingly everything going for her.
She was awarded a scholarship to a very prestigious school in Solihull.
She's definitely intelligent, there's no doubt about that.
-She was very bright. -[bright music]
She engaged with the activities
to the point that she was even on the debating team.
And she did so well that she actually went
to university to study politics in 2011.
[narrator] At Nottingham University, she gets a boyfriend.
[Roberta] In her second year,
we know that Olivia entered a relationship.
[narrator] She meets Thomas Hughes,
a laborer from her hometown of Birmingham.
The relationship is not a healthy one.
♪ What's her name is spreading rumors ♪
♪ They don't really care about us ♪
[narrator] Friends see them fight.
Olivia begins to struggle emotionally.
As Olivia's time in university progresses,
it becomes apparent to her friends and people around her
that she's experiencing mental health difficulties.
This could be as a result of the pressures of university,
of studying quite a academically demanding topic,
but also she was in the volatile relationship,
which is also likely to have an impact on her sense of self,
her mood, and her confidence.
[tense music]
[narrator] Olivia begins to drink heavily
and she's experimenting with cocaine.
She pays the price.
We know that things came to a head for Olivia
and she prematurely left university.
And this is when her mother came and took her back home.
♪ All these promises ♪
♪ Promises to atone ♪
♪ Where did it all go wrong ♪
[narrator] Back in Birmingham, her relationship with Hughes continues.
In 2014, Olivia and Hughes have a baby boy.
The baby is named Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.
Within the year, Arthur's father has left the young family.
A mom at 20, a single parent, a failed student,
Olivia's young life appears a mess.
♪ It's only just begun ♪
We look at the experiences that Olivia had.
She had left university prematurely.
She'd experienced mental health difficulties
and she'd left a volatile relationship.
These are traumatic experiences,
and it's likely that Olivia used alcohol
as a way of trying to self soothe
or somehow cope with her situation.
[narrator] Keen to instill some order into her life,
Olivia enlists as an army volunteer.
She has ambitions for a career in the services.
Olivia made attempts to change her life
and this is evidenced by the fact
that she actually made lance corporal in the Army Reserves.
[narrator] But her addiction to drink means
that young mom, Olivia,
is about to experience her first brush with the law.
[Roberta] We do know that her drinking increased
to the point where she was convicted of drink driving
about a year and a half after the birth of her son.
[narrator] Within months of getting her license back,
she is again prosecuted for drink driving.
Unfortunately, her relationship with alcohol
and cocaine are actually pulling her
in a different direction
and not necessarily a direction that's most helpful for her.
[tense music]
[narrator] Less than 10 miles away lives Gary Cunningham.
His and Olivia's life timelines are about to collide.
Gary was the most spontaneous person,
cheeky, funny person I've ever met.
He was a very popular lad.
He always had people knocking at the door for him,
you know, asking him to go out.
He was actually known as Sausage within the family,
hence his nickname, Saus.
And that was what my nan and grandad
used to call Gary as well.
He'd just draw people in
because of how he was naturally around people.
[Ben] He was very loved within the family and he was really sweet, so.
[tense music]
[narrator] But Gary isn't without issues,
ones which leave him isolated.
Once he got into his teens,
he developed Tourette's quite badly.
He was given medication for that
and he was also diagnosed with ADHD.
[narrator] Suddenly, the lively lad who enjoys showing off
is attracting the wrong sort of attention.
Sometimes he would have major problems with people,
obviously, you know, taking the mickey
as you do when you're a teenager at school.
But he tended to cope with it quite well.
He tended to hide a lot of his tics.
[narrator] His lack of success at school
doesn't stop him building a career.
He moved on and decided to get his head down, knuckle down,
and passed most of his electrical qualifications
to become a street lamp installer.
[narrator] Any spare time he has
is filled with his hobbies.
He was pretty handy with his car.
Used to like, you know,
working on his car
and he was very good with electronics as well.
He's got a DJ set upstairs
which he played regular and messed about with regular.
But one of Gary's main passions was his drum and bass.
He used to drive us mad.
Most nights he'll be up there playing his drum and bass.
[upbeat electronic music]
His room is just littered in all the tickets
of venues and events that he's ever been to.
But he loved his music.
Gary loved music so much and he loved dancing.
[intense electronic music]
He loved to-- to go out and party with his friends.
I know that for a fact.
Even in the middle of the week
when he's gonna be up for work the next morning.
And he had friends round
and sometimes even after his sessions of going out at night,
we'd wake up the next morning
to find him and his friends still in the kitchen.
[narrator] Gary begins dating a local girl
around this time and seems to be overcoming his challenges.
He seemed well settled in his early 20s,
and maybe even to his mid 20s.
[narrator] In 2013, Gary and his girlfriend
make an announcement to their families.
Round about his mid 20s, his daughter was born, Amelia.
I think that did kind of settle him down a bit.
[narrator] Being a good father for Gary means trying
to manage his Tourette's.
He would really try to suppress his tics,
which, unfortunately, led him to other forms of medication
rather than take his doctor's approved medication.
He actually spoke to a health professional when discussing his ADHD
and recognized that his binge drinking was becoming worse and more problematic.
[tense music]
[Gary Sr.] And that's when he tended to use alcohol as a kind of suppressant
or even, you know, drugs as well.
That was mainly just drum and bass nights.
I think that was the whole,
that's what you and your mates do.
You go out, you have a rave, you take some drugs,
you drink a lot, and you have a good night.
[narrator] The combination of drink and drugs
changes his usually friendly personality.
Age 25, Gary's relationship
with his girlfriend takes an ugly turn.
[Roberta] In 2013, Gary was convicted
of criminal damage and battery.
He assaulted the mother of his child.
We all have a period in our life
where we think maybe we would've drank a bit too much.
Gary would probably agree that sometimes maybe he did.
[narrator] He and the mother of his daughter split.
Gary's behavior is becoming more reckless.
His family are concerned for his safety.
[Gary Sr.] 'Cause I've warned him many a time about, you know, drink driving.
♪ With a feeling like ♪
[Gary Sr.] Never stopped having a go about him, you know, drinking and driving.
♪ A feeling like I could fly ♪
But he wouldn't listen to me.
♪ Feeling so high ♪
[Gary Sr.] I says at some point, you are gonna get caught.
[narrator] And in the winter of 2017, he is.
Fortunately enough, they didn't send him to prison.
They put him on a drinking rehabilitation course.
[narrator] Gary's family hope that it will be the wake-up call he needs
to get his life back on track.
On the same course, Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow.
[bright music]
Gary and Olivia meet at a drink driver's course.
Meeting at a drink driver's course may not have been
the best place for them to meet
because, ultimately, the thing that they both struggle with
is the very thing that brought them together.
[narrator] The two begin a romantic relationship.
I knew Gary had a girlfriend
because obviously I was told
about it through family friends.
♪ 'Cause we've been waiting for the flood ♪
♪ To old to let this burn, burn ♪
[narrator] Within weeks,
Gary introduces Olivia to his family.
A meeting his father will never forget.
He brought her back one night in June.
I remember it quite well, actually.
It was a lovely sunny day
and the pair of them had been drinking,
but I don't think Gary was much worse for wear
than what Olivia was.
She was quite well intoxicated.
[tense music]
Two kids, liked drinking,
liked having too much fun maybe sometimes.
And that was it.
All of a sudden, she turned around to me and says, "I want to marry your son."
And I thought, well that's a bit odd.
Why would you say that?
"You know I want to marry him, don't you?"
I says, "I don't even know how long you've been together.
How long've you been together?"
And she says, "Long enough."
She says, "But I wanna be with him for the rest of my life."
And I thought that was really, really odd.
[tense music]
Together, they wasn't perfect.
We can see two people who have very different lives
but have a commonality
in terms of struggling with their life circumstances,
and they're using alcohol and drugs
as a way of managing that.
And, unfortunately, it's leading them on a collision path.
[narrator] It's a collision
that Gary's father can see all too clearly,
but he's powerless to stop it.
Couldn't make him or tell him.
But I did advise him.
I says, "Gary," I says, "That woman's not right the head."
And that was the same night I first met her.
And he says, "Dad, she's just got mental health issues."
I says, "Okay, son. Okay.
We'll see what happens."
Deep down in my heart,
I knew that it was gonna be inevitable.
It was just when it was gonna happen.
[tense music]
[narrator] Gary Cunningham and Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow
become partners in partying.
I think what attracted him to her
was the fact that she was very confident
and she liked to party as well.
So initially that would've stood out for him.
You know, someone like him.
[narrator] Olivia lives with her young son, Arthur,
and Gary, estranged from his own daughter,
takes to the little boy.
Oh, he loved him to bits.
He says, you know,
said, "He's a great son, Dad."
I says, "Bring him up and, you know,
I'll have to meet him one day."
I think for Gary,
having that little family unit with Arthur and Olivia
did appeal to him,
but nobody could take that place of his daughter.
[narrator] But for Gary's father,
there is one big problem.
I've probably seen her about four or five times now
and each time I'd seen her, she'd been intoxicated.
[narrator] The couple share unhealthy appetites.
The only appeal that I know,
as far as I could see,
was that they were both good drinking buddies.
They liked drink.
Probably drink until the end of the night
and maybe even longer and take cocaine.
So that was, I believe, in fact what I know,
was the only attraction to her.
I knew that Gary took drugs,
but he was taking more drugs when he was with Olivia.
[narrator] To Gary's father, Olivia appears boastful.
Apparently she was in the Signals
and that she earns 50,000 pound a year.
And she's told me that
within a space of two, maybe three hours of meeting her.
It's not the kind of thing you say to anybody
in any circumstances, really.
Your salary is what your salary is, whether it's good or it's bad.
[narrator] Olivia does not reveal that she is, in fact,
a voluntary reservist in the Territorial Army.
It turned out she was actually a TA.
And, in fact, she hadn't had a good reputation there either
because of her drinking.
[narrator] Together only two months,
there's an unexpected development.
In 2018, Olivia found herself pregnant.
[narrator] Gary tells his friend, Abbs Barnes,
how he learned of the news.
Olivia was pregnant with his child,
or so he believed was his child.
They didn't speak about it.
Olivia had come back one night
and said, "I've had an abortion."
He was devastated.
He was genuinely devastated.
[narrator] Theirs is a relationship fueled
by drink and drugs.
For Roberta Babb, it is plainly a destructive one.
What really becomes apparent is the relationship
between Gary and Olivia is toxic.
It's on, it's off, it's on, it's off.
There's reports of violence perpetrated with both of them.
They were both as bad as each other
in terms of arguing.
At times, you know,
you could see there was a lot of arguing in texts.
[narrator] And the violence is escalating.
During an argument over a takeaway meal, Gary is stabbed.
It was a fork in the foot over a silly argument.
We went on a night out
and he told us where Olivia had stabbed him in the foot
and in the elbow, just a couple of weeks back.
And he still had the scar.
[narrator] Reporting the incident
is not something Gary will consider.
But it was played down.
And Gary never wanted to get the police involved.
He says, "Dad, I can't report it to the police."
I says, "Why not?"
He says, "Because she's got a young son,
of four years of age."
He was scared she would lose custody of her son,
'cause he said, "Oh, it'll be a shame for the son.
She's a good mom."
He says "If the social services get involved",
he says, "They're gonna take him off her."
I think he was just protecting her,
because that's the kind of person Gary was.
[narrator] For those around them, the truth is plain to see.
I went over to see Gary and he come out of his,
where he lived, and he had scars down his face
that weren't there when I last saw Gary,
which then raised my eyebrow.
And I asked Gary where he got them from.
And he said, "I got them from Olivia.
She likes to attack me."
He was shocked at her violence.
That was the overall impression I got.
That's, 100%, he couldn't believe that she'd done that.
In a haze of alcohol,
in a haze of cocaine use,
people aren't quite sure what is real or what isn't real
and that can also add to this cycle
of destruction, volatility, and toxicity.
[narrator] It does.
Olivia stabs Gary again, this time with a potato peeler.
And I says, "Why has she done that?"
He says, "Because she wouldn't stop arguing
about me going out.
And that she wanted me to stop at the flat."
[narrator] Present in the room
at the time of the attack are Olivia's son, Arthur,
and his father, Thomas Hughes, who's visiting.
If she can do that in her own house
with her own son there,
she's a danger not only to everybody else
or people who are around her, but also to her son.
"No, Dad," he says, "I can't report it." He says.
He told me he felt shame
because he's a male
and stuff like this doesn't happen to males,
but actually it does.
But he just couldn't find a way to leave.
[narrator] This latest attack is the final straw for Gary.
He'd actually broken up with Olivia
and met another girl and he seemed happy.
I was aware that he'd got with somebody else.
And I thought, thank God for that.
He's got rid of her and, you know,
he'd met a nice girl.
And things seemed to be going well.
[narrator] But the relief at Gary no longer being
-with Olivia is short-lived. -[tense music]
They parted ways and he went back to Olivia.
When Gary stayed at mine in the December in 2018,
Olivia was ringing his phone out.
I then text him on New Year's Eve saying,
"I can't believe that you've gone back to her.
I hope nothing bad happens to you."
[narrator] Gary's father is less forgiving
of the woman who has twice stabbed his son.
And Gary's words to me was,
"I've got somebody here to see you."
He brought her in through the back door
and she had a bottle of vodka.
And he says, "She's got that bottle of vodka
just to apologize for what's happened."
I said, "I do not want that woman in my house.
What she's done to you,
you expect me to sit there
and let her walk around my house freely? No."
I said, "Get her out."
But Gary's his own kind of person.
He was very independent, Gary was, in that sense.
If he's gonna do something, it doesn't matter what you tell him.
[tense music]
[narrator] Gary cannot resist what Olivia has to offer.
-He ended up going back to Olivia. -[upbeat music]
I think personally,
just to go back on the drink and the cocaine, no doubt.
♪ Say what you like, mate ♪
♪ I don't mind ♪
♪ 'Cause I like drinking ♪
♪ I like drinking ♪
We can see how difficult it is for them
to support each other in their sobriety.
We see them drinking together.
But not only that, we see that when they're drinking,
they drink to such levels that they end up
in quite a toxic space where they accuse each other
of actually engaging and acting in quite aggressive ways.
I think he felt some kind of guilt on her.
He didn't want to leave her
because of her mental state and he felt sorry for her.
[narrator] Possessiveness plays a big part
-in their new dynamic. -[tense music]
And that's where a lot of her jealousy come from,
because she wanted to know all about this girl
that he'd been seeing.
He told me that he couldn't actually have my number stored
in his mobile because it would spark arguments.
Who's Abby? Et cetera.
[narrator] Once known for his happy-go-lucky nature,
friends start to see a change in Gary.
When I saw Gary in the December of 2018,
I said to him, "You look unwell."
And he had visibly lost weight.
She wore him down
and he put on a mask
to make out if it was okay.
And really, behind that mask, he was hurting.
His mental health declined.
He told me he felt suicidal.
The way she spoke to him in front of people,
just derogatory comments
and they just weren't kind.
It was more psychological, mental abuse,
trying to wind him down.
And he was fed up at sometimes.
You could hear it.
She hurts him to a point where it has an impact
but it doesn't actually cause the relationship
to disintegrate. [melancholy music]
It was a toxic relationship. They wasn't right for each other.
But they can't quite let each other go, but they can't quite be together.
I just got to the stage where I was sick of telling him,
to be quite honest.
You get to the stage where you can only tell him so much
and if they're not gonna listen,
there's not much you can do about it, unfortunately.
[narrator] Those close to Gary now seriously fear for his safety.
I actually said to Gary,
"If you don't leave, something drastic will happen."
[tense music]
The stories started to come through from friends
about how they'd been in his house
and she told one of Gary's friends,
"I could kill him and get away with it
and use my post-traumatic stress disorder as an excuse,
'cause I've been in the army and I've served."
He told me he was scared of her.
He didn't know what she was capable of.
[tense music continues]
-[tense music] -[traffic whooshing]
[narrator] On February the 23rd, Gary Cunningham Sr.
receives a call from his son.
On the evening around about 8:00 on the Friday, I think it was,
I get a phone call off Gary.
And he says to me, "Dad, can you come and pick me up?"
[narrator] It's a recurring theme.
Since losing his license the previous year,
Gary's relied on his father for lifts.
Obviously I knew that he was banned from driving
and he'd probably spent all his money on,
you know, drinking the night before.
So most of the time if he phoned me,
I'd, you know, go and pick him up.
[narrator] That weekend, Gary Cunningham Sr.
is away with his wife, Louise, in Herefordshire.
I said, "You know where I am son?"
I says, "Gary, I can't physically do it.
It's getting late
and you expect me to drive all the way back."
I says, "I dunno.
Find another way of getting back.
You can't expect me to do this every time you phone me."
[narrator] Gary Sr. has seen it all before.
"Yeah, but, Dad, I need you to pick me up," he said.
He says, "She's having to go at me.
We're arguing," he says.
"I need to get out of here."
[narrator] But this time,
Gary will have to find his own way home.
To be quite honest, because he was with her,
it's probably one of the main reasons
why I didn't pick him up.
'Cause he knew I didn't want him to be with her.
And he obviously wasn't taking any notice
of what I was asking him to do.
So…
That's probably one of the reasons
why I didn't make the effort to drive all the way back home.
So he says, "You can't pick me up then?"
I says, "No, son, I can't."
And that was the last conversation I had with him.
[tense music continues]
[tense music]
[narrator] In the leafy Birmingham suburb of Harborne,
-a discovery. -[tense music continues]
At around about 11 o'clock on the morning of the 23rd of February, 2019,
the police received a treble 9 call
from a member of the public
who was clearly distressed
and had found a male lifeless
in the stairwell just outside Olivia's address.
I believe a delivery driver actually found Gary
at the bottom of the stairs.
They identify that the victim is Gary.
And so they go up to Olivia's address and knock on the door.
[narrator] Nine miles away in Northfield, Birmingham,
the news reaches Gary's sister, Katie.
She said, "She's done this to my brother."
And they said, "Who?"
She said, "His girlfriend. She's done this."
And they said, "What makes you think that?"
And she said, "Because she's been abusive to my brother.
And a few months ago, she stabbed him before."
[narrator] Gary's father is next to get the news.
We had a knock at the door.
It was Katie with her friend, Kellie, and the police.
I didn't realize at the time it was the police.
Katie came in. She says,
"You need to sit down."
[melancholy music continues]
I says to Katie, I says,
"Why do I need to sit down?
Don't need to sit down. Don't be stupid."
And I remember standing there
when they told the mom and the dad what had happened.
And they fell apart.
And that was when the police told me that
found the body at the landing.
"How do you know it's Gary?"
And she says, "He's been formally identified."
I watched them die that night themselves.
It was the worst thing I've ever seen.
They says, "All we know is
that he'd been stabbed
and there's somebody under arrest
for the stabbing."
I even says to the police, I says, "I know who it is."
I said, "It's Olivia, isn't it?"
[narrator] It is a line of inquiry that police are pursuing.
When police arrived at Olivia's address
and broke the news to her that Gary was dead,
her reaction was extremely strange, to say the least.
[narrator] She appears to know nothing of what's gone on.
She was sitting in her pajamas, drinking vodka.
She's just lying there watching TV
as if she ain't got a care in the world.
Watching Mrs. Doubtfire,
seemingly unaware of what had happened.
The police asked if there's anything had gone on.
"No, nothing's gone on here. Why?"
[narrator] But it's clear to police that something has gone on.
Police also found a bloodstained pink knife in the sink,
which was an indication
that something violent had transpired in that space.
And so Olivia is arrested
on suspicion of Gary's murder.
And her response is fairly nonchalant.
You know, she doesn't seem overly bothered by that.
Doesn't seem surprised.
They arrested her in handcuffs
and took her out past Gary's body,
because she apparently turned round to the officers,
"I was supposed to have done that.
You're having to laugh.
I haven't done that."
She told the police that he'd killed himself.
[narrator] Police will have to build a case.
There will be no confession.
A known substance abuser,
Olivia's blood is taken for testing.
And that comes back that she has both cocaine
and alcohol in her system.
Didn't admit she had drugs in. It was just alcohol.
Even though she tested positive for cocaine,
she still said to the police on the interview
that she never took cocaine in her life.
When you look at the levels of cocaine and alcohol
that was in Olivia's bloodstream
at the time of the murder,
I would say that,
although she shouldn't be behind a wheel
and driving a car,
she should be fully aware of what her actions are.
[narrator] A postmortem on Gary shows evidence
of a frenzied attack.
There are multiple injuries on his body.
He had a stab wound to his chest,
but the fatal blow was actually to the back of his leg.
And, in fact, there were three stab wounds to the back of his legs.
Nobody deserves to die in the manner that Gary died.
That's another thing that's really difficult to take.
The fact that he was just left.
From what I understand,
he could have actually been saved
if somebody would've reached him in time.
If an ambulance would've got there or, you know, the police
or if somebody just would've picked up the phone.
But, unfortunately, that didn't happen
and he was left there for a long time during the night.
[tense music]
[narrator] Having been informed of Gary's death,
his family are invited to view his body in the mortuary.
We wanted to remember him the way he was.
He'd been identified by fingerprints.
It was a few days later that his sister, Katie,
actually physically identified him.
Me and Katie went and we identified him.
And we was told we wasn't allowed to touch him
because he was classed as a murder scene
and they needed to preserve all evidence.
So I spoke to him.
And he looked peaceful.
And he still had the cheeky grin on his face.
And I said, "It's gonna be okay.
You're at peace now. I dunno what's happened to you,
but you're at peace, so rest."
[tense music continues]
[narrator] The question remained,
what had happened to Gary Cunningham?
Having been processed and in custody,
Olivia is then interviewed by murder squad detectives
and they put a number of questions to her.
And at that point,
Olivia decides to go no comment
and doesn't answer any questions put to her
by the police officers.
[narrator] Olivia may not be talking, but her phone tells a story.
It's commonplace in any investigation
to seize and examine mobile phones.
And that's exactly what they did in this particular case.
What they discovered was that there were a number of text messages sent
between Olivia and Gary,
clearly showing that there had been a number of arguments
and, on occasions, violent outbursts.
We've seen other messages where there'd been other men
who she was also seeing as well as Gary.
We found that Olivia had sent previous messages
to other partners in the past.
And she was clearly the aggressor in each of those messages.
Lot of sexual talking,
putting herself out there with the messages.
She's very confident.
She's a very confident girl with her messages.
[narrator] Police now believe they have sufficient evidence to move forward.
Olivia is eventually charged with Gary's murder
and she's placed on remand and sent to prison.
[narrator] But there is an unexpected twist.
On remand in prison awaiting trial,
Olivia makes an allegation.
We found out by the police that she'd phoned,
Olivia had phoned the police from the prison
to report a sexual offense.
She even said that Gary had raped her the night
that he was killed.
There was no evidence of that.
And I think this is potentially part of Olivia's manipulation
in that she's had time to reflect on the seriousness
of what has happened between her and Gary,
and she's now trying to get a defense in fairly early on
and trying to discredit Gary and show him as the aggressor.
So basically a counter allegation against Gary.
[narrator] Olivia shows no intention of taking responsibility for Gary's murder.
Her allegation may see any verdict reduced to manslaughter.
Her actions are response to the rape.
She'd admitted to manslaughter
and that wasn't good enough for us.
We wanted murder.
The prosecution were a bit apprehensive at first,
but we eventually convinced them
that we believe it's murder,
especially 12 times
of stabbing.
[melancholy music]
[narrator] In the summer of 2019
at Birmingham Crown Court,
Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow stands trial
for killing Gary Cunningham.
Her defense paints a picture of Gary as violent.
During the trial, it came out, as we expected,
that Gary had previous convictions for violence.
And Olivia used that to her advantage
to paint this picture of Gary,
who was a violent individual, would regularly assault her.
[narrator] Gary's family is shocked by Olivia's behavior in court.
Very aggressive kind of attitude,
as if to say why am I here kind of thing.
It was evident from the day that trial started
she was gonna try and manipulate that whole trial.
You know, to me,
it come across as though she wasn't expecting
any kind of, you know,
sentence or punishment for what she'd done to Gary,
as if she was above the law.
She never had an inch of remorse.
One day she was actually laughing with the security guards
that were in behind the screen at the courts.
[narrator] Olivia's case rests on the fact
that she has acted in self-defense.
Basically saying that she'd been raped by Gary.
They took her underwear, they tested everything for DNA.
There was nothing. No bruising, no nothing.
[narrator] The court learns of another allegation,
this time made to a health professional,
an historical one relating to a babysitter.
She would also know that anything she discloses
to the psychiatrist as part of her trial defense
would also be disclosed.
And she said that she was sexually abused
as a child herself.
So, again, I think this is part of her manipulation
to try and minimize what she has done
and put all the blame on Gary.
Well, there's no evidence.
[tense music]
[narrator] For Gary's loved ones,
hers was a performance aimed at manipulating the jury.
When the court case started,
she come in looking like smart with a suit on, hair done.
She sat down in the court
and she was prepared to sit
and take questions from her side.
She sat down there for probably an hour plus,
answering questions from the defense side.
Not a problem. [tense music continues]
But then when it was time for her to give her evidence,
she came in with her hair scraped back
with a cardigan all folded,
looking very like she has been the victim.
[narrator] Gary's family were keen to hear what Olivia had to say.
As soon as it come to taking the stand, which she did,
which obviously we couldn't wait for because, you know,
hopefully we might get some explanations.
But we knew she was gonna get taken apart
by the prosecution.
Absolutely knew that.
And then when it came to being cross-examined,
she lasted half an hour
and then she refused to give evidence and she refused to come back to court.
[narrator] Olivia had had enough of the cross-examination.
She says she can't do this no more.
"I wanna go back to the prison cell," she says.
Which I think is a bit of a cop out, to be quite honest.
That's her little get-out clause
for not facing up and answering questions
that we need to hear.
What happened that night and why you did it?
I feel like she just thought it was a game.
They eventually took her away back and to the prison
and she didn't show up.
She refused to come to court
for the rest of the part of the court session.
[narrator] After 15 days of trial, the jury arrives with its verdict.
At stake, is she a murderer
or has she killed with diminished responsibility?
One sentence for murder carries life,
the other, manslaughter, can be a short term in prison.
The jury then came back with a conviction.
So she was tried for murder,
but unfortunately she was convicted of manslaughter
under diminished responsibility,
claiming that she didn't know what she was doing,
she had mental health problems.
And she thought she could win and walk from it.
But luckily she never.
[narrator] Three weeks after her trial on September 10th, 2019,
Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow is sentenced
to 18 years for the manslaughter of Gary.
It was pretty good actually. 18 years.
I thought that was pretty good. We was quite happy with that.
[narrator] But Gary's family's relief is short-lived.
-She hasn't finished yet. -[tense music continues]
Her and her defense team mounted an appeal
against the conviction saying it was unsafe.
Couldn't believe it.
[narrator] It looks as if she'll walk free.
[tense music continues]
[tense music]
The trauma is far from over for Gary's family.
Olivia will not accept the verdict.
The police told us
that she'd appealed against her sentence.
And it was obviously gonna be have to be heard
in the High Court in London.
[tense music continues]
[narrator] On the 7th of October, 2019.
Gary Cunningham Sr. attends the appeal.
It will not end well for him.
They didn't make a decision there and then.
They went away obviously to discuss it
and we found out approximately about two weeks later
that the case had been quashed.
[narrator] Having been convicted and sentenced
for 18 years for killing Gary Cunningham,
her conviction has been overturned due to a technicality.
[tense music continues]
The judge asked the jury to make up their own mind
as to whether or not Gary's convictions were relevant.
And if the defense hadn't proven the point
that Gary was a violent individual, then they should dismiss it.
When, in fact, actually, it was accepted
that Gary had a violent past.
But it wasn't for the defense to prove that.
It was for the prosecution
to prove that he wasn't violent on that occasion.
So that conviction was quashed.
[narrator] For Gary's family, it's a cruel blow.
Absolutely gutted.
A retrial was set
and the defense and the prosecution went for another trial.
So obviously we had to go through the whole process
of going there and we had to see her walk in and out
of the court every day with her mom, as free as a bird.
[narrator] The verdict at the second trial is in the balance.
You expect on a retrial
that everyone's probably upped their game a little bit.
You know, they've looked at the weaknesses
in the first trial and they've addressed those weaknesses.
And I think with Olivia,
what this gave her an opportunity to do
was give more time to the thought
around the self-defense angle.
She was trying to paint Gary in a bad way
so she'd come out smelling as fresh as a daisy.
So it wasn't nice for Gary and Louise,
and there was a few times that they broke down.
It was horrible to try and hear her say what she said.
[narrator] Her case is that she stabbed as a way of defending herself.
But actually when you look at self-defense, you know,
she's got to be showing that she was defending herself
because she feared for her life
and that Gary was attacking her.
Yet we couldn't find any obvious defensive injuries
on Olivia at that time.
[narrator] Her defense tactics are not successful.
I knew the jury would come
to virtually the same conclusion,
because it doesn't take a barrister or a judge
to work out the kind of woman that she is,
to be quite honest.
And she didn't give an account
of self-defense at that time, and I think that was her downfall.
She did nothing to call the ambulance,
to call the police,
and explain what had gone on at that time.
Arch manipulator was the chosen words from the judge
and the second judge seen right through her.
And obviously the jury as well.
The words that stuck out for me in that court
was from the judge when he sentenced her.
He said, "You're a very clever girl,
but you have manipulated
and you have continued to try and manipulate
this whole system with your games."
She did it to get what she wanted from who she wanted.
And I thought that was quite telling.
And actually when you look at her behaviors after charge
and in prison forming this kind of defense,
I think that was pretty spot on, to be honest.
[narrator] On the 2nd of July, 2021,
Olivia Labinjo-Halcrow is again found guilty
of the manslaughter of Gary Cunningham.
This time, the sentence is 11 years in prison.
There's a lot of hurt still,
because they know
she's never given her evidence.
They don't know the truth.
They never will know the truth, because she's a liar.
So even if she does tell 'em something,
it doesn't mean to say that what she said is true.
So they'll always live in that we don't know.
[narrator] Gary Cunningham Jr. stayed silent
throughout his ordeal when being abused by Olivia
over the time that he spent with her,
partly from shame and partly to safeguard Olivia's son.
But that was all in vain.
In a tragedy that shocked the nation,
Arthur Labinjo-Hughes was a name
which would hit the headlines.
Having been sentenced,
Olivia is obviously out of the picture
and her son Arthur is then placed with his natural father.
A couple of years later,
Arthur is killed through neglect
by his father and stepmother.
They are then prosecuted for his murder.
This is particularly tragic because,
not only have we got Gary as a victim,
but we've now got Arthur at six years old.
[narrator] Arthur's killers,
Emma Tustin and Thomas Hughes,
were sentenced to life in prison
for the murder of the toddler, Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.
Tustin will serve a minimum of 29 years,
Hughes of 24.
As for Gary's family and friends,
they are determined that other men should not suffer
in silence as Gary did.
You read about these things,
you don't expect it to happen to a member of your family,
which, you know, when it does,
-it's a real wake-up call. -[melancholy music]
Basically, if there's any guys that are out there…
you know, who are going through the same kind of thing
and struggles, you just need to get out.
You need to get away from it.
[man 2] You sit back and start to think, hang on,
exactly how much support is there out there
for a male domestic side of things?
[Abbs] I personally think that it needs to be spoken about more.
There needs to be more campaigns.
And, actually, it's okay not to be okay.
[man 2] You probably would feel a bit shameful about it
because, you know, you're a man.
You're meant to be tough, you're meant to be strong.
And reaching out and speaking to somebody about it,
you don't want to be judged.
No one deserves what he went through.
No man, no woman,
nobody should ever go through that.
[man] Men should come forward and not be ashamed
or, you know, scared of the consequences.
It happens.
Just need to find the strength and find the right guidance.
And I'm sure, you know, things will be all okay in the end.
[narrator] Now, those who love Gary keep him alive in their memories.
Gary's one of those people you can't forget.
You'll never forget him.
He's one of these people
that have come on this world to leave a mark.
[man] We always talk about him
and remember the stupid things that he'd done
and what a good lad he was and…
It shouldn't have happened.
[melancholy music continues]
[tense music]
[tense music continues]