Xyaire Howard and Chelsea Grant were both from the Caribbean island chain of The Grenadines. Both were in their early 20s, though they still did not know each other when they arrived in the UK in 2022, both intent on working illegally by overstaying on their tourists visas.

But the very same night they met - at a mutual friend's house - they had sex.

And after that, they were inseparable, a couple, touring a range of shabby studio flats in North West London as they bounced between jobs, defaulting on their debts.

Then one day they spotted Susan Hawkey. Hawkey was a local 'character'. Seventy-one years old, after her parents had died, 5'2 Hawkey had become a hoarder and an alcoholic.

But in the eyes of Howard and Grant, she was nothing more than an easy mark. After two muggings and a home invasion, one of the two moved towards the final phase of a plan they had cooked up: a scheme of petty robbery and grotesque sexual violence.

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About The Show

Each week, Fresh From The Old Bailey tells the story of a case from the Central Criminal Court, or the London Crown Courts. Fresh stories of recent trials, told through the eyes of those who were there. This is real true crime. British justice as it is now — from the people who see justice being done, every single day. 

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