Remembering 'sparkling' Sheffield woman Helen Hay stabbed to death outside club 20 years ago today
A ‘vibrant’ and ‘full of fun’ 23-year-old had her life snatched away from her when a woman stabbed her to death outside a nightclub on a Sheffield party street 20 years ago today.
‘Fun-loving’ Helen Hay’s final hours were spent drinking in Sheffield city centre with work friends from the Power League football centre, as they bid farewell to a colleague who was leaving the site.
Helen came into contact with her 20-year-old killer Louise Giles when she tried to intervene in an argument Giles was having with a group of women outside Flares nightclub on Carver Street.
Giles subseqently turned turned her attentions to Helen - ignoring the fact she was trying to act as a peace-maker - and stabbed her seven times in the back and chest.
Helen, from Woodseats, could not be saved and tragically passed away in the early hours of Thursday, July 8, 2004.
Following Helen’s death, her friends released this moving joint statement: “It is still extremely hard to comprehend how this lovely evening could have ended in such a tragic way.
“Helen was an energetic, full of fun 23-year-old woman who was enjoying her youth. She had everything to live for and should have had the time to live her life in her vibrant manner that inspired many of the people around her.
"She is deeply missed by all her friends. The void left by losing such a sparkling person from all our lives can never be filled, but we feel exceptionally fortunate and blessed to have known her for the little time she had." Jurors found Giles unanimously guilty of murder at the conclusion of a Sheffield Crown Court trial in May 2005, and she was jailed for life, to serve a minimum of 14 years.
It later emerged in newspaper reports that Giles had exchanged ‘steamy’ letters with Soham killer, Ian Huntley.
Giles had a history of violence and self harm and claimed to hear voices in her head. But a number of psychiatrists believed Giles was mimicking the symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia to have the murder charge reduced to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Passing sentence in May 2005, Judge Alan Goldsack QC, who held the role of Recorder of Sheffield at the time, said: "Your victim was not known to you. She had done nothing to you, and you gave her no chance.
“Since then you have been trying to evade full responsibility for your actions. First you denied having the knife.
“Then, when you realised the evidence was against you, you raised a medical defence. You have been displaying aggressive personality traits since becoming a teenager. You have taken overdoses and have been admitted to hospital.
“This, in my judgement, is part of a process of attention seeking."
Giles was subsequently found hanging dead in her cell at HMP Durham just three months later in August 2005.
The jury in an inquest into Giles’ death at Chester-le-Street Magistrates’ Court, County Durham in December 2007 returned a verdict of accidental death.
They raised a number of concerns such as Giles’ emotional distress in the days running up to her death being ‘overlooked,’ as well as a number of issues about her treatment at, and the general state of, the prison.