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What is up my shells, by the way? Last, in the last episode's podcast, I mentioned my Instagram group chat that I made and I got so many messages asking how to join it. If you go to my Instagram profile, it should be in my bio. It's called My shells, like the emoji of a shell. And you should be able to just find it in my bio and join there. But seriously, still a week later remains my favorite thing. And it has no other benefit other than literally being a source of entertainment for me and you, because we could chat about whatever we want and it's been so much fun. So go join it. It's in my Instagram bio if you want to. If not, don't. So if you're on there, you know what case we're talking about today. I briefly mentioned it and I don't know why the royal family has such a chokehold on me. This person, Jane Andrews, the person we're going to be talking about today, she wasn't in the royal family, but you'll see we're going to talk about it regardless. And this woman that we're talking about today, Jane Andrews, honestly, her entire life story is bizarre. The highs were so high, but the lows were so low. So let's get into it. From working in a literal palace to finding herself behind bars, this is the story of Jane Andrews. Jane Andrews was born and raised in North Lincolnshire. I feel like I always botched that name. North Lincolnshire, it's in England. And she was the youngest of three, three children. She had two older siblings. Her father was in the woodworking business, her mom was a social worker. And in the Andrews family, ever since Jane was born, ever since she was a child, ever since she could remember, her family struggled financially. It was always a constant in her life. It was something that they struggled with and kind of just seemed like they kept getting digging themselves into deeper and deeper debt, which wasn't great for, for anyone in the family. Obviously. As a little girl, Jane Andrews was very, very smart. She was the kind of person that you would just call academically gifted. She was just good at everything that she did very good in grammar school. And not only was she book smart, but she was also so creative. And she would find little hobbies here and there that she would just kind of end up teaching herself. She picked up so many different hobbies, like arts and crafts hobbies, and she would just keep practicing and practicing and she would get really good at them. When they were growing up, the Andrews family fell into really bad Debt. They just kind of dug themselves into this hole they couldn't crawl out of. And it was so bad that they had to downsize their house because they quite literally could not afford the house they were living in anymore. So they had to get up and move to a small seaport town called Grimsby. And that move affected not only Jane, but also her siblings a lot because it was a big change. And I guess you could call her childhood very unstable. It felt to her like there was never any stability in her, and the family just constantly found themselves facing different kind of struggles and kind of just had to grow up around them. That's not to say, though, that they were living on the streets and they didn't have money to eat. They were fine, right? They weren't like, in dire need of money, but they had money, just enough money to survive, put it that way. Anyway, that big of a change, moving schools, moving houses, moving to a new place, it affected Jane. Not only Jane, actually her siblings as well, very drastically, because, of course it did. They were children, they were growing up, and this was a really big change for them that they now had to get used to. And it wasn't like Jane was ripped away from this amazing big friend group that she had had all her life. Because in reality, Jane wasn't a very social girl. She was the girl that kept to herself. She was quiet, more reserved, and had a hard time making friends as it was. So when they moved, it was even harder for her to now be the new kid at school and try making friends that way. So she kind of didn't. She just kept being the quiet, reserved girl. And in turn, that made her quite lonely. For as long as she could remember, really, Jane had struggled with mental health. She struggled with depression, anxiety. She also developed an ed. She often had panic attacks. And it got so bad that when she was 15 years old, she didn't see a point in being alive anymore. She thought that she did not want to be alive anymore. And it was after her mother caught her skipping school that Jane thought that was kind of the nail in the coffin. She must have been scared that she was going to get in trouble with her mom, or she just quite literally could not take another thing on top of everything else that she was already dealing with. So that day, when she got home from school, she went straight to the family's medicine cabinet. She picked up and grabbed every single pill that she could find and she swallowed them. It was her mother, actually, that found her in a horrific state, as you can imagine. She had taken Way too many pills, and she was kind of dazing in and out of consciousness. But her mother saw her in that state. She saw her daughter, and she didn't do a thing. She let her be. Jane luckily survived that, and her body was able to heal without needing to be rushed to the hospital. But if she hadn't, I mean, her mom kind of showed her right then and there that she would not have cared if she lost her daughter, because she didn't do anything to help her. She was just kind of gonna let it happen. And at the end of the day, her mother had no idea what Jane had taken. So for her to see her in the state that she was in and to just leave her by herself, alone, I don't know. I feel like that gives you an idea of the kind of family dynamic that they were being raised in. And then a couple of years later, at only 17 years old, Jane had yet another major life event happened to her because she unexpectedly fell pregnant. It was. It felt like it was completely out of the blue. She wasn't expecting it, she didn't want it. And her reaction to finding out about the pregnancy was not a good one. She knew that she was hardly even capable of taking care of herself. She knew that she was not in a position to bring a human being into the world and knew that if that was the case, she wouldn't give that child the life that it deserved. So Jane, at 17 years old, decided to terminate her pregnancy. And that decision was one that she described to be very difficult. And she also said that it traumatized her big time. It left a big traumatizing effect within her, and it was something that she would regret for the rest of her life. I don't know. Actually, I don't know if regret is the correct word, but it was something that she thought about often. She thought about that baby pretty much every single day for the rest of her life. And although you could describe, and a lot of people would describe Jane's childhood as unstable, there was always one constant in her life. There was one goal that from a very young age, Jane kind of had tunnel vision for, and that was leaving her life as a working class. She felt in her bones that she was destined for something bigger, for something grand, for a glamorous life, and she was determined to make sure that she would get that. She absolutely loved the idea of having a lot of money, of being rich, being able to travel and do whatever she wanted to do, being able to go shopping with no budget, having tons and tons of money, but Even more than that, she loved the idea of being a person that people knew, of having a name that would be recognized, of being famous and of being known. She had such an idea and such a clear vision for what she wanted her future to look like, and she was going to work hard to get that. And ever since she was little, one of the things that she kind of taught herself to do, one of the hobbies that she was into was sewing. She had really found a passion for sewing. She kind of taught herself and just practiced and practiced until eventually she became really good at it. She loved to sew, she loved to make her own clothes. She loved to design her own clothes. And that ended up leading her to enroll in a fashion course at Grimsley College of Art, which eventually landed her a job at designing kids clothes for a place called Marks and Spencer. So Jane kind of saw this sewing thing as a thing that would start her career in fashion and to become rich and famous, because remember that that was always the number one goal. The one thing that she was reaching for, the thing that made the most sense to her, would be to become a famous fashion designer. She could do something that she loved. And if she was able to somehow find the right people or get in the right circle, find the right job, she saw a way in which she could turn sewing into the end that she needed to enter the world of the rich and famous. And her whole thought process behind that was kind of if she was able to do that, if she was able to make all of her dreams come true, and she would finally get all of the things that she didn't have as a child, she would have no limits and she could do whatever she wanted to do. Because remember, she didn't grow up with a lot. So the idea of having everything she could have ever wanted was magical. And she had big dreams to make that happen. She had big dreams of making this life of glamour happen. And that's all she would spend her days daydreaming about. Literally, it took up so much of her time. And when she was only 21 years old, Jane would find a job that really caught her attention. She was looking through a magazine, the lady magazine, and she came across an ad, a job posting, basically. And it was for a professional dresser. It was listed as an anonymous ad, which was intriguing in itself because it didn't really have much of a job description, but it did say that it was for a personal dresser. She would be in charge of dressing someone every day, of styling them. She didn't know who, but their Job description that was there was kind of right up her alley. So she applied, but just as quickly as she applied, she kind of forgot about it because six months passed and she didn't hear a thing. Half a year came and went and by the time that she actually received a phone call regarding said job, it felt super random because it had been so long that she kind of didn't give it a second thought. She thought that nothing was going to come out of it. But it was in that call, six months later that she was informed of who she would be styling. It was Sarah Ferguson, the one and only Duchess of York, A very, very famous, well known member of the Royal family. This was around 1989, 1990 by the way. And I know they still are, don't get me wrong, they very much are. But back then the Royal family was such a big deal. I mean it was the talk of the town. Everyone was absolutely captivated by every single member of the Royal family, every single person who had any ties to the Royal family and everything and anything that had to do with their personal lives. And that of course included Sarah Ferguson, otherwise known as Fergie. So I'm going to be kind of going back and forth on what I call her. We'll stick with Fergie for now. But Fergie a few years earlier had married Prince Andrew, making her Her Royal Highness the Duchess of York. And, and at the time the couple was expecting, Fergie was pregnant with their first child. And her world, I mean, it just seemed magical. She was often seen with Princess Diana. She obviously had a relationship with the Queen and every single, that entire family she was now a part of. And Fergie was in dire need of a personal stylist. Jane Andrews, as you can imagine, was over the moon, to put it lightly. She literally could not have written down a, a more perfect job for her. It really did not get more ideal than that for the kind of job that she saw leading her to the life that she wanted for herself. Getting to work one in fashion was insane to begin with. That was a great thing. But getting to style a member of the Royal family, being around literal royalty in a literal palace on a day to day working side by side with the Duchess of York, it literally was the perfect situation for her. And actually it was a job that in her wildest dreams she could not have even dreamt of. And only days after receiving that phone call, she had an interview with Ferdie herself. And sooner than later, Jane was working inside the one and only Buckingham Palace. When she arrived there on her first day. She probably took a taxi or something, but she showed up with Nothing more than £10 to her name and a small little suitcase with old clothing. But when she got there, she was met by housemaid. She was escorted up to a room and the first thing that she saw was a beautiful flower arrangement from Fergie herself with a little card that said, welcome to the team. Signed the boss. The actual pay of the job wasn't anything crazy. It wasn't anything that would make your jaw drop. It was around €18,000 per year. But remember, this was a few years ago, so it would be obviously more in today's money. But the lifestyle that came with it is the thing that attracted Jane the most to this position. And it was the thing that mattered the most to her because she was suddenly working inside a palace. She lived, she actually lived there for a little bit, but then she ended up moving to an apartment of her own in London, an apartment that was paid for by the Royal Family. But regardless, day to day, she was surrounded by the elite. She was making connections with the rich and famous. She was wearing designer clothing provided to her by the Royal Family. She was seen and photographed with Fergie on the daily. She was attending all the big, lavish, grand parties, every single big event. And slowly but surely, her personality, as well as her mannerisms, and even down to the way that she spoke, just the way she carried herself overall, all that started to change. One, because she kind of had to change those things if she wanted to feel like she fit in with the people that she was now hanging around with. But also, I would say it was probably a mix of it both being natural but also very, very intentional when it came to the things that she was changing about herself. This is a quote from Jane herself. She said, quote, I was a country bumpkin. Suddenly I was at Balmoral mixing with the royals, having long chats with Princess Diana. I was 21 years old and of course I enjoyed it. If my accent changed, it was only because people made fun of the way that I said bath in grass. Fergie was headstrong, but she was very good to me, end quote. So anyway, that job, it gave Jane Andrews the one thing that she always wanted, the one thing she always craved, and, and that was status. And it was only natural that once she started seeing Fergie on the day to day, her relationship with Fergie became a really tight one. They got really close really quickly because they were spending so much time together. Jane wasn't only folding Fergie's clothes. She wasn't steaming her clothes. She wasn't only picking her outfits. She was traveling with her. She was attending every single big event with her. She was now a constant person who was always in the background in the royal life. She was in the background, but she was present nonetheless. And very quickly, Jane grew a very, very strong, I guess you could call it admiration towards her boss. She looked up to her. She admired her. She kind of held her up to this pedestal and thought very, very highly of her. But more than anything, she saw Fergie as a symbol of everything that she wanted, but she never had. So wealth, power, attention, and acceptance. And for Fergie, when it came to her point of view on things, she always saw Jane as a staff member because that is what she was. And don't get me wrong when I say that she really did grow to like her as a person. She thought very highly of her. She thought that she was a very loyal person, a very capable person, great at her job. And she grew to trust her very quickly. And at times, she did consider her one of her best friends. But at the end of the day, Jane to Fergie was an employer employee relationship from Jane's point of view. However, on the other side of things, she kind of reportedly blurred those lines when it came to her relationship with Fergie. And I don't know how else to describe this. Like, I know that this is not the best way to describe this whatsoever, but I don't know what other way to explain it to you. But for Jane, her job was her biggest flex. I'll say it that way. It was her biggest flex. It was the thing that she loved the most about herself. It was one of the things that she was most proud of. And she would often talk to people, anyone who listened, really, about how close she was with her boss, about how they were becoming the best of friends. She would often name drop Fergie's name in conversations. But the way that she talked about it, like, not to Fergie, but probably if you didn't know this person and you heard the way that she spoke about Fergie. And yeah, it was great, it was positive, but it was almost like, oh, do you kind of want to be her? Like, there was a weird jealous envy kind of aspect to the whole thing. And Jane would talk about the royals and the palace and everything in a way that made it sound like she was part of the world, not just someone hired to dress Fergie from behind the scenes, but regardless, with this new lifestyle of hers, it came with a lot of things. It came with a lot of pros. And one of those being meeting new people, specifically meeting men that ran in these circles. Meeting rich and powerful men. And In August of 1990, when Jane was only 22 years old, she met a man named Christopher Dunn Butler. He was a high level IBM exec who was quite literally old enough to be her dad. But the two of them fell in love so fast, you guys, and I mean, so fast. They had not been together for long, actually. They had only known each other, like, I don't even know if I would say that. They were dating for three months. They had only known each other for three months, been in each other's lives for three months. When Christopher got down on one knee and proposed to Jane, and Jane, without hesitating, she said yes immediately, Literally within three months of meeting each other. Are you kid, like, is that just me that. I think that is a neon red flag because. What do you mean? I've known you for three months of my entire life. I don't even know who you are. And these two are getting married. But I guess to each their own. To me anyway, that should have been a really big red flag. But that's my opinion. Anyway, that marriage surprisingly did go well, only for a few years. They. They were together for five years before they got divorced. And if you ask Jane, she would say that the strain in the relationship, the thing that kind of blossomed, the hardships in their relationship is just. That didn't make sense. Okay. She would say that the issues in their relationship stemmed from work stress. Because when she described the job working for Fergie, she described it as a very highly demanding job and it would take a lot of her time and attention, meaning that she probably didn't put the effort that is required to keep a healthy marriage. However, if you were to ask Christopher, on the other hand, he would say that the issue was that Jane did not know how to be loyal. She was unfaithful. And he claimed that Jane cheated on him on more than one occasion. And when it came to those rumors, Jane did not necessarily deny it. And when she was asked about it, she did say, yeah, I had a couple of flings. It's not something that I'm proud of. And we know that for a fact because it was when she was still married that Jane started seeing a man. She started kind of getting a side boyfriend when she was still with her husband. And there was a man called Dimitri Horn. I forget exactly what he did, but he was really wealthy and powerful. I think his dad maybe was, like, in the shipping business. I can't. I can't remember exactly, but he was a well known person as well, and he had a ton of money. And Jane started having an affair with Demetri while she was still married to Christopher. This woman really put herself in a sticky situation, to say the least. But in the end, she did end up getting a divorce with Christopher, and it was then that she finally started dating Dimitri publicly. However, eventually that relationship ended in worse terms that you can imagine, because Jane, at this point of her life, she had no idea, but she was struggling. She had undiagnosed borderline personality disorder, and she didn't know it. And when you really start to pay attention to the way that she behaved, the things that she did, the things that she said, if you start analyzing her behavior from a psychological point of view, it makes sense. You can kind of see when her personality kind of does. It flips a switch and she completely turns almost into a different person. It happens very abruptly, and it affects not only her, but everyone around her, especially the people closest to her. So when her relationship with Demetri ended, it ended very ugly. A messy breakup doesn't even begin to describe how toxic it was and how it was when things ended between them. They left each other on really, really bitter terms, and. And the breakup affected Jane in such a terrible way. It put her in such a dark headspace, and it was like she was stuck in this dark hole in her head and she could not get out of it. When they broke up, Jane Andrews went absolutely ballistic. She completely destroyed the apartment that they shared together. She fell into a deep depression, and she was pretty much completely spiraling, doing things that, looking back, she doesn't even remember doing because she was just that down bad. Demetri gave a statement to authorities when all this was happening, and according to him, Jane completely lost it when Dimitri told her that he didn't want this relationship anymore. In regards to her behavior following the breakup, Jane has said, quote, I was so angry. I took our photographs. Down on the mantelpiece in the living room was a cup and a saucer that I knew was very special to him, and I smashed it. I went through his journal with a black marker pen, and I blanked out all of the references to myself. And I picked up his telephone and I smashed that as well. I'm ashamed of what I did. I've never done that to anyone else's possessions. So, yeah, the toll that that breakup was Having on Jane got so bad that it took her to the same headspace that she found herself in when she was 15 years old. She started having those same thoughts of not wanting to be alive anymore, of not wanting to be on this earth anymore. And once again, for the second time now in her life, she attempted to unalive herself. And luckily, she was unsuccessful for the second time now in her life, and she was able to recover without having to check herself into a hospital. But it wasn't good for her. You. That gives you an idea of just how negative the thoughts that she was having were. And around this time as well, there were rumors flying about Fergie and about her relationship. There was talk and suspicion that Sarah Ferguson was supposedly having an affair. And we know that Fergie wasn't happy in her marriage. And we know this because the one person that she felt that she could trust, the one person that she turned to, to confide in, was Jane Andrews. And the bond between Jane and Fergie, understandably, was only made stronger because the two of them were going through very, very similar things in their relationship. They were both going through a very rocky path and they kind of used each other to lean on each other and confide in each other with every single thing that they were going through, because not only could they relate, but they had grown to know each other so well that they knew the right things to say when they were struggling. And that kind of trauma bonded them in a way. Six years into their marriage, Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew got a divorce. And this divorce would change so, so many things, not only for Fergie, but also for Jane, because Sarah Ferguson getting a divorce would mean that that would cut off her relationships within the Royal Family. She really, she was only part of the Royal Family by marriage. So now that not being the case meant that she would no longer have the ties that she did. And she lost a lot, if not most, of her connections within the Royal Family. And in turn, she also lost the funding that she had prior to her divorce. It was cut down by a lot. And because she didn't have X amount of funding to rely on anymore, she didn't have the money to pay for all the staff members that she had. So when they got divorced, Fergie had no other option really, but to let go of a lot of staff members. And she did. However, when it came to Jane Andrews, she remained working for Fergie because again, they had grown so close and Fergie had really grown to have a lot of love for Jane and They were now in the same boat of going through their breakups together, going through rough times at the same time, and it was just yet another thing that they would bond over. Throughout the entire time, however that they were in each other's lives, there was always a pattern, a pattern from Jane's side that was noticeable, to say the least. And it was something that only seemed to progress more and more, and that was Jane's obsession with her boss, Fergie. Remember how I told you that she admired her, she idolized her, she looked up to her? Well, things started to get a little bit weird. Maybe not in Fergie's eyes, but definitely in other people's eyes. For example, if you had no idea who these two women were and you just watched them for a fart, you'd probably think, think, oh, wait, this is a little bit weird. Because it almost felt like Jane wanted to copy everything that Fergie did, down to her accent. She wanted to start talking. She did start talking like her. She would dress like her, she would act like her. And it literally felt like she was just trying to morph herself into a mini Fergie. She didn't only idolize her, she didn't only look up to her. It felt like she wanted to be her. And that sense of jealousy almost only really became a thing for Fergie when Jane Andrews started seeing one of her ex boyfriends. Yeah, it took that for Fergie to be like, oh, wait a second, I'm looking at you now and you're dressing like me, you're acting like me, you're doing all these things to be like me, and now you're dating my ex boyfriend. Like, that's crazy. And it wasn't long after that that Jane was let go from her job. And that came as an absolute shock to her. I'm not sure why. Like, what do you expect? This is supposed to be your best friend, and now you're just casually dating her ex boyfriend. Do you know how many fish there are in the sea? Because why are you going for your friend's past love interest? That's weird behavior. But anyway, in Jane's eyes, Fergie letting her go was the biggest sign of betrayal, because Fergie was the person that she considered to be her best friend, her best friend and her boss all wrapped up in one. But that was no longer. And if you ask the Royal family, they would say that Jane being let go was purely a financial decision because again, Fergie's funds had been cut dramatically, and she literally could not afford to pay a full time employee any longer. But in the same breath, though, there were also rumors and whispers that the real reason for her losing her job was because of the weird love triangle that she willingly put herself into by dating one of Fergie's exes. Nevertheless, after losing her job, Jane Andrews only fell deeper into her depression. She felt betrayed. She was absolutely devastated. She lost so much weight, she stopped eating. She was completely and absolutely losing herself. On top of that, she now didn't have a job and she was going to have to go into the scary place that is the job market and try to find one. And that would prove to be really difficult for her considering that for the past almost decade of her life, she had had the same unique role. And now she was back in the sea, looking for something that would work for her in the job market. And it was really difficult. But eventually she did end up securing a position working in the silver department of a jewelry store. At this point of her life in 1988, it felt like she was in a very, very messy, unstable point. And Jane met a man called Tom Cressman. They met through a mutual friend, and from the jump, Tom had this sort of posh charm that Jin couldn't resist. He was very, very wealthy. He was also 39 years old when they met. He was a former stockbroker and now was running a business that was really successful. It was a cars accessories business, meaning that he was often hanging around in London's elite circles. Not only was he a very wealthy man, but his father was also an American businessman. And he was the guy who had built the largest chain of Ford dealerships in Europe. So every single person in Tom's family was pretty well off. And Tom himself had a lot of money, but he also had a lot of connections. And he had the most important thing that Jane looked for in a person, which was status. He had the kind of status that Jane naturally always gravitated towards. And after their first night together, it was all rainbows and butterflies. They hit it off from the moment that they met and before, before the evening ended, the first time they were hanging out, Tom was already making plans to see Jane again. He was making it known that he was very, very interested in pursuing this new love interest that they had between the two of them. They would talk on the phone almost every single night. They were always in contact with each other. And Jane would later describe the start of their relationship as Tom completely sweeping her off her feet. And their relationship was one that progressed quickly to Say the least. Jane, at that point when she met Tom, she had been struggling financially. She did have a job, I think, but she was still feeling the struggle definitely from losing her job. So she moved into Tom's place and it wasn't, that wasn't too long after they started dating. They moved in together quite quickly. But she felt so confident about it because she saw this guy as the perfect guy for her. He had everything that she was looking for. He was good, he was kind, but he also had the money to be able to provide Jane with the lifestyle that she always wanted. Over the next two years of their relationship, it became quite clear that Jane was all in. In this relationship. Tom was end game for her. She was already planning their dream wedding, their dream honeymoon. She was dreaming of not only marriage but also kids, their future house, the whole thing. Tom on the other hand, he was not the slightest bit interested in getting married. And don't get me wrong, he did really like Jane, but he didn't want to put a ring on her finger. I don't know what it was, but he was, must have been scared of commitment. But him having commitment issues amongst other things was something that really drove a strain between the two of them. Jane Andrews would later say that things with Tom were not as perfect as it looked from the outside. According to her, all the rainbows and butterflies faded away pretty quickly and things got dark quite quickly. It might go without saying, but Jane Andrews was a very insecure, jealous person. Makes that with her borderline personality disorder that was undiagnosed, that she wasn't even aware of and it's kind of a recipe for disaster. And her self confidence issues really showed. And again, Tom on the other hand, from the way that Jane makes it sound, okay, so take that with a grain of salt. But from Jane's point of view, Tom was quite controlling and he was very manipulative. So long story short, the two of them were not a good match. To put it one way, behind closed doors, Jane claimed that the arguments between the two of them would more oftentimes than not end in violence. They would get aggressive and they would get physical and she would claim that Tom would start getting really aggressive when he got really angry and he would start pregnant putting his hands on her. He would push her around and he would push her into doing things that she wasn't comfortable doing. She would be forced to do. This is according to her. Okay, I'm not saying she's lying, but just remember this is according to her. She would say that Tom would Force her into doing things in the bedroom that she wasn't comfortable with. And not only that she wasn't comfortable with it, but things that would feel disturbing to her and kind of feel degrading to her almost. Tom would do things, or he would want to do things. He would suggest doing things that would be degrading towards Jane and that would make her feel so, so small. Mix that with her jealousy issues and also her borderline personality disorder, and it would result in the two of them fighting quite often. And when the two of them fought, it got ugly. Their arguments would somehow always turn into threats, and they would sort of go tit for tat on situations if he said something disrespectful to her. And she would just find something even worse to say to him. And they would keep going back and forth and back and forth. It was almost like a competition of who could say the meanest thing to each other. And it became so, so toxic. Jane has said, quote, I was the ultimate in insecurity. He was the ultimate commitment phobe. I threatened to leave. He tell me to go, and then he would reel me right back in. He knew exactly which carrots to dangle, which strings to pull. And there was one specific night in the winter of 1998 when things took a big turn for Jane and Tom. They were dancing in a way that Jane described to be pretty aggressively, when suddenly, Tom let go of her hand. Jane ended up falling over and she broke her wrist. And for some reason, in her eyes, this happening felt like to her, it felt like Tom did it on purpose, like he did what he did. He let go of her hand to intentionally hurt her. But even after that, Jane said so, it becomes a thing that Jane, later down the line, really speaks in a really negative way about Tom. And she talks about all these different situations within their relationship and about all these struggles that they had and about how manipulative and controlling he was. But at the same time, when they were together, she never brought anything up. And it wasn't until after things went downhill and that she started bringing up all these issues. So when she does, she's asked why she stayed, if he was this horrible man that she made him out to be. And in response to that, she says, quote, I wanted it to work so badly. I never knew when his moods would shift. One minute he'd be sweet, the next, out of nowhere, he would snap, hitting me with this wooden brush he kept around. And somehow he always made it feel like it was my fault, like I needed to be stronger. Like he was doing me a favor by toughening me up, end quote. And I'm not saying that she lied. Right. We want to believe victims when they speak out about things like that, and there is a good chance that he was this horrible guy. But nevertheless, whether you believe Jane's claims of physical abuse or you don't, it's clear that their relationship was toxic and it was messy for both of them. And it would only be a matter of time before something exploded. In September of 2000, Jane and Tom took a trip to Italy. I believe the trip was with Tom's family and they were spending time at his family's villa in the French Riviera. It was a beautiful vacation. I mean, can you imagine? They were literally going to the most beautiful parts of Italy. And it felt so picture perfect that Jane started to convince herself that in this trip, this would be the trip that Tom would propose. She was thinking that if he was going to do it at all, he was going to do it now, and now was the the moment. But instead, when she asked Tom, she kind of just got over waiting and just brought it up to him, said, hey, are you proposing? He literally looked at her and flat out said, no. He told her the truth. And the truth was that Tom had zero intentions of marrying this woman at all. He had no plans of marriage in the future whatsoever between the two of them. That single handedly ruined the trip for the two of them. I mean, can you imagine your boyfriend, friend saying, no, I don't want to marry you? Yeah, the trip was ruined. And when they got home from vacation, as soon as they arrived, as soon as that plane touched the ground, they were back arguing again and again. And when they got home, the argument only continued. And the fight that night was so bad that Tom ended up actually calling the police and practically begging them to help on the call. He says that no one was hurt yet, keyword yet. But he told the cops that if they didn't show up soon, they, someone would be. But no one ever showed up. You guys. Literally nothing came from that phone call. No one did a thing. He also called a friend, I think, that night, and told them all about how Jane was acting ballistic. But again, nothing ever happened. And that night, tragically, while Tom was asleep in bed, Jane Andrews snapped. She grabbed a bat and she smashed him over the head. She then stopped him with a knife, murdering him in the most violent of ways. And when it was over, she didn't call for help. She didn't feel remorse. She didn't go to the police. She didn't call a single person. Instead, she ran. Hours later, after failing to get a hold of him, one of Tom's friends headed over to his house to go look for him. And when he got there, he noticed that the front door was unlocked. So he let himself in and he started making his way towards the master bedroom. When he ran into the most brutal crime scene. Ton Cressman laid dead in a pool of his own blood, his body showing signs of the brutal attack that he had experienced. Bruises were starting to form all over his head and all over his face, and the blood was absolutely everywhere. That friend, of course, called the police immediately and the scene was taped off as a homicide crime scene. Authorities in the house, once they started investigating, also found something that was very, very, very telling. At Tom's place, there was a post it note that had been left behind and it read, quote, my dearest parents, I am so sorry. No more hurt inside of me anymore. Tom hurt me too much. He was so cruel to me. Signed Jane. It did not take long for authorities to figure out that Jane was Jane Andrews. And Jane Andrews was Tom's girlfriend that lived with him. And now she was the primary suspect and she was missing and they had to find her immediately. As soon as the media got a hold of this case, by the way, it was an absolute frenzy. I mean, they took this story and they ran with it. People knew who Jane Andrews was. People knew her because of her history with Fergie. And the murder was so brutal in nature that this was all over the media, it was all over the press, in every single headline in every single newspaper. And sooner than later, Fergie herself found out about what happened. And she was shocked. She was shocked, she was disturbed, she was sad, but also angry, confused. She was feeling so many different things. She could not believe that the person who she once considered to be her best friend was now being accused of murdering her husband and was now on the run. After the attack, Jane reached out to her ex husband, actually Christopher Dunn Butler, and she even texted some friends. But any conversation that she had with anyone, she was acting completely clueless. She was pretending like she had no idea what had happened. She pretended like she had no clue what they were talking about. And even so, she was communicating with a very, very small amount of people. She was mostly just ignoring everyone else. Yet the people who she was responding to couldn't find her. Nobody could find her. Days passed with no signs of Jane. And then finally the police tracked her down. They found her in Cornwall. She was found inside of her car and she was unconscious from. From attempting to unalive herself. She again had taken a dangerous amount of pills. Jane and Andrews survived this again. Now this being the third failed attempt in her lifetime. But this time there was no denying what had happened. She was taken to hospital to get the medical care that she needed. But afterwards she was taken right into an interrogation room to be questioned by the police. And after that, Jane Andrews was arrested for. For murder. Jane's story that she was sticking to was that the night before Tom's body was found, they had gotten into a pretty big argument. She said that it kept escalating and only getting worse and worse to the point that Jane became fearful of Tom and of what he might do to her. She was scared for her life and she was terrified that he was going to hurt her. So to remove herself from the situation, she got in her car and drove off. But it was her story that when she drove off, she left Tom inside the house and he was completely fine. So him fast forward him being found no longer alive. Jane claimed that she had no idea how or when or why that could have happened. Authorities didn't believe her of course, because they obviously saw a potential motive. But many hours later, Jane did finally confess and she did take responsibility. She told authorities that she was the person who took Tom's life. However, in a very important detail, she said that she did this in self defense. Her confession and her being charged and arrested only made this story in the media that much bigger. Fergie's name still being wrapped in the middle of it all. And it was national news and a lot of the headlines in regards to Tom's deaths were being tied to this murder. This killer once being a staff member of the royal family. Jane Andrews trial began in April of 2001 and prior to the trial she had already switched her story around multiple times. But once she was in that courtroom, she was sticking to her story of self defense. According to Jane, it was after the vacation that they took to Italy in which Tom told Jane that he had no intentions of marrying her, that things really started to spiral. Jane claimed that on their flight back from Nice, in a conversation the two of them were having about their issues and what to do to fix them, Tom agreed that he would go to counseling. He said that he would agree to see someone for what Jane referred to as his dark moods as well as for his weird stuff, sexual fetishes that he had. Question mark. Apparently he had a lot of these fetishes that he liked in the bedroom. That made Jane really uncomfortable. But by the next morning, Tom had already changed his mind. He told her that he was not going to go to counseling. He had no interest in getting help for his quote, unquote issues. And that set Jane off. They got into it, they started arguing, and it quickly began escalating to the point that it turned physical to. Tom told Jane to get out of the house, practically kicked her out. And it was then that he called. He made that 999 call. He called the police. And in that call, you can hear him tell the operator, quote, we're fighting and someone's going to get hurt. I need someone here before something bad happens. End quote. In the middle of their fight, Jane convinced Tom to let her leave, to separate from each other, to step back a little, take a breather, take a chill pill. But throughout the remainder of the day, they couldn't stop going at it. They were texting, they were calling, they were insulting each other back and forth. Jane was threatening to take her own life. Tom was not caring about what she had to say or not taking her seriously and allegedly being very cruel to her. And remember, I said that in their arguments, it was a common thing for them to go tit for tat. Well, while she was out of the house and they were texting back and forth in this massive argument. And Jane ended up emailing these extremely inappropriate emails that she found that Tom had written to another woman when he was being unfaithful. She emailed these emails to his parents, and not only that, she also sent them to the woman's employer. Those emails were some that Jane had found months earlier, back in March. And she honestly didn't know the extent of how unfaithful Tom was being until after he was already gone. But nevertheless, she did that. And police later recovered an entire folder of explicit messages from his hard drive, of messages between himself and other women, some of them confirming things that Jane had been talking about. And in a really twisted way, it gave her claims and the things that she was saying some sort of credibility. Regardless, back to that day, after their texting battle of an argument, Jane claimed that she returned back to their place. When she got there, Tom was calm. She saw him first through a window outside, and he looked to be remotely calm. So she decided to step back inside the house. However, within 10 minutes, they were back at it, and the rest of the night was spent fighting. At bedtime, Tom went upstairs. He was heading to bed, and he asked Jane if she was coming with him, telling her that he still wanted her to sleep next to him no matter what they were fighting about. She says that when they got into bed, Tom attempted to overpower her to become intimate with him. And she was claiming that she didn't want to and that she told him that she didn't want to and she was trying to stop it. However, he didn't care. He wasn't taking no for an answer. And with that, Jane fled the bedroom. She ran downstairs extremely scared of him. And she said that when she returned to the bedroom, Tom started yelling at her, threatening to end her life. She says that what happened next is a blur. She took the bat in self defense and hit Tom over the head. She says he was still conscious when she was attacking him, but she isn't sure how or exactly when. But somehow the knife ended up in his chest. Jane immediately panicked, apparently not knowing if he was going to get back up and run after her. But she doesn't really recall. We know that after the attack she did get in the shower to wash all the blood off of her. And then she found herself alone, standing in her dressing room, looking at herself in the mirror and thinking, I have to go. That was her story. That was the story that she was sticking to. When she stood trial at the Old Bailey courtroom in London. She did take the stand in her own trial, in her own self defense trial and said that Tom had been abusive to her, not only physically, but also emotionally and sexually. She brought up his weird fetishes and his obsessions, how he pushed her boundaries and brought up an incident from two years earlier when she broke her wrist. Remember when she said that they were dancing aggressively and claimed that Tom, that time had pushed her in that courtroom. She also opened up about trauma from her childhood, suggesting that everything that she had been through and everything that led to this moment of her sitting in that courtroom was a mess of bundled up trauma that she didn't know how to deal with. And it led her to her breaking point. For the prosecution, on the other hand, it was a clear cut case. They painted a clear picture. There wasn't much to say on their end. To them it was a classic case of a woman who was bitter that her boyfriend wouldn't commit to her. And Jane wanted the ring, the commitment, the future. And when Tom said no, she killed him. A lot of people, including all of Tom's family and friends, will forever think that Jane Andrews was lying. According to them, Tom was not a bad guy. He would never hurt anyone. And the things that Jane was claiming that he did could not have been more out of his character. And it's a lot of people's beliefs that she made up this whole self defense story as an attempt to cover up what it really was. And if you ask them, they would say that what it really was was a brutal and calculated murder. After 12 hours of jury deliberation, the verdict came. The jury found Jane Andrews guilty of murder. She was sentenced to life in prison. In her sentencing hearing, the judge told Jane, quote, and killing the man that you loved, you ended his life and ruined your own. It is evident that you made your attack upon him when you were consumed with anger and bitterness. Nothing could justify what you did. It was a brutal attack. And even if you felt yourself wronged, you were attacking an unarmed man who had possibly been escaped asleep a few minutes before you attacked him after you had struck him with a cricket bat and then stabbed him with a knife. You left him to die without remorse. End quote. And guys, In November of 2009, nine years into her prison sentence, Jane Andrews straight up walked out of East Sutton Park, a low security prison that she was in. Yeah, she literally walked out. She just escaped. She vanished and for three days, literally no one could find her. Nobody knew where she was. But then finally, police did find her hiding out in a hotel room only six miles away. She was staying there with her family. And get this, for whatever reason, she somehow wasn't even charged for escaping. She was just sent back and she was eventually released for good on August 8th of 2019. So, yeah, Jane Andrews is now out and about as we speak, walking as a free woman, just hanging out. I guess I don't know what she's doing. But yeah, that is the most insane story of Jane Andrews and that is all I have for today's episode. I cannot wait to see what you guys have to say about this case. I'm definitely going to be chatting in the Instagram group chat about this because literally, what is going on? Anyway, that is all for me today. I hope you guys are having the best day. If not, go do something to make it the best day. Make somebody happy. And I will see you next time week's episode. Massive kiss on the forehead to every single one of you. Thank you guys so much for tuning in to episode 10 of I Wish you were here. As a reminder, you can listen to this podcast any way you get. Your podcast video version is also available on YouTube. Love you guys.