How CCTV helped catch a killer :Wakefield Express report : Main CCTV article : KDIS Online
Town centre cameras "gave lie to solo pub crawl tale" ( Guardian, 15/9/98)
'Lovelorn teenager lured to her death' (Yorkshire Post, 15/9/98)
Rachel 'lured to her death', court told (T&A 15/9/98)
Rachel's diaries told of her love (T&A, 15/9/98)
Boyfriend tells of his two-timing (T&A 16/9/98)
I'm not Rachels killer, says boyfriend (Yorkshire Post, 17/9/98)
"Nothing unusual" about murder accused - wife (Yorkshire Post, 18/9/98)
Court: camera shows meeting (T&A 18/9/98)
Rachel's blood not on accused (T&A 19/9/98)
I did not kill Rachel, father tells court (Yorkshire Post 22/9/98)
'Killed for saying no to sex' (T&A 23/9/98)
Father who killed son's girlfriend jailed for life (Yorkshire Post, 25/9/98)
She was our golden girl (T&A 25/9/98)
Lured to her death by man of pure evil (T&A 25/9/98)
Moment I knew Rachel was dead (T&A 25/9/98)
Anguish of the boyfriend son (T&A 25/9/98)
Wakefield Express report (25/9/98)
Martin Wainwright, Guardian, 15/9/98
A HOTEL chef accused of stabbing his son's besotted girlfriend to death had his alibi blown by closed circuit TV a court heard yesterday.
Town centre cameras in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, caught Stephen Hughes, aged 47, strolling with 18-year-old Rachel Barraclough towards scrubland where her sexually assaulted ' half-naked body was later found. Two hours later, they showed him returning alone.
Mr Hughes, whose son Karl had been trying to end a relationship with the young churchgoer, told police that he had been on a solo pub crawl on the evening of Rachel's death and had not seen the quiet girl, who worked with her mother and sister in a greetings card factory in Bradford.
But Paul Worsley QC, prosecuting, told the jury at Leeds crown court that CCTV video tape clearly showed the pair on the September evening last year when Rachel disappeared, walking towards the river Calder towpath.
Hughes subsequently changed his story, the court was told, claiming he had gone bowling with the teenager.
But Mr Worsley said that was just a further development of "a consistent pattern of lies".
Mr Worsley said that Rachel had been besotted with Karl Hughes, aged 20, and was desperate to win him back after hearing that he wanted to end their eight month relationship and had started seeing another woman. The court was read extracts from Rachel's diary, including a passage saying: "I think if he leaves me 1 shall die of a broken heart."
She had taken the bus to Wakefield after speaking to her boyfriend's father on the phone. Karl was out with his new girlfriend, Diane Sherrington, when the call came through.
Stephen Hughes had arranged to meet Rachel himself - "perhaps on the pretext that they would go off together to meet Karl". Instead Rachel was subjected to a brutal attack on rough ground near the towpath-, with her throat cut and four deep stab wounds in her body.
Mr Worsley said: "The Crown submits that Stephen Hughes and nobody else was her killer. [He] played on her anxiety to be reunited with Karl. She was prepared to go wherever [he] told her in the hope of finding Karl."
The court was told that Rachel had walked along the towpath for at least 20 minutes before she was pushed to the ground, her skirt torn up and her jacket and blouse ripped open to reveal her breasts. Other wounds showed that she had fought hard but in vain to fend off her attacker.
Mr Worsley said that traces of semen had been found on Rachel's body, but DNA profiling had not been possible. Other forensic evidence could link Stephen Hughes to the killing, including red shale from the towpath found on his trainers. But there were no blood traces or fibres on his clothing or body, and the murder weapon has not been found.
The court heard that Karl, raised as a Mormon, had quarrelled violently with Rachel after he started seeing Ms Sherrington, leaving her with a nosebleed and a black eye. But they later apologised to each other, although Rachel wrote in her diary: "I won't be able to recover this time and I don't want to. I don't want to fall in love again, not when it causes so much pain."
The hearing continues.
Olwen Dudgeon, Yorkshire Post, 15/9/98
AN infatuated teenage girl probably thought she was going to meet her boyfriend when she was lured by his father to a secluded towpath, where she was molested and murdered, a jury heard yesterday.
Rachel Barraclough, 18, left her home in Bradford looking forward to seeing Carl Hughes, whom she described in her diary as the love of her life, but instead was met off the bus in Wakefield by his father, Stephen Hughes, Paul Worsley QC, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court. Rachel was besotted with her boyfriend and would clearly trust his father if she thought he was taking her to where she would meet Carl, Mr Worsley said.
He said Hughes had his "own agenda" for meeting the teenager that night, and taking her along the isolated towpath.
There, Mr Worsley claimed, Hughes sexually assaulted Rachel before stabbing her in the abdomen and cutting her throat.
Stephen Hughes, 47, a chef, of Stanley Street, Wakefield denies murdering Rachel in September last year.
Mr Worsley said her body was discovered 50 yards off the towpath on September 6 by three young men, several hours after a man and woman walking a dog had found her bag and handed it into the police.
Rachel, of Carr Bottom Road, Bankfoot, Bradford had been going out with Carl Hughes from January, after they met at a Wakefield nightclub.
Mr Worsley said the previous weekend Carl Hughes, then 20, had confessed to Rachel that he gone out with another woman and had sex with her. That had led to a quarrel between them, but they had made it up.
He told the jury that prior to the quarrel Rachel had recorded her feelings about Carl in her diary: "I love him so much, 1 think if he leaves me 1 shall die of a broken heart."
Later she wrote: "I love him like I have never loved anyone before" and "I would forgive anything he does."
Even after his confession of sex with the other woman and although she recorded Carl hitting her during the quarrel, she wrote she would always love him and hoped he would be happy whatever happened.
Mr Worsley said that on September 5, Rachel received a phone call which led to her leaving home, indicating she was going to see Carl. But he suggested it was not Carl who phoned, as he was seeing the other woman in his life at the time, but his father.
When Rachel got off the bus she was met by Stephen Hughes, who had volunteered to meet her if she did turn up, telling lfis son to go home and change.
Mr Worsley said Carl was not to see Rachel again. His father never brought her to meet him and later Stephen Hughes denied the teenager had ever arrived, saying he had gone on a pub crawl alone.
But CCTV cameras in Wakefield had pictured Stephen Hughes and Rachel walking in the direction of the towpath, and him returning alone about two hours later.
Hughes denied at the time that he had met Rachel, and it was only this year he said he had met her off the bus and walked her to Wakefield Superbowl where he left her, the court heard.
Mr Worsley claimed Hughes had tricked Rachel into going with him, playing on her anxiety to be with his son.
The trial continues.
T&A 15/9/98
Happy teenager Rachel Barraclough spent her last hours excited at the thought of meeting the boyfriend she loved, a jury heard today.
But she never kept the date with her lover Carl Hughes, the court was told.
Instead she was lured from a bus station by his father and taken to wasteland where she was knifed to death, it was alleged.
At the Leeds Crown Court trial where Stephen Hughes, 46, of Stanley Street, Wakefield, denies murdering Rachel of Carr Bottom Road, Bankfoot, Bradford, the jury heard a statement from her sister Jayne who said she had been excited by a phone call during the evening.
She said: "Rachel had a big smile on her face and she was saying 'yes, yes' as someone spoke to her. I could hear a male voice on the end of the phone and the person said '9pm' and she said '9pm'. My dad said where she was going and she said 'Out'. My mum said 'With Sonia?' and she said 'No'."
Rachel told her father she was going to her boyfriend Carl's house and started getting ready. Jayne said while Rachel waited for her taxi to Bradford interchange she saw Rachel was wearing a red blouse, black satin skirt, black shoes and her best coat. "I thought she looked really nice and she had made an effort to look really nice and had done her hair differently."
Earlier that day Rachel, her parents, sister and new baby had visited their grandma earlier in the day in Wibsey. When they returned Rachel's mother cooked tea while her dad listened to a Bradford City game on the radio.
The prosecution says that within hours of the happy domestic scene Rachel was knifed to death by her boyfriend's father.
The court was told how Rachel and Carl had had a fierce argument during the previous weekend. It resulted in a black eye and bruises for Rachel.
Yesterday, on the first day of the trial, the prosecution alleged Hughes had rung Rachel to say he would meet her off the bus if she came to Wakefield.
Prosecution barrister Paul Worsley QC told how several CCTV cameras showed Hughes meeting Rachel off the 9.15pm Bradford bus on September 5 last year, and walking through Wakefield.
The last picture shows them walking towards the murder scene at 9.27pm. Hughes is spotted by the same camera walking on his own in the opposite direction at 11.24pm.
Rachel's mutilated body was discovered by three walkers on wasteland next to the River Calder in Wakefield. She suffered 17 injuries in all including cuts to her hands which showed she tried to fight off her attacker.
Police believe the weapon used was a knife, about 7cm long, which has never been recovered. There was evidence of a sex attack, but not enough to carry out DNA tests.
The case continues.
By Marianne Sumner, T&A, 15/9/98
Pages from teenager Rachel Barraclough's diaries read to a hushed courtroom told how she was going through the joy and pain of her first real love affair.
Rachel first met Carl Hughes, son of the man accused of killing her - Stephen Hughes, 46, of Stanley Street, Eastmoor, Wakefield - in January last year
Paul Worsley. QC, Prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court they met at a nightclub and "immediately hit it off and began seeing each other regularly.
"Their relationship quickly became an intimate one. They were infatuated. When they were not together at the weekend, they would ring each other up, running-up huge phone bills. Rachel was very much in love with Carl and would do anything to be with him."
She would usually travel from Bradford to Carl's house in Wakefield on Friday evenings. Problems began when he began an electronics course and met an older woman, Diane. Carl slept with her and told Rachel during a pub row over the August Bank Holiday weekend. Rachel was still besotted with Carl, according to the diaries.
On August 27 she wrote: "Then one night I fell in love and I thought 'please dont do this, Cupid'.
"I couldn't help myself .. I wanted to make love to him. I wanted it to happen and it was beautiful. I was so frightened that he was going to go in the morning. I love him so much. I think if he leaves me I shall die of a broken heart. No matter what happens I know I win never stop loving Carl. He is the first man outside my family who I have been able to trust.
"I love him like I have never been able to love anyone before."
On Carl's unfaithfulness she wrote: 'Any woman with any sense would have told him to go away but not me. I had to forgive him."
On September 2 she put that she hated Cart, then wrote: "Don't lie to yourself, you love him. That's why it hurts so much. Who am 1 to stand in the way of his happiness?
"I didn't want to fall in love again not when it causes so much pain. It's supposed to make you happy"
T&A 16/9/98
The boyfriend of Rachel Barraclough has told a murder trial how he had sex with another girl the day she was killed.
Carl Hughes took to the witness stand today on the third day of the trial in which his father Stephen Hughes, 46, has denied murdering the 18-year-old Bradford girl whose body was found on waste land near the River Calder in Wakefield. She had been knifed to death in a sexually-motivated attack.
Carl, 21, admitted he was seeing another girl called Diane while he was going out with Rachel. And on the afternoon of Friday September 5, last year, he said he had sex with Diane in a park after a drinking binge.
But shortly into his evidence, the court had to retire after Carl, who lives with his parents Stephen and Irene Hughes in Stanley Street, Wakefield, said he felt sick. The court resumed after a 15 minute break.
Carl told the court he had been drinking with his father in a pub and met Diane. They drank most of a bottle of cider with her.
"With me being a bit beside myself, we started kissing and we ended up having sex in the park," he said.
He added Diane was sick and "in a bit of a mood" and said she was going home. He put her on the bus and then went home, arriving at 7pm. Carl told how he met Rachel, of Bankfoot, Bradford at Silks nightclub in Bradford on January 11, 1997. Initially, he said, the relationship was "quite strong" and that he and Rachel spoke on the phone for two to three hours at a time, several times a week. "It was love at first sight," he said.
Carl explained how he and Rachel had often walked by the River Calder where they also made love. But later in the year he met a girl called Diane after starting an electronics course. He said his father was critical of what he was doing.
Earlier the jury heard from Pathologist Dr Guy Rutty, who said Rachel's body was covered in bruises even before she died.
The trial continues.
Olwen Dudgeon, Yorkshire Post, 17/9/98
THE boyfriend of a teenage girl brutally stabbed to death on a river towpath told a jury yesterday he had not seen her that day and was not her killer.
Carl Hughes, whose father Stephen is accused of murdering Rachel Barraclough, said at Leeds Crown Court that police had first suspected hin when they went to his house after Rachel's body. was found. He said: "Then, when they proved it weren't me, they went off me and went on to my dad,"
Robert Smith QC, defending his father, asked: "I must ask you whether you had anything at all to do with Rachels death?"
"No," replied Carl firmly. He accepted he got "stressed out" easily and had slapped a previous girlfriend but denied he had put his hands around that girl's throat or threatened to kill her.
His, father Stephen Hughes, 47, a chef, of Stanley Street, Wakefield, denies murdering Rachel, 18, of Carr Bottom Road, Bankfoot, Bradford, last September.
The prosecution claims Stephen Hughes was captured on CCTV cameras walking Rachel towards the River Calder towpath at Wakefield, where she was sexually assaulted and stabbed.
Carl Hughes said Rachel would stay with him most weekends. The weekend before her death they had argued and he slapped her face after she slapped his. He did not recollect her having an injury but accepted he might have caused her a black eye. Part of the reason for the quarrel was his telling her he had slept with another woman but he said they patched up their differences.
The night she died he had gone to the bus station expecting to meet her but she had not arrived. His father had offered to wait to see if she got off the next bus and said he would be at the Rainbow pub. But when Carl arrived neither his father nor Rachel was there.
The trial continues.
Olwen Dudgeon, Yorkshire Post, 18/9/98
THE wife of a man accused of murdering their son's girlfriend told a jury yesterday she noticed nothing unusual about him when he returned home that night.
Irene Hughes said her husband Stephen came into the house about 11.15pm and sat on the settee in their living room. He seemed "a bit merry, that's all," she told defence counsel Robert Smith QC.
Mr Smith asked her if she had noticed anything unusual about her husband's trousers, such as signs of dampness or stains on the lower parts as if someone had been walking in long grass for any length of time. "No," she replied.
Stephen Hughes, 47, a chef, of Stanley Street, Wakefield, denies murdering Rachel Barraclough, 18, of Carr Bottom Road, Bankfoot, Bradford, who had been going out with his son Carl since January last year.
Her body was found on September 6 1997 near a towpath along the River Calder at Wakefield. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed, and her throat had been cut.
The prosecution say Rachel was probably expecting to see Carl when she was lured to the river area by his father after he met her off her bus.
Mrs Hughes told the jury Carl arrived home before his father, at about 10.50pm. Carl said he had been looking for Rachel and asked his father when he arrived if he had seen her, and he said he had not. Carl was upset about not seeing Rachel and she found him crying. The following day, after they watched Princess Diana's funeral, he went to Bradford, but returned and said he had not found Rachel.
Carl Hughes has told the jury that when Rachel did not get off the bus he met, his father offered to meet the next bus while Carl went home and changed. After changing he searched for his father, but failed to find either him or Rachel.
The jury was shown extracts of videos from closed circuit TV cameras in Wakefield which the prosecution says show Stephen Hughes leaving the bus station area with Rachel.
The trial continues.
by MARIANNE SUMNER and ASHLEY BROADLEY, T&A 18/9/98
A video showing Rachel Barraclough's last few moments has been shown to the jury at her murder trial.
Pictures taken by security cameras showed the 18-year-old briskly walking from Wakefield Bus Station towards the murder scene with the man accused of knifing her to death - Stephen Hughes.
Hughes, who is Rachel's boyfriend's father, from Stanley Street, Wakefield, denies the charge. Rachel, who lived with her family in Bankfoot, Bradford, was found with her throat cut and several stab wounds.
The pathologist earlier told the hearing how the time of death was between 9.27pm on September 5, 1997 and 1.30am the following day.
Stephen Hughes' wife Irene and sons Carl, 21, and Wayne, 15, have all testified that he said he was going out for a drink with work mates. On arriving home after 11pm he told them he had not seen Rachel.
Yet the short snatches of film, viewed at Leeds Crown Court, showed Stephen Hughes walking along with Rachel, after meeting her off the 9.15pm bus from Bradford. The last picture was the clearest of all and showed at 9.27pm, Rachel walking with Stephen Hughes before they both turned a corner and quickly walked out of sight.
Two hours elapsed before the same camera picked up Stephen walking in the opposite direction alone.
The case continues.
(T&A 19/9/98)
A forensic scientist told a court there was no concrete evidence which exclusively linked Stephen Hughes with the murder of Rachel Barraclough.
Mrs Pauline Simon described her findings as "very limited scientific evidence". She told the Leeds murder trial none of Rachel's blood was found on any of the clothes he had been wearing, despite painstaking, sensitive tests.
Hughes, 46, of Stanley Street, Wakefield, denies murdering Rachel, 18, of Bankfoot, Bradford, whose body was found near the River Calder, Wakefield. She had been stabbed to death and her throat cut. Her clothing, and those of Mr Hughes, was examined to see if fibres had been exchanged in any encounter. Nothing was found. Both were wearing smooth, shiny clothes that would not distribute or retain fibres.
A trace of sperm was discovered on Rachel's face but there was too little to carry out a DNA test, to see who it had come from.
Mrs Simon commenting on a single body hair, which the prosecution say Rachel snatched during the sexually motivated attack, said: "I found the recovered hair similar in colour and microscopic appearance to Stephen Hughes's."
She added that DNA tests narrowed it down even further but still it could not be "uniquely attributed" to Hughes.
Police teams searched a stretch of the River Calder but the knife thought to have killed her was not, and never has been, found. The court heard how Rachel's bag, discovered 100 yards from her body, was also bloodstained.
Mrs Simon was asked if she would have expected blood to be on the hands of the assailant.
She replied: "Yes, I consider it likely that some blood would be transferred but I would not expect the clothing to be extensively or heavily bloodstained. There was little spattered blood - just a few spots on the body."
The trial continues.
Yorkshire Post 22/9/98
A father accused of murdering his son's teenage girlfriend told a court yesterday that he had nothing to do with her death.
Stephen Hughes, 47, told a jury at Leeds Crown Court that Rachel Barraclough, 18, was alive when he last saw her after he walked her to a Wakefield bowling alley in September last year. Shortly afterwards she was sexually assaulted, stabbed four times and her throat was cut on an isolated river towpath nearby.
Hughes, of Stanley Street, Wakefield, denies murder.
The hotel breakfast chef, whose son Carl had been going out with Rachel for eight months, admitted lying to police about seeing the teenager on the night of her death.
CCTV cameras pictured him walking from Wakefield bus station with her and in the direction of the towpath. But Hughes said he lied to police about meeting her as she arrived in Wakefield, in the hope of seeing Carl, because he panicked. He added: "I suppose at the time I was a bit scared of telling them that I'd taken her down there and I would have been one of the last people to have seen her alive."
Robert Smith QC, defending, asked him: "Have you had anything at all to do with Rachel's death?"
Hughes replied: "No." He said he met Rachel, whose relationship with Carl was on the rocks, while his son went home to get changed. But she did not want to go straight to meet Carl and asked Hughes to walk her to the Superbowl.
He told the court: "You could say I'm soft-hearted. Rachel asked me to walk her down there and I said yes." He said that he left her at the Superbowl and went to pick her up later but there was no sign of her and he went home.
The prosecution allege that Hughes rang Rachel on the day of her death and lured her to Wakefield from her home in Bradford on the pretext that she would be meeting Carl. But after meeting her it is claimed he walked with her to the towpath and killed her.
The trial continues today.
T&A 23/9/98
Stephen Hughes stabbed his son's former girlfriend to death after she spurned his advances, a Leeds Crown Court murder trial heard yesterday.
But Hughes, 47, of Stanley Street, Wakefield, who denies murdering Rachel Barraclough, admitted he lied to police about the night she went missing.
He told the jury he thought he would be a prime suspect as the last person to see her alive.
The body of Rachel, 18, of Carr Bottom Road, Bankfoot, Bradford, was found on wasteland in Wakefield last September. She had been sexually assaulted and her throat cut.
Barrister Paul Worsley QC, prosecuting, said: "Everything you have said is a pack of lies from start to finish, isn't it? You are the man who got a knife out when you tried it on with her, aren't you?
"Not only did you pull up her bra and stab her repeatedly, you cut her throat didn't you?"
"No sir", replied Hughes.
Mr Worsley said Hughes tricked Rachel into coming to Wakefield by saying he was trying to "smooth things over with Carl" after the couple split up.
"But she would have to do you 'a favour' and show you some affection," said Mr Worsley. "She wouldn't do it and you took out a knife and threatened her, didn't you? You stabbed her to death and cut her throat, didn't you?"
Hughes denied the allegations in the trial's seventh day yesterday.
Mr Worsley asked Hughes why he did not tell his wife, the police, Carl or Rachel's parents he met the teenager that night. "Why did you lie to the police about not meeting Rachel?" asked Mr Worsley.
Hughes said: "In the start I just panicked. I could have been the last person to see her alive. And if Carl found out I had met Rachel he would have been annoyed with me and lose his temper."
The trial continues
Trina McIntyre (Yorkshire Post, 25/9/98)
TWO innocent photographs taken nearly two hours apart told the chilling story of a teenage girl being lured to her death.
Stephen Hughes, 47, had meticulously planned the murder of Rachel barraclough, his son's girlfriend - but he had overlooked the security cameras installed in Wakefield centre less than six months before. Those photographs - the first showing Hughes and his victim walking over the city's Chantry Bridge towards a canal towpath, and the second in which he returned alone - were crucial in convicting him of murder yesterday. It was those images, taken from a private security camera, that a jury at Leeds Crown Court asked to see again yesterday before returning a guilty verdict.
In the intervening time, Hughes had taken the trusting 18-year-old to an isolated spot on scrubland between Heath Common and Eastmoor and sexually assaulted her. He then stabbed her four times in the abdomen and slit her throat before rummaging with his bloodstained hands through her handbag.
The jury of eight women and four men took three-and-a-half hours to reach their unanimous guilty verdict on what the judge later described as "strong evidence".
Sentencing Hughes to life imprisonment, Mr Justice Holland told him he had acted wickedly and betrayed Rachel's trust.
When the verdict was announced, Hughes's wife Irene fainted and had to be carried from the court by a security guard. Paramedics tended her as she lay on chairs outside the courtroom, while the family's support worker, Elaine Fox, broke the news to her two sons Carl and Wayne, who were not in court to hear the verdict. She said: "They were both numb. Carl is very emotional at the moment. He is very upset trying to grasp that his father has just been found guilty of murdering his girlfriend.
"He said to me, 'But how could he? There was no blood on him'."
Hughes, who showed no emotion when he was sentenced, had covered his tracks meticulously and did not bat an eyelid on the night Rachel died as Carl frantically rang her parents and nightclubs in the city to try to find out where she was.
The couple had had a tiff earlier that week but had patched things up.
It was a phone call made by Hughes from a call box that night that made Rachel change her plans, and led to her murder. She had been due to stay in Bradford with friends but changed her mind because she was desperate to see Carl, whom she had met six months earlier in a Wakefield nightclub.
The churchgoing teenager, who lived with her parents in Carr Bottom Road, Bankfoot, Bradford, and worked for a local greetings card company, wrote in her diary: "I love him so much. I think if he leaves me I shall die of a broken heart."
Hughes, a chef at the Cedar Court hotel in Wakefield and a Mormon, kept his dark secret from his family for over 12 months and said in evidence he had never even told his wife he met Rachel that night. But earlier this year, when he heard about the video evidence, he changed his story, saying he met her and had dropped her off at the Wakefield Superbowl.
Outside court, police Supt John Holt, now divisional commander at Huddersfield, who led the murder inquiry, said a team of four officers had taken seven days, working 10 to 12 hours a day to sift frame by frame through the videotape taken from security cameras around Wakefield, hunting for any images of Rachel and her killer. He said they would probably never know what Hughes's motive was.
"He refused to answer any questions at the outset of this inquiry and has shown no remorse. I believe he had his own motives as he quite clearly went out that night armed with a knife. Whether his motive was sexual or otherwise we will never know. Stephen Hughes has only ever told lies and when given the opportunity to say what happened has refused to comment."
Rachel's parents, Malcolm Barraclough, 54, and his wife Hilary, 40, were delighted at the verdict and hugged and kissed each other in court. Mr Barraclough punched the air and his wife said: "That's just what he needs. Throw away the key."
Afterwards they said they were relieved. "We are just glad it's all over with," said Mr Barraclough.
Rachel's older sister, Jayne, said: "She didn't deserve to die how she died. She trusted him and he abused that trust. He deserves to rot in hell."
Mrs Hughes, who has been a practising Mormon for 11 years, has lived with her husband for 23 years. She has lost more than three stone in weight because the stress of the impending court case prevented her from eating properly. She entered court a week ago staunchly believing he was not guilty. The evidence, her support worker said, made her think again.
T&A 25/9/98
Rachel Barraclough was the loving daughter who brought joy to everyone who knew her. The family have spoken of the bright, lovable teenager who was always willing to help others, no matter who they were.
Her distraught father Malcolm said: "Rachel was so unassuming. It didn't matter what colour, creed or religion you were - she would treat everyone the same."
And to Jane, she was the typical younger sister, always pinching her clothes and make-up to look her best to go out in.
Jane said: "Rachel was always borrowing my clothes and make-up. If I could never find some clothing, you could guarantee Rachel was wearing it. I used to go mad with her. But that means nothing now."
Rachel's family are still struggling to come to terms with their beautiful daughter's death, and regularly go to St Matthew's Church to remember the teenager whose life was so tragically cut short by Hughes.
Rachel's first boyfriend, David Kay, has also spoken of his heartache at losing the girl with a heart of pure gold. Her death has left a huge hole in his heart and even though the pair parted, he still wears her engagement ring on a chain around his neck as a memento.
He said: "I miss her terribly. She meant the world to me. If she was still here I would marry her."
Everyone remembers Rachel as the girl who was always smiling. The girl who would do anything for anyone.
David and Rachel met at school in 1992 in the playground and two years later the couple eventually became boyfriend and girlfriend. They got engaged in 1996 and although their relationship did not work out, they still remained loyal friends.
He said: "I would give anything to have her back."
Nineteen-year-old David said they would take long walks in Bradford's surrounding countryside and spend hours just talking. She would write him love poems and they would talk about a future together. When the relationship didn't work out, Rachel was heartbroken. But they remained close friends and David says he still has wonderful memories of his first love.
"She had a heart of gold, pure gold," he said. "Rachel was so warm and kind. She was the sort of person who would give anyone a chance, no matter who they were."
David went to Leeds Crown Court for the first day of the trial, but couldn't stand being in the same place as the man who had brutally murdered her.
"I had to get out of there," he said. "It was just too hard.
"When I found out that Rachel was murdered I couldn't believe it. I had nightmares for two weeks. I just couldn't take it in. Rachel didn't hurt anyone. Why did Hughes hurt her?"
David met Hughes' son Carl several times when the Wakefield man started going out with Rachel.
"Carl loved Rachel, I'm sure of that," he said. "She was happy. She was gleaming all the time and she loved him."
But when Carl began an affair with a woman in Castleford, Rachel was devastated. David believes the night Rachel was killed she was going to Wakefield to finish the relationship.
"We knew each other inside out and I'm certain she was going to end it with Carl that night," he said. "She knew he was having an affair and she would only take so much."
Rachel grew up in Undercliffe, Bradford, and was a pupil at Wellington First and Middle Schools. The family then moved to Bankfoot and Rachel went to Priestman Middle School and Grange Upper School.
She left school and desperately wanted to work as a hairdresser and beauty therapist. On Saturday, September 6, last year she was due to sign up for a course at Dixon's City Technology College.
A keen churchgoer, Rachel loved going to St Matthew's Parish Church at the end of Carr Bottom Road, just yards from her house. The Reverend John Turner, who has been with the Barraclough family throughout the murder trial, said: "She is remembered by many for her sense of fun and enjoyment and her sense of humour. At times she could appear quiet, almost diffident.
"Always first to offer help, she took part in the nativity plays and other pieces of drama in our Sunday services. On occasion she read the Bible in church, she sang with the singing group and served coffee after the service."
Rachel was confirmed in St Matthew's in October 1994.
Rev Turner said: "Her thoughtful contributions in the preparation group were appreciated. In the year or so before she was killed, we saw less of her, but were always pleased to see her.
"Over the last difficult year our memories of her and the faith we shared have helped us get through."
While waiting to study at Dixon's, Rachel worked at Unique Images, Dudley Hill, in the gift-wrapping department. Although she was only there a few months, she made an impact with her work colleagues.
Chris Mallows, Rachel's manager at Unique Images, said: "She was a hard-working and consciousness girl.
"Rachel kept herself to herself. She was one of those girls who was very quiet, but people liked her. It was a shock and a tragedy to everyone when we heard what happened. People still talk about her with fondness today and she is sorely missed."
Evil Stephen Hughes subjected Rachel Barraclough to a sexual assault before horrifically knifing her to death on wasteland in Wakefield. Then, as the pretty 18-year-old lay dead, he calmly stole her overnight bag and ran off with the money from her purse.
But the neighbours of Hughes, who was branded as "wicked" by Judge Mr Justice Holland, knew him as an ordinary family man.
One of the residents of Stanley Street, Wakefield, where Hughes lived with his wife and sons, said: "I have known Stephen and his wife Irene for more than 20 years. I've seen their youngsters grow up. With the whole family it has been a smile, a wave and always a friendly hello."
The night Rachel became involved with Hughes's son Carl signalled the end of her short life.
The 18-year-old's family could not understand why their churchgoing daughter began a relationship with jobless Carl, who was from a run-down council estate in Wakefield.
He rarely spoke when he visited their Bradford home, but talked on the phone to her so much they had to install a payphone.
Rachel had everything to offer, being on the verge of a career in beauty therapy and hairdressing. But Rachel's family saw no future in the relationship with Carl Hughes - and tragically they were proved right.
When Rachel's body was found, her boyfriend was the prime suspect and was put through hours of police questioning.
But it was his father who lured Rachel to her death on the promise of smoothing things over with his son.
Stephen Hughes, breakfast chef at the Cedar Court Hotel in Wakefield, who slept apart from his wife, was overcome with jealousy that his son was having a sexual relationship. The Mormon, who rarely went out drinking and kept himself to himself, had been brought up in Wakefield. His relationship with Irene had deteriorated over the last few years.
When Carl finished with Rachel and started seeing another woman, Hughes saw it as the ideal time to put into place his evil scheme.
Rachel trusted Hughes - and he betrayed her.
Hughes forced himself on Rachel but she struggled. The lust for his son's girlfriend developed into rage and he stabbed her while she lay on the ground and finally slit her throat.
As Hughes was led away from the dock yesterday to begin his life sentence, it was two families whose lives lay in ruins. His frail wife Irene, who has lost four stones since her husband's arrest, collapsed.
As ambulance staff revived her Elaine Fox, who works for the support group SOFA (Serious Offenders Family Aftermath), said she was deeply distressed.
"She is very shocked. She has been living with this for 12 months. When it's the man you love in the dock it's not easy."
She said Carl, who waited with his brother as the jury deliberated, was very upset.
"He is trying to grasp the fact that his father has just been found guilty of murdering his girlfriend."
Speaking after the trial Detective Superintendent John Holt said: "My first thoughts are for Rachel's family who have had to endure a traumatic 12 months.
"It was a particularly horrendous offence. From the outset it was apparent that Rachel knew her killer. What makes it a more horrendous offence was the planning that went into it.
"Hughes preyed on a young girl he knew would trust him. The judge summed up the murder perfectly - wicked and callous. Hughes showed no remorse at any stage."
Jane Barraclough's heart sank when she saw two detectives walking up the garden path. And their knock at the door was to change the Barracloughs' lives forever.
Jane, right, Rachel's elder sister, said: "I knew then that Rachel was dead. They showed me their identification and from the looks on their faces I knew.
"Mum and dad were out shopping and I was panicking. They said they wanted us to go to Wakefield to identify a body. I tried to convince myself it was someone else they had found. I just expected the police to get in touch and say 'Sorry, we made a mistake. It wasn't Rachel'. But they never did."
Two days earlier, Rachel had rushed out of the family home in Carr Bottom Road, Bankfoot, Bradford, to meet ex-boyfriend Carl Hughes.
Jane, 29, said her younger sister looked lovely and made a special effort. She was wearing her best clothes, as though she was ready for a night out.
"She just said she was going to meet Carl. A taxi came and took her to the Interchange," said Jane.
Later, when Carl continued to telephone their house to ask if Rachel had left, the family were not unduly concerned.
"We just thought she must have changed her mind," said Jane. Rachel had mentioned baby-sitting for a friend and we thought nothing was wrong at all."
Saturday was the day of Princess Diana's funeral, which the Barraclough family watched on television and then went into Bradford. Still they thought Rachel was safe.
The next day everyone expected Rachel to walk through the door as she had told her mum she would definitely be back in time for her Sunday lunch.
But she never returned.
Rachel's parents Hilary and Malcolm, 55, who had been shopping, came home to hear the news that was to turn their lives upside down. And the nightmare was to continue for the family when they suffered a burglary in February this year.
Burglars took Jane's purse containing a 50p piece given to Jane by Rachel the night she was stabbed to death. One of Rachel's eternity rings and five of her charms for a bracelet were also kept in Jane's purse.
Jane said: "We were able to replace the other stolen things like the video recorder and CDs. But we can't replace Rachel's things. They were sentimental and meant so much to us. At least they can't steal our memories."
The son of killer Stephen Hughes has told of his anguish at being barred from the funeral of the girl he loved.
Police told Carl Hughes, 21, that he wasn't welcome when Rachel's family buried their daughter. And officers even told him he couldn't go to her grave and lay flowers there.
Unemployed Carl said: "The police thought it was me. For three weeks they interviewed me. But I had an alibi. Then they went after my dad.
"They wouldn't let me go to the funeral and they said that I couldn't even go to her grave. We were in love and it was terrible coming after her death."
The couple met in Silks night-club, Bradford, at Christmas 1996. They were immediately smitten and Rachel went to Wakefield every weekend. They talked about marriage and setting up home together. But a week before she was murdered the couple had a row.
Carl said: "It was nothing serious, just a little row. We hadn't called it off or anything."
The 21-year-old was interviewed repeatedly by police who believed he may have been the killer but he had a cast-iron alibi. When the closed circuit television camera pictures from Wakefield bus station were looked at they saw his father pick up the teenager and walk through the city - only to return alone an hour later.