Michael Hillier: Sheffield man denies murdering dad-of-two who was gunned down and attacked with acid

Liam Smith, aged 38, was found dead at the bottom of his driveway on Kilburn Drive in Shevington, Wigan, in the early evening of November 24 last year. Today, Monday, March 27, 39-year-old Michael Hillier, of Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, and Rachel Fulstow, 37, of Andrew Drive, York, pleaded not guilty to his murder.

Both appeared at Manchester Crown Court via prison video link, as a trial date of July 10 was set. Fulstow is expected to enter a plea to an additional charge of perverting the course of justice when she appears for a further case management hearing for the pair on May 15.

In January, Mr Smith’s family told how he was a ‘devoted’ and ‘adoring’ father to his two boys, aged 15 and 11, and was a ‘dearly loved son, brother, uncle, cousin, grandson and friend’.