Jane Andrews

Jane Andrews
Born	Jane Andrews Cleethorpes
Occupation	Royal aide
Employer	Duchess of York (1988-1997)
Known for	Murder of Tom Cressman
Criminal charge	Murder
Criminal status	In prison
Spouse	Christopher Dunn-Butler (1989-1994)
Partner	Tom Cressman (deceased)

Jane Andrews [born 1968 ??] is a one-time Royal dresser, convicted of murder in a sensational trial in 2001 that attracted much public interest, both in the dramatic circumstances of the killing, and in the fantasy-life of the working-class girl who mixed intimately with the rich and glamorous, though officially only as a servant. She is noted as one of the many bizarre figures in the life of her employer Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York.

Early life

Daughter of a joiner, Andrews was born in Cleethorpes, North Lincolnshire, near the seaport of Grimsby, to which the family moved soon afterwards. Having completed a foundation course in fashion at Grimsby College of Art, she worked freelance as a clothes designer for Marks and Spencer.[2]

Dresser to the Duchess

At 21, she applied for a job as a personal dresser, advertised anonymously in The Lady magazine. It was to work for Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, on a live-in basis at Buckingham Palace. The two women, from their very different backgrounds, bonded closely. Sarah even forgave Jane for her carelessness in failing to safeguard some priceless jewellery, given her by the Queen, which was stolen at an airport, though later recovered. It is clear that nine years travelling the world in high society gave Jane an exaggerated idea of her own rank and status.

Shock redundancy

In 1997, Jane was suddenly made redundant, supposedly as a straightforward budget-cut, though one friend believed that Sarah saw Jane as a rival for the attentions of her close friend Count Gaddo della Gherardesca. Either way, it was a bad blow to Jane’s fragile ego - on top of a failed marriage to Christopher Dunn-Butler, an IT expert 20 years her senior, and a tempestuous affair with Dimitri Horne, stepson of a Greek shipping tycoon. However, she soon embarked on a more promising relationship with a well-connected entrepreneur in the car business, Tommy Cressman, and moved into his mews house in Fulham in 1998.

Relationship with Cressman

For the next two years, Jane made it obvious that all her hopes were pinned on Cressman as her future husband and father of her children. But his friends did not think he was wanting to settle down, and he never did propose to her. When she accidentally came across some sexually explicit emails from Cressman to a woman in America, which included some unflattering references to herself, she reacted in uncontrollable rage, and bludgeoned and stabbed him to death while he slept. Only hours earlier, he had rung the police, warning that someone was likely to get hurt.

Flight and Arrest

Andrews immediately fled the scene and issued a stream of texts and emails to friends, with a mass of conflicting statements, claiming to be unaware of any murder, then protesting her innocence and blaming intruders or blackmailers. Four days after the attack, police found Andrews in her car in Cornwall, suffering from an overdose. After changing her story again, and claiming that she killed him in self-defence, she was committed for trial.

Trial and Appeal

At her Old Bailey trial in April 2001, Andrews presented herself as the victim of sexual violence on the part of Cressman, but evidence from his previous girlfriends threw doubt on this. Andrews’ own cross-examination eroded her credibility further, and she was found guilty and sentenced to twelve years minimum. In 2002, she tried to get her conviction quashed on the grounds that she had been suffering delayed shock from the effects of childhood abuse by her own brother. This was dismissed by three judges, and her appeal was rejected.

Escape and Recapture

In 2009, just three years before her scheduled date of release, she went absent from East Sutton Park open prison, near Maidstone, Kent, soon after an apparent suicide attempt. This remains unexplained, especially as she had managed to survive much worse conditions in other prisons. She then phoned her parents in Grimsby, who made a mercy-dash South, driven all the way by their local taxi-driver. When they collected Jane from a roadside rendezvous, the driver recognised her and refused to take them back home. Instead he dropped them at a nearby hotel and notified the police.