The killer’s side must be heard, the family says

A woman convicted of murdering a man who followed her home from a pub “should have been treated like a victim”, campaigners and her family have claimed.

Learna Cheng, also known as Lea-Rose, stabbed 39-year-old Dylan Bacon to death at her flat in Old Swan, Liverpool, on March 14, 2022.

Sentencing her to life in prison in September 2023, Judge Neil Flewitt KC told her she had tried to “denigrate” Mr Bacon’s character to “evade responsibility” for what she had done.

But before her case is considered in the Court of Appeal on Friday, a campaign group and her father said they believed she had been subjected to sexual violence before the fatal attack and may have “lost control”.

After her trial, Cheng told campaign group Justice For Women (JFW) that she would “probably never know what happened to me that night.”

“Something must have happened for me to stab him,” she added.

During the trial, the jury heard that she had been drinking with her grandfather in the Old Swan pub when Mr Bacon came along and joined them at their table, where the group appeared to get on well together.

CCTV captured Cheng taking a sip of Mr Bacon’s drink. A short time later she became unwell and vomited on the table before being accompanied by her grandfather back to his nearby apartment.

Mr Bacon also left and went to another pub, The Millfield, which overlooked Cheng’s grandfather’s flat.

Video surveillance showed Cheng leaving the apartment and walking a few streets away to her own home, whereupon Mr. Bacon followed her, a few steps behind her.

About 90 minutes later, cameras outside Cheng’s apartment filmed the couple going inside.

Two hours later, Mr Bacon staggered out of the house after suffering multiple stab wounds.

The court was told Mr Bacon’s semen was found on Cheng’s clothing and her bra was damaged.

It is understood police were called after Cheng set off a panic alarm in her flat, which had been installed after she and her landlord reported that a group of local men had been regularly turning up at her flat after drinking in local pubs had.

Cheng’s legal team claimed Mr Bacon was part of that group, although the court heard there was no record of them specifically mentioning him by name.

“A young, vulnerable woman”

She told jurors she had no memory of what happened in her flat and argued the only reason she stabbed Mr Bacon was because he had tried to sexually assault her.

She said she had never agreed to have sex with Mr Bacon and was not attracted to him.

However, Judge Flewitt KC sentenced her to a minimum term of 16 years and told the court that Cheng had tried to “blacken” her. [Mr Bacon’s] character” to “avoid responsibility for what you have done.”

He also said he “strongly suspects” that something happened in the apartment that caused Cheng to lose her temper, which was affected by the alcohol she had consumed.

Following the case, Mr Bacon’s family said he was “loved by everyone in Old Swan”, adding: “You couldn’t think of the Swan without Dylan coming to mind.”

However, for Cheng’s family and supporters, it was not properly explained in court how Mr Bacon came to her apartment when she was heavily drunk.

Nicola Mainwood, who works with JFW and the Center for Women’s Justice, has been helping Cheng since the trial.

She said the evidence suggested something happened to Cheng before she attacked Mr Bacon.

“This is a young, vulnerable woman who has never been in trouble with the police,” she said.

“But she was previously in an abusive relationship and understandably believes something terrible must have happened for her to react this way to him.”

Ms Mainwood said Cheng complained of bleeding from her genitals after her arrest, but no rape examination was carried out and her blood was not tested for the presence of drugs.

She said activists believed that “if she had been treated as a victim of sexual violence, as the evidence suggests, … she may not have been convicted of murder.”

On Friday, Cheng’s lawyer Clare Wade KC will argue in the Court of Appeal that the judge erred in not allowing the jury to consider the partial defense of loss of control.

According to the law, if a defendant charged with murder can prove that he actually lost the ability to exercise self-control due to a “qualifying trigger,” he is guilty of manslaughter.

At Cheng’s trial in 2023, Judge Flewitt ruled that there was insufficient evidence to meet these criteria.

Merseyside Police and the Crown Prosecution Service said they could not comment ahead of the appeal hearing.

Cheng’s father, 52-year-old Rodney Tucker, said he felt his daughter had been “stalked” the day she died and that life in prison was difficult for her.

“It was hard to see my daughter where she is and obviously what she’s in there for,” he said.

“Sometimes she copes well, sometimes not.”

“It’s sad for the family of [Mr Bacon] too,” he said.

“I’m not happy about it and I’m not happy that my daughter is in there.

“But there has to be justice at some point, the story has to be told on their side too.”

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