A mum-of-two had her life turned upside down when the man of her dreams fatally stabbed himself in front of her - and she was then wrongly accused of his murder.
Joleen Hulme, 37, from Bolton, spent six months in jail on remand after being arrested on suspicion of murdering partner Paul Dickson. Just three months before his death, the pair had got engaged while on holiday in Egypt after a year-long romance.
During an argument on the evening of December 30, 2018, Paul, 48, plunged a knife into his chest in front of her. Her husband-to-be died less than a fortnight later in hospital from heart failure on January 11, 2019.
READ MORE: Dad says he's 'too broke to afford taxis' after he's caught speeding at 119mph in £37k luxury BMW
After his death, Joleen was arrested on suspicion of murder and was bailed until September of that year. As part of her bail conditions, she could only see her children for an hour-and-a-half a day with supervision. She was rearrested that month and again released on bail with the same conditions. Eight months later in May 2020, Joleen was charged with Paul’s murder and sent to Styal Prison while she awaited trial.
However, she was acquitted of killing him after a three-week trial in November of that year. Joleen says she still has no idea why Paul did it and wasn't aware of mental health problems. Finally building up the courage to talk about her hellish ordeal, Joleen said: “I’ve thought about whether he meant to do it a million times. He looked after me so well, and I knew he loved me so much.
“Within a matter of minutes we were really happy and then all of a sudden my partner had died on the floor. Even to this day, I don’t feel like I’ve had time to grieve because I’ve had that fight on my hands to try and prove my innocence.
"I almost don’t accept that he’s gone because everything happened so quickly. I can't accept it, it won't sink in that he’s not here anymore. Even though I’ve had to go through all that trauma, my body chooses not to accept it because it’s too much to deal with.”
Cupboard maker Paul tragically stabbed himself after a family party at the couple’s house. They had known each other through family friends for years but didn’t get together until later in life, when they had both had children with previous partners.
Joleen said: “It was just from going to the local pub and seeing each other there. I would end up back at his house to carry on the party and we would stay up chatting most of the nights. We knew we had something special and it just seemed to be a mutual decision to get together as we were so close and happy to be around each other.”
'In that moment I knew what he'd done'
The pair got into an argument at the end of their pre-New Year party over Paul smoking, but Joleen never could have imagined how it would escalate. She recalled: “Things were thrown around the front room.
"Paul then grabbed hold of me and I went upstairs to escape him, and he pulled me back down and pushed me into the front room. He walked into the kitchen to get a knife, walked back into the front room and pushed me onto the couch.
“He shouted something at me that I can’t remember. I just see him, I don’t hear any noise coming from his mouth, I just see him shouting at me. The anger in his face was just something else, he had totally changed. Then I just see the motion. I see him just thump his chest. And in that moment, I just knew what he’d done.”
Paul staggered out of the front door and collapsed on the street, with Joleen behind him screaming for help. She recalls seeing the stab wound pouring with blood from his chest. Emergency services attended the couple’s home in Bolton, where paramedics tried to resuscitate Paul and rushed him to hospital to perform emergency surgery after the knife was found to have pierced his heart.
Joleen was taken to her parents home and arrested the following morning on suspicion of GBH with intent. The heartbroken mum recalls the days that followed as the hardest of her life. She was released on bail but unable to see any of her family, or Paul who was fighting for his life.
When Paul came around in hospital, he told police and family that he didn’t remember what happened. According to police, Paul was asking after his fiancé and wanted to know why she couldn’t see him before he died.
Joleen said: “We got to Styal and it was crazy because I’d never seen a prison. I remember sitting in the prison reception where they sign you in. One of the governors came over and sat in front of me and said ‘so, who did you kill?’. I said ‘I’ve not killed anybody, my partner killed himself’. I’m this woman here who had been charged with murder, looking at a 20 year sentence.”
Pandemic restrictions at the time meant she couldn’t see her children and was only able to video call them sporadically. Joleen’s trial took place in November 2020 and lasted three weeks.
Forensic evidence at the trial was scarce due to the amount of blood on the knife stopping any fingerprints from being recovered. Instead, prosecutors relied on bad character statements to see Joleen convicted.
But a pivotal moment in the trial came when her barrister asked the coroner to demonstrate how he would stab himself in the chest. Joleen recalled: “I was thinking, ‘the coroner is even saying it would have happened this way’. He was proving to the jury that Paul could have done it himself.”
After a three week trial that included two-full days of interrogation on Joleen, she was found not guilty by unanimous decision. Leaving prison was a bittersweet feeling for the mum as she had to rebuild her life with scratch without the man she loved by her side.
'People were still calling me a murderer'
Her home had been broken into while she was inside, pushing Joleen to move to another town to keep her family safe. Joleen said: "The fact my name was dragged through the mud meant I didn't feel safe. Paul’s family were on Facebook calling me a murderer. After I was cleared, they were still saying ‘she defo did it’. Even though it was a not guilty verdict, people still think I did it. And it’s cruel… it’s cruel because I’ve witnessed my partner kill himself."
Looking forward, Joleen doesn’t see herself ever falling in love again. She went on: “I don’t think I could ever get into a relationship again. It’s the fear of it. For me, it’s scary to be in a relationship now because another person can upset your world so much.
"I just don’t want to put myself in that position again. I take each day as it comes because I’m still healing.”
Joleen has spoken to her solicitors about seeking compensation from the police. During her time on bail, she felt unsupported and was even denied counselling from a local provider. She was told that police could request to know anything she had told them - and even though she had nothing to hide, was advised against this over fears it could implicate the trial.
She got custody of her children again last summer. Joleen has had no apology for being wrongly accused and is getting legal advice on her next steps.
A CPS Spokesperson said: “It is not the role of the Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offence. But to make fair, independent and objective assessments about whether it is appropriate to present charges for a jury to consider. We are satisfied that our decision to bring a charge of murder was correct, in accordance with our legal test, and we respect the verdict the jury reached in this case.”
Greater Manchester Police have been approached for comment.
Sign up for daily news updates from Bolton with our free email newsletter
