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Speaker 1: that anyone who has not been convicted of a crime
Speaker 1: is guilty of any wrongdoing. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 2: On November twenty eighth, twenty seventeen, thirty four year old
Speaker 2: Tarren Baird, who lived in Swindon, a town in southwest
Speaker 2: England about eighty miles from London, called the police non
Speaker 2: emergency line. When she made that call, Terran was desperate.
Speaker 2: She lived there with her husband, thirty six year old
Speaker 2: Christopher Tribus, a successful software consultant. Christopher and Terran were
Speaker 2: both originally from South Africa. They had met in South
Speaker 2: Africa and later moved to the UK together to set
Speaker 2: up their dream life. On the surface, they appeared to
Speaker 2: be a happily married couple, but behind the scenes things
Speaker 2: had been deteriorating for a long time. Exactly what happened
Speaker 2: behind those closed doors is at the heart of this case,
Speaker 2: and it's something we're going to be looking at in
Speaker 2: exhaustive detail. When the police answered the phone, Taran told
Speaker 2: them she needed them to come get rid of a body,
Speaker 2: her body, because she was going to kill herself. I'm
Speaker 2: Catherine Townsend. Over the past eight years of making my
Speaker 2: true crime podcast, Helen Gone, I've learned that there's no
Speaker 2: such thing as a small town where murder never happens.
Speaker 2: I have received hundreds of messages from people all around
Speaker 2: the country asking for help with an unsolved murder that's
Speaker 2: affected them, their families, and their communities. If you have
Speaker 2: a case you'd like me and my team to look into,
Speaker 2: you can reach out to us at our Helen Gone
Speaker 2: Murder Line at six seven eight seven four four six
Speaker 2: one four five. That's six seven eight seven four four
Speaker 2: six one four five, or you can send us a
Speaker 2: message on Instagram at Helen gonepod. This is Helen Gone
Speaker 2: Murder Line. When police got to the tribe As home,
Speaker 2: the officer found Tarran hanging from the ceiling near a
Speaker 2: ladder in the garage. After the officer cut her down.
Speaker 2: Police investigated the scene and they found a note that
Speaker 2: Tarran had left. She wrote, quote to my family, I
Speaker 2: am so sorry, but I just couldn't take it anymore
Speaker 2: end quote. Terran said that a dark cloud had been
Speaker 2: over her for a long time, so this seemed like
Speaker 2: a fairly cut and dried case of suicide. But what
Speaker 2: was the dark cloud she was talking about? Was it
Speaker 2: depression or was it something else? According to police records
Speaker 2: that were later ariston court, some of Terran's family and
Speaker 2: friends told officers they believed the dark cloud Tarran was
Speaker 2: referring to was alleged abuse by her husband, Christopher. Christopher
Speaker 2: and Terran had been together for over a decade. They
Speaker 2: met in South Africa, where they were both originally from.
Speaker 2: They started dating and in two thousand and seven they
Speaker 2: moved to the UK together. Two years later they got
Speaker 2: married and eventually they moved to Swindon. Tarran did have
Speaker 2: some mental health issues. One of the issues she struggled
Speaker 2: with was PTSD. Sadly, in South Africa, carjacking is not
Speaker 2: that rare crime and Tarran had witnessed two carjackings while
Speaker 2: she was there, so understandably, Terran was traumatized by this.
Speaker 2: According to court records, this led to her receiving a
Speaker 2: diagnosis of PTSD post traumatic stress disorder. But even though
Speaker 2: she was struggling with PTSD for a long time, Christopher
Speaker 2: and Tarran seemed to be a happy, married couple. Christopher
Speaker 2: was described by family and friends as being a mild
Speaker 2: mannered guy. He worked as a software consultant. Tarren worked
Speaker 2: at a local opticians office. She also did some work
Speaker 2: in Chris's business. On the outside, everything looked great, but
Speaker 2: in twenty fifteen, things between Tarran and Christopher started to
Speaker 2: fall apart. Now exactly what happened between them is something
Speaker 2: that is really hotly debated. Tarran described Christopher as a monster.
Speaker 2: He would later describe her as a fantacist and a
Speaker 2: pathological liar, but we do know a few facts for sure.
Speaker 2: So both Christopher and Terren's families followed them from South
Speaker 2: Africa and ended up settling in the UK as well,
Speaker 2: so they saw both families quite a bit. At some point,
Speaker 2: Terran's mother in law moved in with Tarran and Christopher
Speaker 2: in late twenty fifteen, Tarran and her mother in law
Speaker 2: got into an argument, and according to court testimony, that
Speaker 2: fight ended with Teraren asking her mother in law to
Speaker 2: move out, and this made Christopher furious. Terran began to
Speaker 2: spiral after that. Now, the prosecution would later claim that's
Speaker 2: when a tsunami of alleged abuse by Christopher began. Terreen
Speaker 2: started going to the doctor a lot to report this
Speaker 2: alleged abuse. By May of twenty sixteen, Tarreen told her
Speaker 2: GP that she sometimes felt life was not worth living.
Speaker 2: She visited the GP over one hundred times. Also during
Speaker 2: this time, Terreen's mother, Michelle Baird, later testified in court
Speaker 2: Taren was telling her mom Christopher was controlling when Michelle
Speaker 2: would come over. She claimed that Terran would act strangely.
Speaker 2: Christopher worked from home, and Michelle said Terren would insist
Speaker 2: she had to have lunch ready at exactly twelve fifteen pm,
Speaker 2: for example, and afternoon tea ready at exactly three fifteen pm.
Speaker 2: Mischelle Belle said Tarran told her she did this because
Speaker 2: Christopher demanded that was how it had to be. Later,
Speaker 2: Christopher would completely deny that this was true. When Michelle
Speaker 2: asked Christopher how Terreen got some bruises that she was noticing.
Speaker 2: She testified in court. Christopher said it was because Terren
Speaker 2: was an alcoholic and as a result of that and
Speaker 2: of taking prescription medicine, Terreen kept falling. Whatever was going on,
Speaker 2: it was clear Terren's mental health was getting worse. She
Speaker 2: took several drug overdoses, and on one occasion, just weeks
Speaker 2: before she hung herself, she called the police and told
Speaker 2: them that she was going to hang herself. That time,
Speaker 2: the officer arrived on scene and was able to talk
Speaker 2: her down, but on November twenty eighth, twenty seventeen, sadly,
Speaker 2: help arrived too late for Terran. She was pronounced dead
Speaker 2: at the scene. Christopher Tribus was in Germany on a
Speaker 2: work trip in Stuttgart when he got the call that
Speaker 2: his wife was dead. He rushed to the airport and
Speaker 2: flew home to Swindon in tears. According to the Guardian's
Speaker 2: court report, Christopher said, quote, it's not something anyone can
Speaker 2: prepare themselves for. It's a cliche, but you never think
Speaker 2: it's going to happen to you. So worst day of
Speaker 2: my life, just absolutely terrible. I don't know how else
Speaker 2: to describe it end quote. When he got home. He
Speaker 2: insisted that even though Terren had had some problems with
Speaker 2: depression and mental health, he had had no idea how
Speaker 2: bad things really were, and Christopher insisted he had nothing
Speaker 2: to do with her death. After conducting an investigation, the
Speaker 2: Wiltshire Police determined no further action would be taken against
Speaker 2: Christopher Tribus, and Terran's death was ruled a suicide. But then,
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty, almost three years later, Terrean's mother, Michelle,
Speaker 2: was going through her daughter's belongings when she found something
Speaker 2: that changed everything. It was an audio recording on Terran's phone.
Speaker 2: It was four minutes and fifty seven seconds long. Michelle
Speaker 2: listened to slaps and sounds of what she believed were
Speaker 2: violence on the recording, and with horror, she believed she
Speaker 2: was listening to tapes of her daughter being raped. Michelle
Speaker 2: also found some other things, including a secret file on
Speaker 2: Terran's phone, where Terran had saved information about what she
Speaker 2: claimed was Christopher's history of alleged violent abuse. There were
Speaker 2: pictures of bruises that Terran had documented, and Tarreen also
Speaker 2: kept a diary. Mischelle believed Tarran had been abused and
Speaker 2: that this abuse had contributed to her suicide, a theory
Speaker 2: that prosecutors later advanced in court and which Christopher Tribus
Speaker 2: always denied. Michelle turned the audio she found over to
Speaker 2: the police, and in twenty twenty one one, eventually the
Speaker 2: Dorset Police took on the case. This time police stated
Speaker 2: that they had found enough evidence to bring charges against Christopher.
Speaker 2: They charged him with manslaughter in connection with Terren's death,
Speaker 2: as well as with two counts of rape and coercive
Speaker 2: and controlling behavior. Christopher continued to completely deny that he
Speaker 2: had anything to do with Terren's death. This was a
Speaker 2: groundbreaking case because Christopher was not in the country when
Speaker 2: Tarran died, so if he was convicted, he would be
Speaker 2: found responsible for her death even though he wasn't there.
Speaker 2: Authorities now had to look back over Christopher and Terran's
Speaker 2: entire relationship and compile evidence. It was a case if
Speaker 2: he said, she said, but the second person was dead.
Speaker 2: I want to make clear Christopher denied all of the
Speaker 2: allegations against him, and he was ultimately acquitted of every charge.
Speaker 2: So the allegations we're talking about here are claims that
Speaker 2: were made in court in medical records and diary entries
Speaker 2: or by witnesses. They are not findings of guilt. I
Speaker 2: want to also let you know there is an awesome
Speaker 2: podcast out there if you want to go into the
Speaker 2: weeds and really listen to the entire trial. It's called
Speaker 2: The Trial and it was produced by the Daily Mail.
Speaker 2: They have actors reading the court testimony and it's fascinating
Speaker 2: to see how this case played out. I wanted to
Speaker 2: cover this case because there doesn't seem to be a
Speaker 2: real US equivalent to the Christopher Tribe's case, at least
Speaker 2: not one that I can find where domestic abuse or
Speaker 2: coercive control allegedly led to a suicide and the abuser
Speaker 2: was then charged with manslaughter based on that. So let's
Speaker 2: back up and talk about coercive control for a minute.
Speaker 2: In the USA, the law is still catching up to
Speaker 2: the concept of coercive control. Domestic violence is still easier
Speaker 2: to prove here when there is a documented assault, a
Speaker 2: police report, a hospital visit, or something concrete like a
Speaker 2: threatening text. But coercive control is about patterns, patterns of isolation, surveillance,
Speaker 2: financial pressure, threats, humiliation, and fear. Some US states are
Speaker 2: beginning to recognize coerceive control in domestic violence law, but
Speaker 2: we do not have a unified national approach like they
Speaker 2: do in the UK. This is a super controversial topic
Speaker 2: because it raises some tough questions, like the idea that
Speaker 2: someone's behavior can be responsible for someone else's death even
Speaker 2: if they're not directly involved. In the US, the closest
Speaker 2: comparison that comes to mind to the Tribe's case is
Speaker 2: probably the Michelle Carter case out of Massachusetts, the so
Speaker 2: called texting suicide case. In that case, prosecutors argued that
Speaker 2: Michelle's pressure caused Conrad Roy's death, and she was convicted
Speaker 2: of involuntary manslaughter. But with Christopher and Tarran, prosecutors were
Speaker 2: not saying there was one exact text or instruction. Instead,
Speaker 2: they were asking a jury to look at an entire
Speaker 2: relationship dynamic and decide whether a pattern of alleged abuse
Speaker 2: could legally become a cause of death. But the legal
Speaker 2: landscape does seem to be shifting. The US is beginning
Speaker 2: to recognize the idea of coercive suicide in certain context.
Speaker 2: In my opinion, in the social media era, where everything
Speaker 2: is documented, including people's thought processes, in real time, it's
Speaker 2: easy to imagine more and more cases testing this boundary,
Speaker 2: and that is the question at the center of this case.
Speaker 2: When does abuse become a cause of death? The prosecution
Speaker 2: called Terrance doctor doctor Tessa Jones. They also talked to
Speaker 2: Terren's friend, Taren. Baird's best friend was a woman named
Speaker 2: Carina Silva. She testified in court. Tarreen told her that
Speaker 2: Christopher had raped her twice and gotten violent with her
Speaker 2: on several occasions. Karina said Terreen withdrew and eventually became
Speaker 2: a shell of her former self. According to the trial podcast,
Speaker 2: Tarreen told Karina that during this alleged rape in twenty sixteen,
Speaker 2: Chris had strangled her. Terreen had shown Karina photos of
Speaker 2: injuries to her neck. Karina begged Teren to get out
Speaker 2: of the relationship. Karina told Terreen she could stay with
Speaker 2: her if she needed to. Karina said Teraren would sometimes
Speaker 2: talk about leaving Christopher, but that she never did, and
Speaker 2: Karina said this became a pattern. Terreen would come to
Speaker 2: her with these graphic details of abuse. Karina would offer
Speaker 2: a shoulder to crown and a place to stay, and
Speaker 2: then Terreen would later backtrack and say it hadn't been
Speaker 2: that serious. Karina testified Tarreen had told her her that
Speaker 2: Christopher hit her around twenty five times now. During this time,
Speaker 2: between twenty fifteen and twenty seventeen, Karina and Taren were
Speaker 2: also texting. Taren texted Karina photos of what she claimed
Speaker 2: were injuries that Christopher had inflicted on her face, neck,
Speaker 2: and stomach. In February of twenty seventeen, Taren texted Karina.
Speaker 2: She said Christopher had lost his shit and that she
Speaker 2: could not take it again again. Karina testified she said
Speaker 2: to come over, but Terran never showed up. During this time,
Speaker 2: Karina said Terreen started drinking more and more. Taren was
Speaker 2: also writing her thoughts about what was going on at
Speaker 2: home in her diary. The diary was presented as evidence,
Speaker 2: and portions of it were read at trial. In an
Speaker 2: entry on June twenty third, twenty sixteen, Tarren wrote, quote,
Speaker 2: it started slowly over the years without me even knowing it,
Speaker 2: then progressed into more serious things. He spoke to me,
Speaker 2: started getting more condescending. End quote. She also wrote quote
Speaker 2: the second standout moment was one night during sex, I
Speaker 2: felt his hands around my neck. Something in him was
Speaker 2: unleashed that night. Progressively, sex got rougher, and the more
Speaker 2: I fight back, the more he enjoys it. It's like
Speaker 2: there was this side of him hidden all these years.
Speaker 2: End quote. So the trial started on February twenty six,
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six, at Winchester Crown Court. It went on
Speaker 2: for two months. Karina took the stand and testified about
Speaker 2: what Arran had told her regarding the alleged abuse, but
Speaker 2: the defense grilled her. They asked Karina why, if she
Speaker 2: really believed Tarn was being abused, why she didn't go
Speaker 2: to the police. Karina said she tried to get Taren
Speaker 2: to report the abuse, but she said Tarren didn't want to.
Speaker 2: I feel for Karina here because a lot of people
Speaker 2: out there who've experienced domestic violence themselves or had a
Speaker 2: friend or a family member dealing with this, have faced
Speaker 2: this exact issue. Sometimes it's very hard to know what
Speaker 2: to do when the victim doesn't want to press charges,
Speaker 2: because you want to help them get out of the situation,
Speaker 2: but at the same time, you don't want to make
Speaker 2: things worse, and you also don't want them to stop
Speaker 2: talking to you altogether if they end up going back
Speaker 2: to their abuser. The defense attorney pointed out something else,
Speaker 2: that Karina's story had evolved since she first spoke to police.
Speaker 2: The defense claim the huge amount of press coverage this
Speaker 2: case got had impacted Karina's testimony. They believed that Karina,
Speaker 2: when she said that Terreen had been hit twenty five
Speaker 2: times by Christopher, got the number twenty five from a
Speaker 2: Daily Mail article that mentioned Terran taking twenty five selfies
Speaker 2: of the injuries she allegedly received from Christopher. Karina denied
Speaker 2: getting the number twenty five from the media coverage. Terreen's
Speaker 2: GP doctor Tessa Jones, was also testifying that Terran came
Speaker 2: to her over one hundred times over a two year period.
Speaker 2: Terarrean was complaining about symptoms she was experiencing, including panic, insomnia, injuries,
Speaker 2: and PTSD. Doctor Jones said at trial that beginning in
Speaker 2: the fall of twenty sixteen, Terren said she was terrified.
Speaker 2: She said Christopher had raped her, strangled her, and beaten
Speaker 2: her with objects, including a metal bar. She also said
Speaker 2: he had stalked her and held her head under the
Speaker 2: water while she was taking a bath. Doctor Jones testified
Speaker 2: Terran had told her she didn't want to contact law
Speaker 2: enforcement because Terren believed this would make things worse, and
Speaker 2: doctor Jones said she believed Terarren had the capacity to
Speaker 2: make her own decisions. The doctor said she was trying
Speaker 2: to figure out how to help Teren without putting her
Speaker 2: in danger. During this time, Terran was also suffering with
Speaker 2: suicidal thoughts, according to doctor Jones's notes, including buying pills
Speaker 2: online and thinking about jumping in front of a train
Speaker 2: or off a building. On November twenty seven, seven, the
Speaker 2: day before she killed herself, Tarren went in to see
Speaker 2: doctor Jones. On that occasion, according to the notes that
Speaker 2: doctor Jones read from a trial, Tarren told doctor Jones
Speaker 2: that over the past few days Chris had held her
Speaker 2: head under the water and beaten her. The next day,
Speaker 2: November twenty eighth, Tarren called her doctor's office again. A
Speaker 2: few hours later, she was dead. Doctor Jones's testimony was
Speaker 2: crucial for the prosecution because they claimed doctor Jones's notes
Speaker 2: showed a pattern of Tarran reporting abuse. They believed this
Speaker 2: pointed to Christopher's coercion, But the defense believed the notes
Speaker 2: were good for them, especially because during the time when
Speaker 2: Tarren was telling her doctor, Christopher was beating her with
Speaker 2: a metal pull and holding her head under water. He
Speaker 2: was out of the country on a work trip. Several
Speaker 2: of Christopher's colleagues testified he was in Germany and the
Speaker 2: Netherlands during that time working on a software project, and
Speaker 2: there were questions raised by the prosecution about whether Christopher
Speaker 2: could have gone back home to the UK during that
Speaker 2: time period, but the defense had tons of receipts, flight records,
Speaker 2: meal records, and people who worked with Christopher during that
Speaker 2: time period and saw him. Doctor Jones testified there did
Speaker 2: appear to be a disconnect between what Tarrean said and
Speaker 2: what the record showed, and there were other inconsistencies, like
Speaker 2: the fact that Tarrean told one of her cousins she
Speaker 2: had fractured ribs and a cheekbone. Meanwhile, doctor Jones said
Speaker 2: there were no medical records of fractures. Just like everything
Speaker 2: else in this case, most of the evidence can be
Speaker 2: interpreted in two ways, he said versus she said. Do
Speaker 2: the doctor's notes show a woman trapped in a cycle
Speaker 2: of violent abuse or someone going through a mental health
Speaker 2: crisis and making up stories. Was Taran a victim of
Speaker 2: coerci of control or suffering from mental health issues, or
Speaker 2: lying or all of the above, or none of the above.
Speaker 2: Christopher took the stand, and not surprisingly, he had a
Speaker 2: completely different take on his relationship with Terreen. Christopher said
Speaker 2: not only was he not controlling like the prosecutors claimed,
Speaker 2: he said that Terran was the controlling one in their relationship.
Speaker 2: He said he was mild mannered and kind of went
Speaker 2: with the flow. He said he tended to go along
Speaker 2: with what she wanted. Christopher said over the years he
Speaker 2: did try to help Terrean with what he called her
Speaker 2: mental health issues. He said they thought about how many
Speaker 2: work trips he took, but he said he was torn.
Speaker 2: He wanted to help her, but he had his own
Speaker 2: company and he believed that showing up at these meetings
Speaker 2: in person was crucial to continuing to build his business.
Speaker 2: Of course, one can never really know what's going on
Speaker 2: inside someone else's marriage, but Christopher brought witnesses who said
Speaker 2: they never saw any abuse, including Terrean's former sister in law,
Speaker 2: who testified Terren had sent her photos of injuries over
Speaker 2: the years, but explained them as accidents or feigning. So
Speaker 2: the defense's position was they could prove some of what
Speaker 2: Terren said was not true, so if some of it
Speaker 2: was not true, it was reasonable to believe all of
Speaker 2: it was not true. But if Terran was lying, why
Speaker 2: why would she lie over such a long period of
Speaker 2: time and to so many people? And if Christopher wasn't
Speaker 2: abusing her, how did she get those injuries? Christopher set
Speaker 2: in court some of the injuries were caused by Terren
Speaker 2: falling downstairs or in the bathtub, and that some of
Speaker 2: the bruising had been caused by her using foam rollers,
Speaker 2: but the defense also claimed Terran may have injured herself
Speaker 2: to get attention. According to expert evidence summarized by Channel four,
Speaker 2: the abdominal bruising became one of the most contested parts
Speaker 2: the case. A forensic physician testified the type of bruising
Speaker 2: that Tarren had on her abdomen and neck were similar
Speaker 2: to ones they had seen in cases involving car crashes
Speaker 2: or fatal strangulation. These were serious injuries. The doctors said
Speaker 2: that in their opinion, it was unlikely that Terran had
Speaker 2: done this to herself, but the defense pointed out all
Speaker 2: of the bruises on Terran were in places Terran could
Speaker 2: reach herself, and that Terran had no apparent defensive wounds.
Speaker 2: Doctor Philip Joseph A. Psychiatrist who testified for the defense,
Speaker 2: said that in his opinion, Terren's PTSD could have played
Speaker 2: a crucial role in her suicide. We talked before about
Speaker 2: the carjackings in South Africa. It turned out that in
Speaker 2: twenty fifteen, Chris and Terren's house in Swindon had a
Speaker 2: home invasion. Doctor Joseph testified he believed that this retriggered
Speaker 2: Terren's PTSD. The doctor explained, this is how PTSD sometimes works.
Speaker 2: After the tram event that triggers the PTSD in the
Speaker 2: first place happens, sometimes subsequent incidents, even if they aren't
Speaker 2: that serious, can retrigger it. He stated that, in his
Speaker 2: medical opinion, Terran should have been taken in for an
Speaker 2: involuntary mental health hold. The doctor also said, in his opinion,
Speaker 2: if Tarran was abused, it could have made her PTSD worse,
Speaker 2: but that it was impossible to say whether domestic abuse
Speaker 2: alone could cause her to take her own life. And then,
Speaker 2: near the end of the trial, Christopher's defense team introduced
Speaker 2: a new and very dramatic piece of evidence, one that
Speaker 2: they claimed could have caused some of Teren's neck injuries.
Speaker 2: A bondage caller. Christopher stated that the caller, which was
Speaker 2: described as a leather like collar with a thin leash,
Speaker 2: was part of a black bunny sex kit that he
Speaker 2: bought online. He said Terarren was the one who encouraged
Speaker 2: him to buy this type of stuff. Christopher said the
Speaker 2: caller might have caused some bruises on her neck. He said,
Speaker 2: after he saw those marks on Arran's neck, he didn't
Speaker 2: want to use that caller again. So were the marks
Speaker 2: on Terran's neck caused by strangulation or could they have
Speaker 2: gotten there through consensual sex. In court, Christopher held up
Speaker 2: the collar and demonstrated how the caller caused the red marks.
Speaker 2: And this was a dramatic moment because the prosecutor stated
Speaker 2: the caller was a red herring and that Christopher was
Speaker 2: trying to cover up the fact that he strangled Terran. Meanwhile,
Speaker 2: Christopher said they were just a normal couple who watched
Speaker 2: fifty Shades of Gray and got some ideas. He said
Speaker 2: he never raped or hit his wife. Side note here,
Speaker 2: this wasn't like some other cases I've seen where you
Speaker 2: have an accusation of rough sex and the defense claims, well,
Speaker 2: we were having rough sex. Something went wrong. Christopher was
Speaker 2: saying straight up, none of the abuse allegations were true
Speaker 2: at all, that Terran's wild claims were a cry for help,
Speaker 2: that all of it was a lie. The defense attorney,
Speaker 2: Katie Thorne, argued Terran may have become addicted to the
Speaker 2: attention she received after making some of these allegations. Was
Speaker 2: the tape a sexual assault or just a couple having
Speaker 2: a kinky sex life. The prosecution tried to paint Christopher
Speaker 2: as having a nice guy facade. At one point, they
Speaker 2: asked him if he was angry with Terran. He said
Speaker 2: he wasn't. Then they said, well, if none of this
Speaker 2: was true, if she was making all this up, why
Speaker 2: aren't you mad at her? Christopher said it was complicated.
Speaker 2: He said he found it hard to be angry with
Speaker 2: a ghost, and that he believed whatever was going on
Speaker 2: with Terran, that she had been deeply unhappy and troubled.
Speaker 2: According to the Guardian's court report, Christopher said that being
Speaker 2: angry would never change what had happened. The prosecution asked
Speaker 2: him about Terran's diary entry, the one she wrote about
Speaker 2: the day he blew up. Christopher claimed that the diary
Speaker 2: entry had shocked him. He said he had zero memory
Speaker 2: of Taren being upset about anything they did sexually. The
Speaker 2: audio that prosecution dubbed the rape tape was actually played
Speaker 2: in court. I cannot imagine the pain of Michelle Terran's
Speaker 2: mom while this was going on. By the way, the
Speaker 2: prosecution grilled Christopher about the fact that even though Christopher
Speaker 2: said he only spanked Terran once or twice, they could
Speaker 2: hear twelve slapping sounds in court. Christopher said the sounds
Speaker 2: were bumps and thumps and said, quote, it's hard to
Speaker 2: say exactly what's going on, but certainly not me assaulting
Speaker 2: or restraining end quote. There are so many things in
Speaker 2: this case that can be taken two ways, like a
Speaker 2: conversation Michelle talked about on the stand where she said
Speaker 2: Tarran had told her that Christopher discussed killing Karen and
Speaker 2: dissolving her body and acid. This sounds bad, but Christopher
Speaker 2: insisted it was a joke, and he put it into context,
Speaker 2: saying that they were referring to a scene in Breaking Bad,
Speaker 2: presumably the one where Jesse Pinkman puts the drug dealer
Speaker 2: into an acid fill bath. The defense argued that anything
Speaker 2: including recordings of rough consensual sex, can sound bad when
Speaker 2: taken out of context. Both sides seemed to agree that
Speaker 2: something was very wrong with Terran and that she was suffering.
Speaker 2: The prosecutor, Tom Little, claimed that between February of twenty
Speaker 2: sixteen and the date of Terren's death, there were at
Speaker 2: least thirty two occasions where she reported injuries or was
Speaker 2: seen with injuries. The prosecutor asked Christopher, if he was
Speaker 2: telling the truth, how was it possible he didn't notice
Speaker 2: all these bruises on his wife. Christopher said he did
Speaker 2: notice some, but that he didn't believe they were serious.
Speaker 2: The defense claimed they believed Tarran was concocting these fans
Speaker 2: and stating that the injuries were more serious than they were.
Speaker 2: The defense focused on things they could prove, like the
Speaker 2: fact that Christopher was demonstrably out of the country during
Speaker 2: that crucial period of time in November of twenty sixteen,
Speaker 2: when Arrren said he was assaulting her. Katie Thorn, Chris's attorney,
Speaker 2: called the case kafka esque. This case became hugely controversial
Speaker 2: in the UK because Katie Thorn said it reflected a
Speaker 2: dogmatic belief that women who say they are being abused
Speaker 2: are always telling the truth. The defense argued Christopher was
Speaker 2: not a monster. He was just a normal guy who
Speaker 2: may have been in denial or a little clueless about
Speaker 2: how bad things had gotten with his wife's mental state. Critically,
Speaker 2: the defense did not have to prove that Tarran lied.
Speaker 2: All they had to do was create reasonable doubt that
Speaker 2: Christopher had abused her and that this alleged abuse had
Speaker 2: directly led to her death. In twenty twenty four, seven
Speaker 2: years after Teraren took her own life, Christopher married again,
Speaker 2: and the newspaper reported on his new wife, B because
Speaker 2: she made contributions to a website and also made social
Speaker 2: media postings proclaiming Christopher's innocence. On that website, she described
Speaker 2: Christopher as a loving husband and devoted family man. She
Speaker 2: accompanied Christopher to court every day, and according to The Mirror,
Speaker 2: b caused controversy during Christopher's trial when she posted sightseeing
Speaker 2: photos on social media. This was described as a landmark
Speaker 2: case by many media outlets. The courtroom was packed for
Speaker 2: closing arguments. The defense claimed, according to Channel four, that
Speaker 2: male jurors and those with sons may feel very afraid now,
Speaker 2: and that the entire prosecution case was built on what
Speaker 2: they called an agenda. The verdict was read. On April
Speaker 2: twenty second, twenty twenty six, Christopher Tribus was acquitted found
Speaker 2: not get guilty of all charges. After nine years it
Speaker 2: was over. Speaking outside court after the verdict, Christopher released
Speaker 2: a statement saying, quote, after three police investigations over the
Speaker 2: course of ten years, I'm relieved that the jury is
Speaker 2: carefully considered the evidence and reached the correct verdict today.
Speaker 2: I want to thank my wife, my family, and my
Speaker 2: friends for their unwavering support, and my legal team for
Speaker 2: their hard work and dedication throughout the process. This has
Speaker 2: had a profound impact on my life and on those
Speaker 2: closest to me. It's been an incredibly difficult experience. I
Speaker 2: would also like to acknowledge that domestic abuse is a
Speaker 2: very real and serious issue and victims must always be supported.
Speaker 2: Right now, I'll focus on moving forward and rebuilding my
Speaker 2: life with my family.
Speaker 3: End quote.
Speaker 2: Then just a couple of days later, the case made
Speaker 2: headlines again. According to skuy News, the Independent Office for
Speaker 2: Police Conduct said it was exams whether the Wiltshire Police
Speaker 2: had missed opportunities during the original investigation. They said they
Speaker 2: were specifically looking into the actions of two officers involved
Speaker 2: in the early response. One who is at the crime scene,
Speaker 2: and a second officer who they said had just retired
Speaker 2: from the force. The statement from Wiltshire Police read quote,
Speaker 2: they are being investigated by us for potential gross misconduct.
Speaker 2: Our inquiries continue end quote. Obviously this news just came out,
Speaker 2: but reading this, I have so many more questions. Does
Speaker 2: that mean that they are being investigated for their conduct
Speaker 2: during the original crime scene or for investigating Christopher at all?
Speaker 2: At this point, no misconduct has been proven. Christopher Tribus
Speaker 2: is trying to move on with his life. Meanwhile, Terran's
Speaker 2: family is still in shock over the verdict. Michelle Baird
Speaker 2: has said hearing about her daughter's injuries and alleged rape
Speaker 2: was quote something I will never forget.
Speaker 3: End quote.
Speaker 2: She believes that the defense tried to quote assassinate her
Speaker 2: daughter's character and victim.
Speaker 3: Blame end quote.
Speaker 2: She also said, quote she was compassionate, wore her heart
Speaker 2: in her sleep, and would do anything for anybody. I
Speaker 2: cannot believe how I'm still sitting here today after losing
Speaker 2: my precious child.
Speaker 3: End quote.
Speaker 2: She also criticized officers at her daughter's crime scene. She
Speaker 2: claimed when she got there, she found them drinking tea
Speaker 2: and coffee at the crime scene. So what happens next?
Speaker 2: According to Channel four, the Crown Prosecution Service is still
Speaker 2: assessing a number of alleged domestic abuse suicide cases and
Speaker 2: that they are considering bringing manslaughter charges, which begs the
Speaker 2: question can a person be responsible for driving someone to
Speaker 2: kill themselves? Is Christopher Trivis's acquittal the end of these
Speaker 2: types of cases or just the beginning. I'm Katherine Townsend.
Speaker 2: This is Helen Gone Murder Line. Helen Gone Murder Line
Speaker 2: is a production of School of Humans and iHeart Podcasts.
Speaker 2: It's written and narrated by me Catherine Townsend and produced
Speaker 2: by Etily's Perez. Special thanks to Amy Tubbs for her
Speaker 2: research assistance and Sarah Burns for legal review. Noah Camera
Speaker 2: mixed and scored this episode. Our theme song is by
Speaker 2: Ben Sale. Executive producers are Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr, and
Speaker 2: LC Crowley. Listen to Helen Gone adfree by subscribing to
Speaker 2: the iHeart True Crime Plus channel on Apple Podcasts. If
Speaker 2: you were interested in seeing documents and materials from the case,
Speaker 2: you can follow the show on Instagram at Helen Gonepod.
Speaker 2: If you have a case, she'd like me and my
Speaker 2: team to look into. You can reach out to us
Speaker 2: at our Helen Gone Murder Line at six seven eight
Speaker 2: seven four four six one four five. That's six seven
Speaker 2: eight seven four four six one four five.
Speaker 1: School of Humans