A woman who was cleared of murder after spending five years in prison died after moving to Cornwall where she hoped to start her life afresh, an inquest has heard. Stacey Hyde was just 32 when she died. She was sent to prison at the age of 17 for killing her friend's boyfriend, but was released after a re-trial.

She won the right to the re-trial with help from campaigners at Justice for Women and was cleared of murder, having convinced a jury her act had been in self-defence. Changing her name to Anastasia Darlison, she moved to Cornwall to escape a life of abuse and hoping to start her life anew, an inquest into her death held in Truro on Thursday (May 1) heard.

But Ms Hyde found it difficult to cope with life outside prison, falling prey to others who abused her and turning to alcohol, heroin and cocaine, according to Cornwall Live.

She was diagnosed with PTSD in prison and had a history of bulimia nervosa, personality disorder, attention deficit hyper activity disorder (ADHD), hepatitis C, kidney failure and drinking alcohol to excess.

Born in Southmead, Bristol, she grew up in Wells, Somerset, but after her release from prison she moved to St Austell before settling in Mullion, south Cornwall.

In a tribute read in court, her aunt Julie Hyde said: "At 17 she killed a man and was convicted of murder and was sentenced to spend a minimum of eight years in prison.

"After a campaign for her release, she appealed and was found not guilty of murder due to self-defence and was immediately released. She had spent five years in prison and she didn't cope well after her release and turned to a life of prostitution, self-harm, drugs and alcohol. She suffered from bulimia too."

Mrs Hyde, who lived in Greece, said she and her niece had been very close despite the distance. She told the inquest when Ms Hyde was abroad and came to visit she was fine, but when she was in Britain "her life was a train wreck".

She added: "She was the sweetest, kindest, most generous and funniest person I knew. Stacey didn't want to die. She just didn't know how to live."

The grieving aunt told the hearing her niece planned to come out to Greece later in the year to spend time with her, sort her life out, travel and write a book. She added: "She was clearly looking to the future."

In 2017, two years after she was cleared of murder, Ms Hyde disappeared from the Taunton area in Somerset, prompting a police appeal to help locate her amid growing concerns for her safety.

The inquest heard because of her bulimia nervosa, Ms Hyde had a history of electrolyte disturbance in her body from bouts of vomiting. As a result, she was admitted to hospital on 11 occasions in the year prior to her death on April 11, 2024. She also suffered two cardiac arrests, but was saved on both occasions.

After a consultation with her GP in Mullion she was taken to the Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske in Truro. That hospital visit came after 48 hours of vomiting and not being able to keep fluids down.

Blood tests revealed her electrolyte levels were all over the place. The inquest heard a couple of hours after her admission to A&E she was found unresponsive.

Despite 30 minutes of CPR and resuscitation by medics, she couldn't be brought back to life and was declared dead. The medical cause of death was given as bulimia nervosa.

The inquest heard Ms Hyde had been well known to Cornwall's mental health service teams for a number of years.

Senior coroner for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Andrew Cox, said Ms Hyde had been a young woman who had an incredibly difficult life, who went to prison for murder, appealed against her conviction and was released after a retrial.

He added: "She didn't cope well after being released and fell in with the wrong crowd and took drugs and alcohol as a way to cope with what happened in her early life.

"Alcohol or drugs were not responsible for her death neither was suicide. In fact she had been looking forward to going abroad to go and visit her aunt in Greece. As such this a death from natural causes."

The coroner concluded Ms Hyde died of natural causes.