Andy Hunter Andy Hunter was a barrister and Queen ' s Counsel member who represented the case against Fiz Stape during her murder trial heard at Weatherfield Crown Court in October 2011 . When the trial began , Hunter started describing how Fiz and husband John ' s dilemma began , with them " conspiring " to steal the identity of Colin Fishwick , who had emigrated to Canada . He mentioned how " problems arose " when Colin returned to Weatherfield and discovered this . He claimed that Fiz and John ' s response was to murder him and hide his body and that Charlotte Hoyle was also killed after she found out what had happened . The third murder , according to Hunter , came when Colin ' s mother Joy pestered the Stapes about the whereabouts of her son . Hunter gave his personal opinion that the alleged crimes were not " crimes of passion " or " the result of anger or strong emotion " but were " deliberate cold - blooded executions " carried out by John and Fiz who were acting together . Hunter ' s first witness was Brian Packham , who had interviewed John , who was posing as Colin Fishwick at the time , for a job in the English department at Daisyfield High School in April 2010 . Brian confirmed that John had presented himself as Colin as he was unable to pass a CRB check after spending time in Highfield Prison for keeping Rosie Webster hostage for several weeks . Brian opined that Fiz must have known about John ' s identity theft as she had addressed her husband as Colin rather than John and accepted when Brian addressed her as Mrs . Fishwick . Hunter concluded that the identity theft was a double act - both John and Fiz were pretending to be people that they weren ' t . Brian also confirmed that the Stapes home , Number 5 Coronation Street , was just some yards away from the Underworld factory , where Hunter remarked that Colin ' s body had been found . Nicola Taybarn protested at this remark and the Judge berated him for it . The prosecution ' s second witness was Charlotte Hoyle ' s mother Dorothy , who claimed that the first time she became aware that her daughter was involved with John Stape was when Charlotte told her and Alan that she ' d met someone and wanted them to meet him . Dorothy told Hunter that he wasn ' t introduced to them as John , but as Colin . She said that she and Alan had a good first impression , and were pleased that Charlotte had found the right man , but that it soon became clear that he was certainly not and was conning her because she knew about his involvement in the real Colin ' s death . According to Dorothy , Charlotte was eventually killed for that reason . Dorothy continued that the first time she encountered Fiz was when she and Alan saw Fiz leaving Charlotte ' s house , before they entered to find the place had been ransacked , but Charlotte wouldn ' t tell them what had happened . Another occasion mentioned was after Charlotte had been killed , when Dorothy experienced who she thought was Colin stuffing money through her and Alan ' s letterbox , and that they had sent for his " friend " , who turned out to be Fiz . She made it clear to Hunter that Fiz had posed as his friend , not his wife . After the defence also questioned Dorothy , Hunter questioned Joy ' s solicitor Ben Dean , who claimed that Fiz had arrived at a meeting posing as Colin Fishwick ' s wife to discuss Joy ' s will and claimed that Colin couldn ' t attend as he was in hospital following a mental breakdown . Ben told Hunter that he had no reason not to believe Fiz at the time and concluded that she must have known the real Colin Fishwick wasn ' t going to turn up as she knew he was dead , to which Hunter remarked that she knew because she and John had murdered him . Taybarn again protested at this . Hunter then went on to question Fiz ' s friend Hayley Cropper , who mentioned that she and Roy had fostered Fiz because her mother had struggled to cope with her . Hunter asked Hayley about the night Colin died and she said that they held a party at the cafe for Fiz ' s brother Chesney ' s birthday on the evening of the 30th July 2010 . She said that Fiz was but John wasn ' t in attendance . She also said that Fiz went off for about twenty minutes to find John but was keen to return to the party . At this , Hunter concluded that Fiz could ' ve been involved in Colin ' s death whilst she was away . Once again , Taybarn protested to the Judge , who berated Hunter again . Hunter put up a strong case for the prosecution , supported by forensics . Forensic expert Dr Goodridge claimed that Colin Fishwick ' s cause of death was severe brain haemorrhage , and that many fibres found on the body were those belonging to John Stape , and a smaller amount belonging to Fiz , with many focused around a head wound . The Doctor also confirmed that Joy ' s cause of death was an angina attack , which would have been prevented with use of her GTN spray , which was found in her handbag next to her body . Finally , Goodridge revealed to Hunter that Fiz ' s fingerprints were identified on the spray . When DS Redfern was called to the witness box , Hunter established the fact that Fiz had persistently lied to him about her part in John ' s crimes . After an interval , Taybarn talked to Chesney , who did his best to support his sister , but Hunter later made out that he was lying to protect her . Fiz was eventually found not guilty of the murders of Joy and Charlotte but guilty of Colin ' s murder . Hunter later appeared at Fiz ' s sentencing where the judge sentenced her to life imprisonment with a minimum of fifteen years behind bars , despite Taybarn ' s pleas about John ' s recent deathbed confession . List of appearances . 2011