By choosing to practically exclude Sarah Ferguson‘s trajectory from The Crown, as in Spencer, the story of the Duchess of York – which is full of dramas and betrayals – was not only left aside but practically forgotten by generations who owe the Netflix series the largest basis of knowledge about the Royal Family. And it’s a shame.

Sarah Ferguson has always been controversial and broke with the system more definitively than Diana. And if her ex-husband, Prince Andrew, is marked by bad choices and bad friends, she is not far from him. One of the most scandalous stories and close to Fergie (as she is known) is precisely one that involves murder. How did this get forgotten?

Well, the murderer is not the Duchess, otherwise we would be talking about her, but her main assistant, Jane Andrews. In 2001, Jane, whose internal nickname was “Lady Jane”, stabbed her boyfriend to death, was arrested and convicted, but this fascinating story is being brought back to life with the ITV series The Lady. Production is about to begin and honestly, the Yorks must be upset that they are reviving a moment they didn’t want to be associated with.

Who was Lady Jane?

Firstly, the “Lady” here is sarcastic, having nothing to do with a royal title, but a magazine that would mark everyone’s lives. Jane Andrews is one of England’s most notorious criminals, whose story has been retold in several documentaries since she was arrested almost 24 years ago, when she was just 33 years old, for murdering her partner, Tom Cressman, aged 39, in May 2001. At the time she was Sarah Ferguson’s trusted dressmaker and friend.

Born in 1967, Jane had a turbulent childhood. The daughter of a carpenter and a social worker, her family environment was marked by a lack of money and an unhappy marriage. As a teenager, she already suffered from eating disorders, panic attacks, and bouts of depression. She would eventually be diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, but she didn’t know it at the time. She had been trying to take her own life since she was 15 and all her relationships were abusive, and on top of everything else, she had an abortion at just 17.

Fashion was an escape and she managed to enroll in a local fashion college while paying the bills working as a sales assistant at Grimsby Marks & Spencer. It was there that, while leafing through “The Lady” magazine, she saw an anonymous job advert looking for a personal chambermaid. With nothing to lose, she responded and, within six months, she found herself at the heart of the Royal Family as a key person in the circle of Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York.

“Lady Jane” living with Diana and Fergie

Jane Andrews couldn’t believe it when she arrived in London, broke and still scared when she asked a taxi to take her to the side door of Buckingham Palace. She remembers that the driver thought it was a joke, but it was true. When she was greeted by the staff and arrived at her room, she found a bouquet of flowers and a note from the Duchess saying: “Welcome to the team, the boss.”

For her, it was a Cinderella life without the need for the ball. At just 21 years old and with a past full of pain and disappointment, Jane began to live directly with the highest members of the Royal Family, including Princess Diana. Fergie, as her boss, was more like a best friend. She was pregnant with Princess Beatrice and was so fascinating to Jane that she soon began to dress like her, wear the same clothes, and even dye her hair red. It was Fergie who nicknamed her “Lady Jane.”

In this fantasy that she never imagined possible, Jane attended parties and events, had an apartment in an expensive area of ​​London, a car, and even found a husband. In 1990, she married Christopher Dunn-Butler, an IMB executive 20 years her senior. He was her lover and the father figure she never had, but since they were more friends than lovers, the union was short-lived. She claimed that work stress contributed to the separation, but the truth is that she was unfaithful and he gave up trying to make amends with her.

Jane’s marital dramas caught Fergie’s attention, and she had her own, and the two began to share confidences, with Jane traveling the world with the Duchess. They were so close that Fergie dedicated one of her travel books to Jane, “whose loyalty and kindness know no bounds”.

A Love Affair Compared to Fatal Attraction

The signs of imbalance in a time when mental health was not a topic went unnoticed. Jane once dated the heir to a Greek shipping empire, but when their romance ended, she “destroyed” his apartment in response to the breakup. She admitted to destroying his belongings and defacing his diary in a fit of rage, which led to a deep depression and another attempt on her life. Without medical assistance, she “recovered” and moved on.

The next betrayal would come from Fergie. In November 1997, Jane was fired, despite promises that she would never be let go. The problem was her personal life. Another affair with an aristocrat began to become notorious and Fergie, who was already not on the best terms with her in-laws, was tarnished. Jane always denied having another affair, saying that she was fired for it but, officially, it was just part of the cost-cutting.

No longer with the Duchess, Jane Andrews began dating the former stockbroker, Thomas Cressman, in an obsessive and complex relationship. Cressman was the son of the former chairman of Aston Villa and many claim that she saw him as her last chance to stay in high society.

However, two years later, tragedy struck. In 2000, after a holiday on the French Riviera, Cressman not only made it clear that she did not want to get married but apparently wanted to separate. The return to London was marked by increasingly heated arguments until he called the police, worried that one of them might end up hurt. No one came, and he fell asleep. It was then that Jane hit him with a cricket bat, stabbed him in the chest, killed him, and fled.

A crime that made worldwide headlines

Jane Andrews still claims that her poor mental health was the cause of the murder, but many still consider her behavior to be proof of premeditation. Not only was Cressman asleep, but Jane sent messages to friends asking for him, in an attempt to create an alibi. She later claimed that he was being blackmailed. She was finally found after another attempted overdose of medication.

Once arrested, Jane claimed that her boyfriend was an obsessive sexual abuser who had deliberately hurt and humiliated her, the murder, as well as that of the Menendez brothers and Lorena Bobbit. She also argued that childhood traumas led her to commit the crime. In fact, in 2001, she was officially diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, and in a documentary, the psychiatrist who was treating her said that Jane Andrews had been subjected to coercive control in her relationship, which could even lead to her having an outburst. However, the prosecution painted her as a scorned and vengeful woman, and she was sentenced to life in prison.

Incredibly, in 2009, Jane escaped from prison and hid in a hotel room for 4 days with her family, only to be located and arrested again. A psychiatric report found that she was in a psychogenic fugue state (a type of dissociative amnesia) at the time.

Jane was released in August 2019 and lives today under another name. For showrunner Debbie O’Malley, Jane Andrews’ story has never been more relevant and reveals the misogyny of the time as well as human fragility. And the proximity to the Royal Family at some point creates an irresistible bond with the public. It will be interesting to revisit the story. Don’t you think?

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