The Heart Wrenching Story of Luke Miller and a Verdict That Shocked ALL!
On Boxing Day 2023 (26th December 2023), a group of friends took their celebrations of things past and things to come back to the flat of Taylor Fenwick. One of these friends, whom Fenwick classed as a “best friend,” was Luke Miller.
Luke Miller, was a former pupil of Tadcaster Grammar and a former student of York College. Although not fitting the mould academically at school, Luke found his true calling with his hands and heart, even building a cabin alongside his father, Martin, so that he and his friends could use it to get together. For his parents, this cabin was more than a structure; it was a comfort, a reassurance that their son was safe and surrounded by their protection.
Luke was described by his father as a "strapping, happy, full of life, polite, well manner young man—always willing to help others." He was "soft, a lover not a fighter," someone who would "choose to walk away rather than fight." Friends echoed these sentiments, calling him a "gentle, pure soul" and a "perfect friend to so many" who "wouldn’t hurt a fly," always "showing love and wanting everyone else to be happy."
Upon leaving school, Luke pursued courses in carpentry and electrical work at college, which led him on the path to working as an industrial fencer—a job his father said he absolutely loved. His work took him across the UK, allowing him to embrace that zest for life that was inseparable from who he was.
In a truly barbaric and tragic twist, just as Luke celebrated the achievements of the past year and looked with hope and happiness towards the future, all those dreams, all that potential, was stolen from him in an instant by someone he called a friend—someone who, in the months leading up to the incident, said he and Luke had “become so close” and classed Luke as their “best friend.”
As the Christmas celebrations rang on and the time ticked over into the early hours, friends Harry Marshall and Louis Hirst parted from the group’s revelry to go rest upstairs, while Ellie Allan left to return home. This left Fenwick (22) alone with his “best friend” Luke Miller (23) and Luke’s girlfriend (17) who cannot be named due to an active LIFETIME protective order—despite testifying in court with no protective measures (go fish!).
At some point, things turned sour between the trio, resulting in an argument in which Luke’s girlfriend reported hearing Fenwick say, “I can’t believe you just said that,” leading Fenwick to demand that Luke leave his flat. To make his point, he picked up a knife to “intimidate” his “best friend” into exiting his property—which he did. Despite Fenwick’s claims, Luke left and never returned.
How do we know Luke didn’t return? It’s a culmination of many things: CCTV footage from the Costcutter shop below Fenwick’s flat, which recorded Luke smoking and pacing up and down just moments before coming back into camera view and collapsing; forensic evidence at the crime scene; Luke’s digital footprint; witnesses for the prosecution who were in the flat at the time; and Fenwick’s own confessions, all of which suggest quite the opposite of his claims!
Whilst Luke was out in the freezing cold, pacing back and forth and smoking a cigarette after being forced from Fenwick’s flat, Fenwick sent Luke a Snapchat message saying, “Merry Christmas, Lukie.” An action that strikes me as incredibly peculiar, given that Luke allegedly had been behaving so “angry” and “threatening” that, in Fenwick’s own mind, it warranted him picking up a knife to intimidate his “best friend” into leaving his home.
Fenwick later claimed that, sometime after using the knife in an intimidating manner to threaten his “best friend” into leaving, Luke returned to his door and tried to “break in.”
It is here that Luke’s girlfriend stated she watched as Fenwick took the hunting knife out of a drawer, shoved it down his pants, and then told her, “Stay; don’t f*cking move from here.” He then left with his knives to confront his “best friend,” who he alleged was trying to “break in.”
I’d just like to add that Luke’s girlfriend‘s own statement to a police officer revealed she did, in fact, stay inside the flat as her “friend” started to attack her boyfriend, who—in claims from her mother—she “dearly loved.”
It is at this moment that Fenwick—allegedly feeling so threatened—unlocked, opened, and exited his door with a knife in hand and a hunting knife hidden on his person. He alleges he then became embroiled in a struggle on the stairs with Luke, grabbing and holding him by his coat collar with his kitchen knife close to Luke’s face.
From this “struggle” on the “stairs”—which Fenwick initially explained to police—he stated that it was during this altercation that the kitchen knife “accidentally” entered his “best friend,” giving a graphic account of “feeling resistance” as he “felt it go in” while the knife tore through Luke Miller’s chest, piercing his left lung and perforating the pulmonary artery. Fenwick reportedly watched the blood pool in his “best friend’s” mouth.
It’s important to note that Luke’s girlfriend told police she looked outside and saw her boyfriend and her friend “fighting with a knife.” Unfortunately, at no point did Luke’s girlfriend attempt to contact police or emergency services while she was inside the flat, watching her boyfriend struggle to defend himself.
To shed further light on this “struggle,” forensic examinations did not find any of Luke’s blood on the staircase of the property to support Fenwick’s “break in struggle stab” claim, but did find Luke’s blood near the rear driver’s side of his black Vauxhall Corsa, which was parked just out of view of the CCTV. The car was reported to have its driver’s door open, as, according to his girlfriend, Luke was leaving to return home to his parents before being viciously attacked.
Although the entranceway to Fenwick’s flat was out of view of the camera, so it can neither confirm nor deny Fenwick’s break in and struggle claims, Luke’s phone was very much recorded as on his person—as seen by CCTV to be flashing in his pocket. Findings from a tech analyst, requested by police to investigate Luke’s phone movements from when the incident started until it ended, revealed that once Luke had vacated the flat, he didn’t return at any point. When asked how he knew this, he stated that the sensor in Luke’s phone recorded when it ascended above certain heights, of which the height of Fenwick’s staircase would have exceeded and would have triggered the recording had Luke been struggling with Fenwick on the staircase—which it did not. When asked how accurate this information was, the analyst reported 80%.
The struggle captured by CCTV caused no injuries at all to Fenwick, yet caused six lacerations down to the tendons of Luke Miller’s hands as he desperately tried to defend himself from his “friend” by holding onto the blade, which, in his terrified eyes, threatened his life even more with every passing second as he lost blood from the single stab wound that pierced his pulmonary artery, causing him to bleed internally and externally at a rapid rate.
I must reiterate that at no point during this struggle did Luke’s girlfriend attempt to contact emergency services despite being no more than six feet away on the pavement outside—though she did shout for Harry to come and break up the fight.
Sadly, Luke did not remain on his feet for long. Estimated by a pathologist, it is likely he had just around “83 seconds” of “purposeful” movement after being stabbed by his “friend.” Within seconds of moving away from his car and still struggling to protect himself from being stabbed again by maintaining a tight, desperate grasp on the blade held by Fenwick—as reported by Luke’s girlfriend—Luke collapsed on the pavement, never to get back up.
His girlfriend rushed to his side, while Fenwick returned to his flat, leaving a trail of Luke’s blood along the way. He then returned moments later to where Luke lay, but without the knife. It was during this time that Luke’s girlfriend contacted Luke’s parents, telling them, “It’s urgent, ambulance.” CCTV then captured Fenwick kneeling beside Luke and attempting CPR, while Luke’s girlfriend FINALLY decided to contact 999, saying, “He needs an ambulance, he is struggling to breathe, please, an ambulance now” and “Please, please, he is going to die, please, he is going to die.”
As Luke’s girlfriend attempted to apply pressure to the wound and Fenwick attempted CPR, the ambulance operator overheard Fenwick saying, “He tried to break into someone’s house” and “He tried running in my front door.”
CCTV then captured Fenwick leaving again as Harry, Fenwick’s flatmate, entered to take stand by Luke. Fifty two seconds later, Fenwick returned, claiming his absence was due to him going to get his phone.
Luke’s girlfriend is then heard telling the paramedic operator, “It’s too late, he’s dead. He’s dead, sorry,” before starting to cry.
The operator instructed her on mouth to mouth resuscitation, which Fenwick then followed.
Luke‘s girlfriend is then heard saying, “He’s breathing, he’s breathing,” as the operator continued to give further instructions on CPR, which she followed.
Fenwick is then seen standing up to flag down the arriving ambulance.
When emergency services arrived, the paramedics reported that the first thing Fenwick said to them was, “He tried to break into mine,” and when asked by police who did this to Luke, he informed them, “I have done this, it’s me.” He was then arrested, and upon being searched—despite claiming to have left for 52 seconds to fetch his phone—Taylor Fenwick had no mobile phone in his possession. Was he fetching his phone? Clearly not, so what was he really doing?
Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of paramedics, at 7:48 a.m, Luke was pronounced dead at the scene. His parents arrived to see police cars, ambulances, and the road taped off. Their worst nightmare was confirmed by a police officer who had the task of informing them that their son, their only child, had been stabbed to death.
Thus began the Miller family’s nightmare. Not only had their son and only child been cruelly taken from them, but they had also just sold their home, which contained all of Luke’s childhood memories. Before his life was taken from him, Luke had been making plans with his family for his room and bathroom in their new home, even going as far as picking out his tiles and bedroom flooring—a future devastatingly changed for all. Sadly, these were not the only devastations the Miller family would have to face.
The Miller family faced further devastation when their son’s SELF CONFESSED killer, who initially admitted, “I have done this, it’s me,” pleaded not guilty to the murder of their son.
On the 27th December 2023, Fenwick was brought before three magistrate judges. He was remanded and deemed a threat to witnesses. His trial began on 24th June 2024 and was expected to last five days, but it continued for a total of four weeks.
You could be wondering, how could he possibly plead not guilty when so much evidence and his own statements are stacked against him? Well, that’s because Fenwick went on to insist that during the “struggle” on the stairs, “someone else,” whom he “didn’t see,” was the one who fatally stabbed Luke with the hunting knife—which he also “didn’t see”—saying “someone else present must have delivered the second, fatal blow with the hunting knife.” Only ONE wound killed Luke.
The knife that Fenwick allegedly “definitely didn’t touch” that night and ONLY KEPT IN HIS BEDROOM, was recovered by forensics in the same green bin that Harry, his flatmate, saw Fenwick place something in before taking a stand by Luke. Fenwick took ownership of the serrated hunting knife but denied using it to kill Luke, claiming to have purchased it in Scarborough at some point in 2018. Examinations of the knife revealed Fenwick’s DNA, fibres from Luke’s coat, Luke’s blood, and tissue from inside Luke’s chest, confirming it as the murder weapon.
During the trial, pathologist Dr Sam Hoggard confirmed that the stab wound Luke received was highly unlikely to have been the result of an accident. Dr Hoggard stated, “The knife must have been held firmly in the hand, with the arm braced, and the firm brace must have been maintained throughout for the knife to deeply penetrate the body.”
It was also questioned in court if Fenwick had an “obsession” with knives, though he denied this, replying, “Absolutely not.” Yet, when police searched his property, they uncovered numerous knives—some of which were ILLEGAL to own. Was he charged for this? Of course, not!
The court then went on to share a forensic analysis of Fenwick’s phone, which uncovered 22 searches for knives in the month leading up to Luke’s murder. Thirteen of these searches led to a knife warehouse site, and a search on Amazon showed Fenwick looking for “OTF” knives (Out the Front), which are illegal in the UK due to their easy push deploy mechanism. This was allegedly due to him looking for a replacement knife, though he denied ever searching such sites—the invisible man strikes again.
Much like the invisible man that was “trying to break in,” two prosecution witnesses who confirmed they were present in the flat during the alleged “break in” stated that they “didn’t hear shouting, scuffling, or a disturbance.” As would be expected from a break in attempt. They went on to say that they left the scene before emergency services arrived because “the pair of us were in shock, slightly scared; I was scared for my life. Someone I lived with and trusted had just KILLED someone. He might have turned on us as witnesses. The pair of us decided to get out of there as quickly as possible.”
It is genuinely perplexing, profoundly disturbing, and downright INCOMPREHENSIBLE that an individual can voluntarily and graphically admit to feeling his knife penetrate his best friend’s chest, even saying, “I felt it go in,” then confess to being the perpetrator on three separate occasions, only to later recant, claiming, “It wasn’t me; it was someone else, an unidentified person, likely with a knife—although I didn’t actually see a knife.” This individual, despite initially stating, “I did this, it was me,” despite a witness placing him at the bin and seeing him place something into it (the same bin from which the murder weapon was later recovered), can then simply walk away bearing no responsibility for the life taken after being found NOT GUILTY in just 4.5 hours of deliberation!
A deliberation reached despite the fact that, throughout the trial, members of the jury were repeatedly seen congregating at the Town Hall Tavern for drinks at the end of each day’s proceedings.
The very same tavern where, on the day of the not guilty verdict, the defence barrister was spotted drinking. In a message to me demanding this article be taken down, he said he “had no idea they would be there or had been there before” and denied speaking to them. Still, he stayed at his table, fully aware of the jurors, and chose to finish his drink—“acknowledging them” on his way out. If he really “takes his reputation seriously,” as he claims, why did he not maintain his distance and leave to avoid even the hint of impropriety? Did he not think this could spark questions—questions that fall well within the bounds of responsible journalism and are by no means intended to “defame“ or “slander” but to reflect the truth—in all its fullness, hence the amendments made to this article, as opposed its deletion.
In a case where justice for Luke Miller should have been the highest priority, these unsettling actions leave troubling questions lingering in the air. Fenwick’s own graphic omissions, contradictory statements, witness testimonies, the overwhelming forensic evidence, and the defence barrister seen drinking under the same roof as jury members in the Town Hall Tavern, where jurors gathered countless times afterwards throughout the trial—all of this casts a very dark shadow over the entire proceeding. Was this trial ever about truth and justice, or was it compromised from the start, shaped behind closed doors and quiet drinks?
For Luke’s family, this verdict isn’t an end; it’s a second, senseless, devastating sentence they must bear. It’s the heartbreaking collapse of any faith they once had in a system that should protect the innocent—innocent like Luke, who was defenceless, unarmed, and at no point made any move to harm the very person who confessed to taking his life. The pain his family and friends feel of losing him is now joined by the anguish of knowing that justice, too, has failed Luke Miller!
[Author's note] I just want to extend my deepest and heartfelt apologies to the Miller family for the backlash they have received as a result of this article and my choice to portray the truth in all its rawness. Annabelle Smith (mother of Luke’s girlfriend) went out of her way to urge Mrs. Miller to request that her daughter’s name be hidden from this article. She then exceeded herself by harassing me on social media and through third parties connected to her to harass me over the information in this article. In the interest of full transparency, I chose not to comply until I received contact from Leeds Crown Court informing me of an “error” and providing me with a copy of the Section 45A of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 order, which I have complied with by redacting the required information.
