A crime documentary series reveals the astonishing bravery of a daughter whose evidence confirmed that her evil stepfather was sentenced to life in prison for killing her mother.
Cheryl Gabriel-Hooper, 51, was shot twice with a double barrel by her estranged husband Andrew Hooper in front of her daughter Georgia when she was just 14.
After subjecting her to years of domestic abuse, Hooper killed Cheryl in January 2018 as she sat in his Land Rover Evoque – and Georgia watched him fire an antique gun as she stood in front of the car.
And in footage of Georgia speaking to ITV documentary Murder in the Family, Georgia shares how she tackled her mother’s killer without fear.
He said, ‘I was the first witness in the trial. ‘It feels like a privilege to be able to stand there and do that for my mum.’
Cheryl Gabriel-Hooper (left), 51, was shot twice by her estranged husband Andrew Hooper (right) in January 2018 with a double-barreled shotgun in front of their 14-year-old daughter, Georgia.
Sherrill, with her daughter Georgia, who was 14 when she witnessed the shooting
‘I faced him and wasn’t afraid’: footage of Georgia speaking to ITV documentary Murder in the Family, Georgia shares how she faced her mother’s killer without fear
Georgia added: ‘I faced him and I wasn’t scared. And he had to sit there and make sure he didn’t break me.
‘He did not get away with killing his mother. That was justice.’
After the attack, Hooper fled the scene and turned the shotgun on himself in a failed suicide attempt. He lived with a severe deformity of his face and was unable to speak.
Chilling footage shows Hooper confessing to shooting Sherrill while she was in hospital, pointing to the word ‘yes’ on a board with his trembling finger when asked in a police interview if he was responsible for his wife’s death.
He was sentenced in 2019 to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 31 years. He has since made two attempts to appeal his conviction but both were dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
The first episode of Murder in the Family, which covers Cheryl’s murder, aired on ITV1 last night and all three episodes are now available on ITVX.
The documentary also reveals the moment police arrived at the scene and spoke to 14-year-old Georgia after she saw her stepfather kill her mother.
Bodycam footage shows Georgia standing in the living room immediately telling a police officer: ‘He’s dead.’
Giving her account to the officer on the verge of tears, the teenage girl said: ‘He got into the back of the car in a silver Land Rover so my mum couldn’t get anywhere.
‘He went to the driver’s window with the gun and was banging the barrel on the glass.’
Georgia’s voice wavered as she said: ‘I didn’t want to go for it.’
Andrew Hooper who was convicted at Birmingham Crown Court of murdering his estranged wife Cheryl Hooper and jailed for life in June 2019
The officer reassured her, saying: ‘Georgia, I know it’s hard.’
He continued: ‘He was gunning against the car. I thought it was a spade or something, I thought he was going to hit him with something.
‘I jumped out of the car, trying to unlock my phone, I couldn’t unlock my phone. The police are trying to come directly.
‘He hit the glass, the glass broke and then he raised the gun properly and shot her.’
Georgia’s voice cracked: ‘I can’t get it out of my head.’
She then pulled her cardigan up to her face as her head fell between her legs.
The documentary also reveals the moment police arrived at the scene and spoke to 14-year-old Georgia (pictured) after she saw her stepfather kill her mother.
Giving her account to the officer on the verge of tears, the teenage girl said: ‘He got into the back of the car in a silver Land Rover so my mum couldn’t get anywhere. He went to the driver’s window and took the gun and was banging the barrel on the glass.
Georgia’s voice cracked: ‘I can’t get it out of my head.’ She then pulled her cardigan up to her face as her head fell between her legs
Hooper, before meeting his mother, was convicted of a previous domestic abuse crime. But Cheryl never knew when the relationship started.
Georgia spoke to MailOnline in December 2020: ‘I wish I could have done a domestic abuse register when my mum was alive.
‘My stepfather had a history of domestic abuse before he met my mother so if there was a register, it would have prevented him from having a relationship with her.
‘A registration could save lives as it would potentially prevent someone from entering into a relationship with an abusive partner,’ Georgia added at the time. ‘Many abusers become serial abusers, attacking women they go out with. This is hardly an isolated incident so we need that register to keep women safe.
‘Something needs to be done. We have a sex offender registry, so why don’t we have a domestic abuse registry?’
Cheryl, who was abused by the ‘cowardly’ farmer for seven years, moved out of the home they shared at Guild of Monks Farm, near Newport, Shropshire, in December 2017 and moved into another house with Georgia in the town.
He was murdered six weeks later on January 26, 2018.
Georgia and her mother had just parked in the driveway of their new home when Hooper, who had earlier confronted Cheryl in a pub after placing a tracking device in her car, pulled up behind them in his truck.
Georgia previously said: ‘My mum said ‘oh my god he’s here’.
Knowing instinctively that something didn’t seem right, the 14-year-old schoolgirl got out of the car.
‘But by the time I got to the front of the car he shot through the car window and then he shot mum again,’ she said.
‘I tried to find a pulse or get a response from him, but there was nothing.
‘I never thought he would kill her. I never thought he would take it this far.’
The documentary features footage of police interviewing Andrew Hooper
Speaking to the documentary makers, Georgia revealed she was abused by her mother Cheryl Hooper – known as ‘Jack’ by friends, saying: ‘I grew up thinking domestic abuse was punching and violence – physical violence.
‘So with Jack, I didn’t really feel for a long time that he had a distinct behavior problem. I couldn’t say “this is wrong, this is domestic abuse”.
‘My mum wasn’t fully aware of what was going on because you don’t see it when you’re in it. His main goal was to make her feel completely worthless – it was about power and control.
‘Jack was incredibly abusive in so many ways: financially, emotionally, psychologically – where he thought it was his right to kill her.