A British woman today told of her ordeal after being shot in the head, then accused of murdering her

husband who died in the same incident.

Audrey Phillips spent most of last year awaiting trial in a US state penitentiary after being extradited

from England.

The 45-year-old was eventually found not guilty.

But a bureaucratic blunder by the US authorities meant she had no passport and was left stranded in

Texas, dependant on the charity of a local priest.

Without a passport, Ms Phillips could not return to Birkenhead, where her four-year-old daughter is

being cared for by relatives.

Today she said: "It has been hell.

"It has been unjust and unfair and I am missing Fiona, and my mum, and my sister so much."

Ms Phillips's case was taken up by Birkenhead labour MP Frank Field who hopes she could be back on

Merseyside by next weekend.

He told foreign secretary David Miliband her treatment had been "appalling" and asked him to make

diplomatic representations.

Within hours, Ms Phillips was informed she could pick up her passport in Houston within the next five

days.

Speaking from digs in Galveston, Texas, she said: "I am still scared and won't believe that I will get

home until I land back in Britain.

"But I hope, for Fiona's sake if not mine, that the nightmare is coming to an end."

Ms Phillip's ordeal began more than five years ago.

She emigrated to Canada in 1986, qualified as a nurse and moved to the US after marrying George

Walton.

They settled in the small Texas town of Kemah.

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British woman tells of her ordeal after being extradited from UK and accused of husband's murder | the Daily Mail

But in 2002, both she and her husband were both shot in the head in their home. He was killed while

skull fragments were driven into her brain.

Her injuries mean she has no recollection of that terrifying night.

Although she said: "I believe a third party was involved, it might have been a home invasion by

robbers."

Local police at first believed it was accidental death. Another theory was that Mr Walton might have

shot her before turning the gun on himself.

Ms Phillips underwent several operations but could not afford US healthcare bills and returned to

Birkenhead where she started a relationship with another man.

"He is no longer around but the result was my beautiful daughter," she said.

The devoted mother set up home in a housing association flat in Lowwood Road, Birkenhead.

But in the meantime, Texas police decided she was a killer and applied for extradition under a new UK

act introduced to ease the return of terrorist suspects following the 9/11 Twin Towers attack on New

York.

She lost an appeal in February last year and spent 10 months in the notorious state penitentiary in

Galveston.

Her trial was set for early November but put back until December 10.

Ms Phillips was cleared but scheduled for deportation back to Britain.

She was then held in custody until December 18 because the US authorities discovered her passport was

in the hands of the federal government in Washington DC.

She was then released on to the streets of Galveston with no passport, no money and a dwindling supply

of the medications she needs for her head injuries.

She said: "They hauled me over here on trumped-up charges. The court quickly saw there was no

evidence, no forensics, no gun residue, no motive. I was vindicated, thrown back in jail, almost

deported, then dumped on the streets of Galveston, dependent on the charity of the local priest.

"Thank God for Father Murphy. Without him and the support of my family and friends I would not have

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British woman tells of her ordeal after being extradited from UK and accused of husband's murder | the Daily Mail

survived this horrible ordeal.

"I need to get home. I miss my family. I need to be a mother to Fiona again. My grandmother died when

I was in jail and that was very hard. I am desperate."

Mr Field claimed Ms Phillips's treatment showed the injustice of the extradition deals with the US.

He said: "The 2003 Extradition Act is heavily biased in favour of America. That is shown here. An

individual is called over to the US at incredible cost, only for the case to collapse.

"She is unwell and needs medical care. I am glad that she will soon be back home with her family."

The Galveston jury which cleared Audrey Phillips heard evidence that to have murdered her husband

she would have to have fired the lethal shot while unconscious.

The murder trial, which opened on December 10, was told that the body of husband George Walton was

found on July 28, 2002, by her two teenage sons from a previous relationship.

Alex Brimble, now 19, testified that when they returned from visiting their biological father they found

their mother on a couch outside the main bedroom with blood coming from a head wound.

He said: "She was kind of out of it. It seemed she didn't really know what was going on."

The boys then went into the adjacent bathroom and found their stepfather dead from a gunshot to the

head. The gun was on the bathroom floor beside him and the glass shower partition also had a bullet

hole in it.

Ms Phillips initially told the local police that she thought her husband had shot her and then committed

suicide, but later suggested there had been an intruder.

Defence attorney Jeremy Ducote said that Ms Phillips had been so traumatised she did not remember

what had happened. He said that either Mr Walton shot her and then himself, or that she had shot her

husband in self-defence.

Dr Stephen Pustinik, chief medical examiner for Galveston County, testified that the shot which killed

Mr Walton had been fired from a distance which ruled out suicide.

But forensic psychiatrist Victor Scarano testified that Ms Phillips would have passed out the instant she

was shot.

That meant she would have had to have fired the killing shot while unconscious or that Mr Walton had

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British woman tells of her ordeal after being extradited from UK and accused of husband's murder | the Daily Mail

fired his shot after being struck in the head.

Ms Phillips was found not guilty after the jury deliberated for just over five hours on December 13.