The murder of Hollie Gazzard

Holly Rebecca Gazzard was born in July 1993, a month earlier than anyone had expected.

She was so tiny that the newborn clothes her parents, Nick and Mandy, had bought for her practically swallowed her whole, and they soon found themselves having to dash out and buy something smaller.

She was the second daughter in the family, joining her older sister Chloe, and from the very beginning, the two girls shared a bond that would remain at the centre of Holly's life.

Her parents described Holly as a whirlwind of energy, someone who seemed to be in constant motion.

When Chloe was little, she could happily sit quietly with the adults, but Holly was another story.

was always something happening somewhere she wanted to be or something she wanted to try and it became a bit of a running joke in the family that whenever the grown-ups looked around they would find themselves asking the same question where's holly she was adventurous and competitive and growing up she really threw herself into just about every single sport and activity she could get involved in and this included football tag rugby horse riding athletics cross-country running literally anything.

She was also a very devoted Manchester United supporter and that came I think from her dad Nick.

He loved the club and they would even visit Old Trafford together to watch them.

At school Holly began to discover another side of herself though.

She loved fashion, she loved beauty, all things kind of creative and then as a result of this she gained a real keen interest specifically in hair and makeup and clothes and honestly there was loads about holly growing up and all the kinds of things that she found joy in but there really was that one passion that became her career because she loved it so much and that was hairdressing holly loved experimenting with her own appearance particularly her hair and her dad would even joke that he never knew what color she might come home with next The things I read about her relationship with her dad were just so heartwarming.

There's quite a lot of footage out there with him speaking after the tragedy.

I'll make sure to include some of that in this episode.

Ultimately for Holly, hair was a way to express herself and she soon got an apprenticeship at a salon in Gloucester and she continued her professional training at the Steiner Training Academy in London as well.

Then it was in 2013 that Holly was working evening shifts at a bar and nightclub in Gloucester called Zest.

It was there that she met 22-year-old Asher Malin.

Now Asher was a security guard from Cheltenham and he was a regular at the club.

Asher was immediately drawn to Holly and he set his sights on getting her number.

It does seem that she maybe didn't agree straight away but after some persistence she said yes and soon after that they went on a date.

Holly found Asher charming, funny, good company.

She was attracted to him and she did tell her friends how much she liked him, but she also spoke about the fact that he was coming on quite strongly.

Asher was keen for him and Holly to be official, to be boyfriend and girlfriend.

to be honest it seemed at least in those kind of first few weeks that holly noticed this eagerness but she seemed pretty happy and her friends and family were pretty pleased that just to see her so enthusiastic about someone when holly introduced asha to her family he made a pretty good impression by all accounts he was polite respectful genuine but mandy holly's mom actually remembered She knew this man.

She knew Asher.

She had taught him at school.

And at school, he had a reputation for being, quote, disruptive, arrogant, and mouthy.