News from around the county Man murdered his fiancee for money
The fiance of best-selling children’s author Helen Bailey is starting a life sentence after a jury found him guilty of murdering her to get his hands on her £3.5m fortune.
Ian Stewart, 56, suffocated the wealthy widow – who owned a holiday home in Broadstairs – after secretly plying her with a sleeping drug and then dumped her body in a cesspit.
Her remains were found three months after Stewart – who met Ms Bailey on an online group for widows and widowers – had reported her missing from their £1.5m home in Royston, Herts.
A court heard how Stewart had tried to hide his crime by telling detectives Ms Bailey had gone to Broadstairs for space and time but later claimed two men called Nick and Joe kidnapped her.
But on Wednesday a jury of seven men and five women took around five-and-a-half hours to find “devious killer” Stewart guilty of the “cynically executed murder that had money as its driving motive”.
The jury unanimously found Stewart guilty of murder, one count of fraud, preventing lawful burial, and three counts of perverting the course of justice following a six-week trial.
It was heard Stewart killed Ms Bailey to be in line to gain two homes, enough cash to ensure a “very comfortable” lifestyle, pension and life insurance payments from his fiancee.
Stewart was sentenced yesterday (Thursday) to at least 34 years in prison.