Author’s killer is facing a new murder charge
THE man who killed Northumberland author Helen Bailey has appeared in court charged with murdering his wife six years earlier.
Ian Stewart was jailed for life at St Albans crown court in 2017 after a jury convicted him of killing his 51-year-old fiancee, best known for writing the Electra Brown series of books.
The couple lived in a large detached house in Royston where, in July 2016, her remains were found.
Ian Stewart, now 59, has now been charged with the murder of his wife Diane Stewart, 47 in Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire in 25 2010.
He made a brief appearance before Judge Michael Kay QC at St Albans Crown Court yesterday but no plea was taken.
Judge Kay told Stewart he would be remanded in custody.
He said there would be a plea hearing on Monday, September 21. No date for a trial was set.
Stewart denied the murder of Bailey but was found guilty by a jury.
He drugged and suffocated his fiancee, who was originally from Ponteland, before dumping her body and her dog Boris in a cesspit under the garage of their Hertfordshire home.
In the wake of Stewart’s sentencing on February 23, 2017, DCI Jerome Kent - who led the murder investigation - said he would also be heading a probe into the death of Stewart’s former wife Diane, with whom he had two sons.
In 2010, Ms Stewart’s death was found to have been of natural causes after an epileptic fit.
However in August 2018 Stewart was arrested on suspicion of murdering his first wife.