Man who killed children’s author charged with murder of first wife

A MAN convicted of murdering the celebrated children’s author Helen Bailey has been charged with killing his first wife six years earlier.

Ian Stewart was jailed for life in 2017 after he was found guilty of killing Ms Bailey, with whom he was engaged to be married.

The body of the 51-year-old, who wrote the successful Electra Brown series for teenagers, was found in the cesspit of their large detached home in the village of Royston, Herts.

Her beloved pet dog was also found next to her.

Stewart, 59, has now been charged with the murder of his wife Diane Stewart, who passed away aged 47, in June 2010.

Yesterday, Stewart made a brief appearance before Judge Michael Kay QC at St Albans Crown Court. No plea was taken and Stewart was remanded in custody.

The judge said there would be a plea hearing on Monday Sept 21, but no date was set for the trial.

Following the hearing, a spokesman for Hertfordshire Police said: “Ian Stewart, 59, appeared at St Albans Crown Court today charged with the murder of his wife Diane.

“The 47-year-old died on 25 June 2010 at their home in Bassingbourn. A reinvestigation into her death began after Ian Stewart was convicted in 2017 of the murder of his fiancée, Helen Bailey, at their home in Royston in 2016.”

Diane, who had suffered from epilepsy since childhood, was found dead in the garden of their large country home.

An inquest held three months later concluded that the school secretary had suffered “sudden unexpected death from epilepsy”.

But following Stewart’s conviction for the murder of Ms Bailey, they expressed concern about the circumstances of her death and backed the fresh police inquiry.

The investigation was hampered because Diane’s body had been cremated, but Hertfordshire Police expressed a determination to continue with the case.

Stewart met Ms Bailey in an online bereavement forum while she was still grieving the loss of her husband John Sinfield, who died in a swimming accident in Barbados in 2011.

They later moved in with one another, but the relationship had been under strain at the time of her murder.

‘A reinvestigation into her death began after Ian Stewart was convicted of the murder of his fiancée’