Murderer’s sons ‘to get slice of author’s £3m’
THE two sons of author Helen Bailey’s killer are set to inherit part of her £3.3million fortune.
Ms Bailey, 51, left the bulk of her estate to her partner Ian Stewart, 56, who was jailed for a minimum of 34 years last week after dumping her body in a cesspit at their home.
He will not get a penny as killers cannot inherit from their victims.
Her executor will decide how to split her estate between 13 people including Stewart’s sons Jamie, 24, and Oliver 21, named in her will as ‘discretionary beneficiaries’.
Ms Bailey’s neighbour Mavis Drake, 82, who witnessed her will, said: ‘Helen was definitely very fond of Ian’s two boys. I am sure as time went on she probably grew to love them more and more.
‘It was lovely of her to think of the boys in her will. Obviously they had nothing whatsoever to do with her murder.’
Mrs Drake said she felt particularly sorry for Stewart’s two sons as they also lost their mother Diane who died of an apparent epileptic seizure in 2010. Police have now begun an investigation into her death.
Mrs Drake added: ‘It was ghastly for the two boys losing their mother when they were teenagers.
‘It must be hell for them having their father being convicted of murder and now being investigated over the death of their mother.’
Ms Bailey was widowed after her husband John Sinfield drowned while they were on holiday in Bar- bados in 2011. She met Stewart on a Facebook group for the bereaved and was planning their wedding when he murdered her and dumped her body with her beloved dachshund Boris at their £1.3 million house in Royston, Hertfordshire.
He was jailed for life at St Albans Crown Court last Thursday.
Ms Bailey referred to Stewart’s sons in her book When Bad Things Happen In Good Bikinis, about life after her husband’s death. She wrote that Stewart had ‘two gorgeous sons who’ve been nothing less than welcoming to me’, adding: I adore them.’
The trial heard that Ms Bailey had written an earlier will in 2012, leaving her fortune to her brother John Bailey and her stepchildren Daniel Sinfield and Jennie Winterbottom from her late husband’s previous marriage.
The author, who had no children of her own, drew up a new ten-page will in July 2014. It named her financial adviser Tony Hurley as sole executor with the power to divide up the money into other trusts as he saw fit to benefit one or a number of the beneficiaries.
It did not specify how he should do this, but the trial heard she had told Mr Hurley she wanted Stewart to be her main beneficiary.
Ms Bailey’s stepdaughter Jennie Winterbottom, 40, said: ‘How she chose to distribute her wealth is not something I feel needs comment from anyone and will be dealt with professionally by the executor of her estate.’
Mr Hurley did not respond to requests for comment.