Helen Bailey murder verdict: Fiance guilty of killing children's author

Police say ‘sudden, unexpected’ death of Ian Stewart’s first wife will now be re-examined

The partner of bestselling children’s author Helen Bailey has been convicted of drugging and killing her in a long-planned plot to get hold of her £3.3 million estate.

Ian Stewart, 56, secretly spent months poisoning the Electra Brown series writer with sedatives, then smothered her once she had been stupefied in April last year.

Her body was found in a cesspit beneath the couple’s Hertfordshire home three months later.

Following a six-week trial at St Albans Crown Court, a jury of five women and seven men found Stewart guilty of murder, fraud, three counts of perverting the course of justice and preventing a lawful burial.

Stewart scoped out the vulnerable widow on the internet in 2011 – earning his way into her trust and later her estate after launching a “love-bombing” offensive.

“She was being grossly deceived by someone who was preying on her,” prosecutor Stuart Trimmer told his trial.

Over many weeks, Stewart surreptitiously fed Bailey his prescription anti-insomnia drug, Zopiclone, possibly by slipping it into her morning scrambled eggs.

She soon became panicked by her deteriorating state of mind, searching online for terms such as “can’t stop falling asleep” and expressing concern to loved ones.

A pillowcase found next to the author’s body led the prosecution to suggest Stewart used a pillow to smother her while she was sedated.

Bailey, known for her young adult stories and memoir on bereavement, was finally found submerged in a tank of human sewage underneath the couple’s garage on 15 July last year.

Dead at her side was Boris the dog, her loyal companion.

Police said the “sudden, unexpected” death of Stewart’s first wife, Diane – who was found in the couple’s garden in 2010 – will now be re-examined.

Additional reporting by Press Association