GUILTY UK - Helen Bailey, 51, Royston, 11 April 2016 #1

[Florrie]

Been lurking here watching this trial with great interest. As a result of this I found this forum and been reading through everything here over the past week.
The prosecution really need to get answers from the police about the reason why there was such a difficulty in removing the lid of the cesspit. This is to me the biggest hole in the prosecution's case so far. If it were just a health and safety issue then this needs to be clarified, as presented so far it seems that it was impossible for one person to move hence supporting IS's claim that Nick and Joe did it.

Yes that's my thought too.

If he managed that alone then it's quite a weight for someone with supposed muscle weakness to lift.

However I think someone else has posted that when medication for Myasthenia Gravis is taken and effective then there is a window of time when they will have near normal muscle strength. In that case 7.2kg would be no problem for one person.

I am sure this will be addressed at some point.




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[Florrie]

As with other posters here I would like to hear much much more about his financial situation. The sons seem to suggest there were no money worries but how likely are they to have a full knowledge of what their father's real income was. They are going by appearances I guess.

I suspect IS was struggling and the money he was receiving from HB wasn't covering it. Maybe they had even spoken about it, who knows. More than anything I would bet my bottom dollar that he was increasingly resentful about £600 a month when HB had so much in her accounts. Hence the moment she was gone he was in her accounts changing that SO to a much larger amount.

I think much much more evidence about the financial aspects will come out over the coming weeks. At the moment they are just setting the scene.


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[Alyce]

Millie, my understanding is that this is going to be looked at in depth as part of the evidence.
Did his wife have life insurance?
Could he be a secret gambler?

Usually, a mortgage provider will suggest ( insist ! ) on insurance cover, so that the mortgage will be paid off in the event of the death of one spouse.
Over and above that, she /they may have had life insurance cover ( sensible with children ).

But either way, he would have had a financial advantage - even if it was only no more mortgage payments.

 

[Alyce]

As with other posters here I would like to hear much much more about his financial situation. The sons seem to suggest there were no money worries but how likely are they to have a full knowledge of what their father's real income was. They are going by appearances I guess.

I suspect IS was struggling and the money he was receiving from HB wasn't covering it. Maybe they had even spoken about it, who knows. More than anything I would bet my bottom dollar that he was increasingly resentful about £600 a month when HB had so much in her accounts. Hence the moment she was gone he was in her accounts changing that SO to a much larger amount.

I think much much more evidence about the financial aspects will come out over the coming weeks. At the moment they are just setting the scene.


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BIB
I know we only get snippets from court , but I would like to know if they meant that for all the years they had been with their father, he had never had money problems.
And if that is what they meant, then I would like to know where his income came from. When did he stop work ( if he ever started ) was it due to ill health or did he have a private income from somewhere that meant he did not have to work.

Or were they referring only to the past 5 years, since IS had met Helen.

 

[faybradshaw]

Do you think the reason why IS kept harping on the fact of Helen being a nervous driver (even if she was) and according to him, her telling him she never wanted to drive again, was to plant a seed in peoples minds as to the reason why she did not take her car when she 'disappeared'?

 

[MillyM]

Millie, my understanding is that this is going to be looked at in depth as part of the evidence.
Did his wife have life insurance?
Could he be a secret gambler?

I wondered about whether he might have massive debts, through gambling or other - perhaps where the Joe and Nick heavies come in, if they exist of course.

 

[MillyM]

Millie, it also puzzles me what she could ever have had in common with him, let alone seen in him. Different classes altogether it seems... I still think she had misgivings about him towards the end, no matter what the witnesses say about there being no problems between the two of them. IS states she could be a private person regarding her personal life and I think this was true, she gave of herself in her blogs what she wanted to divulge , but kept other things to herself. This is pure speculation, of course.

They do say opposites attract, of course. She may well have been lonely and vulnerable, he plied the charm and comfort when he realised she could be the answer to his problems. But once they are living together, it wasn't just two in that relationship was it, but four. IS living off her and two sons getting free board and lodgings.

 

[Florrie]

They do say opposites attract, of course. She may well have been lonely and vulnerable, he plied the charm and comfort when he realised she could be the answer to his problems. But once they are living together, it wasn't just two in that relationship was it, but four. IS living off her and two sons getting free board and lodgings.

And all the time she was referring to him as her GGHW (Gorgeous Gray Haired Widower) in her blog and elsewhere. That's what is sad...it sounds like she was utterly taken in by him.


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[Bethan]

Yes, I'm aware of the circumstances, but I still think it's a horrible title. I don't know what a "good" bikini is, or if it would make any difference if she was in a "bad" bikini. I dunno, it just sounds sort of frivolous and trivial.

To be honest, I think that was absolutely her intention with the title.

It was ridiculous to her, that she was still wearing her bikini, while being told her husband was dead. It was so sudden. So unexpected.

A bikini she had probably 'delighted' in buying, in anticipation of a lovely holiday with her husband.

I totally get it!


Ps Apologies I'm 3 hours behind you all in reading today's posts.


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[Bethan]

Double post.


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[Legally Bland]

I wonder if the manhole cover was opened in front of the jury during the house visit. It would give them a good idea of how easy (or not) it was. I don't think 7.5kg is that heavy, but I don't suffer from MG. I reckon the difficulty for the police could be not having an appropriate tool to hand.

 

[Joely 123]

That's a brilliant story by Helen, Alyce ... well spotted.

 

[Alyce]

I have been wondering about the whole driving - nervous driver - type of cars etc - situation.

Again, quoting from Helen's book, she talked about liking sporty cars and enjoying driving and never had a problem nipping round central London in her small car.
She then says that , for some reason, she began to buy larger cars and the joy and fun went out of driving and as a result she was not such a confident driver.
So Royston should have been a breeze, after central London traffic.

Which brings me to the Jeep. I wonder whose idea it was for her to buy this ?

Jamie in his evidence says that Helen bought the Jeep to give herself more confidence for driving in the countryside.
But which countryside was this exactly ?

We were told, from ISs evidence, that Helen's typical day was being on line, blogging and walking Boris.
I imagine she also did a bit of local shopping, but the shops are a 4 minute drive from the house and there is nothing difficult or countryside about the route.

As she did not like driving on motorways, visits to London were likely to be by train. Easier and faster anyway, even if she had not had a problem.
And we know that she did not drive to Broadstairs - so that would be trains or, if IS went with her, then he would drive. And IS also said it was not unheard of for Helen to take a taxi down to Broadstairs.

So nothing there that puts her on tricky country roads and the need for a Jeep.
Plus her preference was for smaller cars, which she enjoyed driving.



ETA
This is Jamie's evidence re Helen's driving

Helen wasn’t a confident driver, when I first came to know her she had a small Fiat 500. Moving into the countryside she struggled with confidence whilst driving and a few weeks before she went missing she got a large car, a White Jeep, to give her a little bit more confidence.

But, Helen had been living in Royston for three years by this time ( if we include the 6 months that Jamie says Helen stayed/lived with them in Bassingbourn ) and money was not a problem for the purchase of a new car.
So was this lack of confidence a new problem or did someone persuade her to buy the Jeep ?

 

[Alyce]

I wonder if the manhole cover was opened in front of the jury during the house visit. It would give them a good idea of how easy (or not) it was. I don't think 7.5kg is that heavy, but I don't suffer from MG. I reckon the difficulty for the police could be not having an appropriate tool to hand.

The photo from that day does show the cover lying next to the opening so hopefully that was done as the Jury watched.

 

[Joely 123]

It seems crazy that he answered a telephone call during a 'desperate' plea for help to the Emergency Services. I don't feel he sounds at all a deep thinking person unlike Helen.
And I agree, Milly, that he doesn't sound an obvious match to Helen - but 'matching' crosses all boundaries when the heart rules the head.
He may have been on many dates from the 'widowed group' - and only had lunch or even a coffee .. until he found his 'ideal' lady. I know this happens on all dating websites - but it does perhaps question his criteria in a future marriage.

 

[Alyce]

Interesting statements here

From Jamie's evidence on Monday January 16
Being re-examined by the prosecution, Jamie said he wasn’t aware that his dad had been to a waste disposal site on the afternoon of April 11, 2016.
He said it surprised him to find out his dad had been there.



From today's evidence
Stewart said Helen left a note on a scrap of paper but said he may have picked the note up during his multiple trips to the rubbish tip.

 

[Joely 123]

From Helen's book, I understood her relationship with John's daughter was particularly close and although she perhaps saw less of his son, she writes warmly and appreciatively of them.

 

[Joely 123]

It was additionally interesting that he said 'WE'VE got a cottage down there' - and yet not a thought that Boris would have a collar with ID, microchipped - and Helen is devoted to him so this may be a way of leading to Helen... either through a Vet, if Boris needed any treatment, or if Boris had been found lost and alone, without Helen.
I think, all of Helen's 'anxieties' are expressed in her book/blog where the world has come to know her better than he does .. no wonder he wished to suggest the book was 'too personal'. I think we all have always wondered about his first marriage - or indeed his capacity to truly relate. Only Oliver S speaks with emotional connection towards him. And how strange that Jamie did not expect him to turn up at the Bowls on the 11th April because IS had not been sure on the Sat/Sun whether he would go due to 'ill health' - and yet IS can furn up there on the very every that Helen has left him a note that may change his life with his beloved. NO - lies, lies and more lies ..

 

[Alyce]

Joely, that's a very good thought re Boris and the microchip. I wonder if the police did, at some point, do any checking with Vets.

 

[Joely 123]

I don't think he is a gambler, Michelle. I think he is a coercive controller. A self-surviver in a manic sense where he sees everything from his own view towards ambition, perfect place to 'create' a family home, his best light in society when he knows he didn't already achieve that. A forgiving, open hearted woman who knew suffering and stroked his Ego and his brow. And allowed him to take her out of her natural habitat so to provide the home for his Sons. And when she revoked her status in all of this - whenever she told him what she thought (if she did - but would certainly SHOW it - it was time to move on and stomp on the preventer of HIS dream.