Authors killer watched wife die in garden
Last week Ian Stewart was convicted of murdering Helen Bailey. Now light has been shed on an earlier, puzzling death
Robin Henry, James Gillespie and Ella Duffy
February 26 2017, 12:01am, The Sunday Times
The murderer of the childrens author Helen Bailey watched as his first wife died in their back garden, then brushed off questions about the cause of death, according to a witness.
Ian Stewart, 56, was jailed last week for 34 years after being convicted of the murder of Bailey, his fiancée, whose body was found in the cesspit of their £1.5m home in Royston, Hertfordshire. The body was discovered three months after Stewart reported her missing.
The court heard that he had been drugging Bailey, 51, with sleeping pills for months before killing her and dumping the body and that of Boris, her dachshund, into the pit under their garage.
After the case police said they would re-examine the circumstances of the unexpected death of Stewarts first wife, Diane, 47, in 2010. The couple lived in a quiet close in Bassingbourn, on the border of Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire, not far from the house where Stewart killed Bailey.
A neighbour told The Sunday Times an air ambulance landed in the garden of his home in June 2010. I left my house and headed to their [Stewarts] bungalow and found paramedics already there, said the neighbour, who asked not be identified.
Their side gate was open and I could see Diane lying in the back garden with a paramedic performing CPR on her. Ian was watching. He looked very pale. I saw the paramedic turn to his colleague and shake his head to signal nothing more could be done. I caught Ians eye and realised I was intruding on something very private and tragic and had to leave.
Three months later the neighbour visited Stewart to see how the widower was coping, but found him defensive. We [the neighbourhood] still didnt know how she died. I went to see how he was doing and felt enough time had passed to ask if there was an explanation for her death.
He seemed annoyed and said no, not really and nothing came out of the post- mortem. We didnt hear anything about epilepsy until much later.
I know her family said she couldnt drive, but it was always him who seemed to have the health problems. Ambulances came for him a couple of times. I dont know the exact reasons why.
The neighbour said Diane was popular in the community and well known through her work at local schools. Ian was nice enough.
The view of him has changed with recent events. When we heard [Bailey] was missing we thought how terrible for him after everything. When they found her body we started seeing everything in a different light. Theres a lot of anger towards him for what hes done.
As he handed Stewart a life sentence last week, Judge Andrew Bright QC said financial gain had been the principal motive for the killing. Baileys personal fortune was put at about £4m.
You knew Helen Bailey to be a wealthy woman, but were not content with having to share in her wealth as her husband. Instead you wanted it all for yourself, the judge said. I am firmly of the view that you currently pose a real danger to women with whom you form a relationship.
After the death of his first wife, Stewart received £28,000 from Cambridgeshire county council, a £33,000 life insurance policy and £16,000 from a Legal and General policy. Three weeks after she died he bought an MG sports car.
Unusually, there is no record of a will or a grant of probate having been made in Diane Stewarts name.
He later sold the Bassingbourn property for £520,000 and put £470,000 into his home with Bailey.
Relatives of Diane said he would not show them the death certificate even though the document, seen by The Sunday Times, states merely sudden unexpected death in epilepsy and Verdict: natural causes.
Noreen Lem, Dianes mother, has welcomed the police decision to look again at her daughters unexpected death. She told The Sun: She was fit, happy and healthy and too young to suddenly die. It was such a shock. Now theres a possibility her husband had something to do with it.
Another family member, who did not wish to be named, said: We were told at the time it was an unexplained death it has been on my mind that it was unexplained. [Stewart] was the only one there when she died . . . I know her brother and sister have been very concerned.
In 2013 Dianes sister Wendy Bellamy-Lee raised her concerns on social media, saying the family was still . . . numb and completely shocked . . . as to why it happened, with so many unanswered questions.
