GUILTY UK - Helen Bailey, 51, Royston, 11 April 2016 #2

[MillyM]

I'm thinking something like that might have happened to trigger IS into killing Helen too. Maybe she didn't even know about the existing standing order, checked her account and thought WTF is that? and confronted him. I had thought that maybe she caught him trying to increase the amount but I think timewise that might be later than the time police think Helen died.

Not sure if they ever accessed the other ipad. I know there was something in the news about Apple generally being unhelpful when it comes to helping police access locked devices. I also wonder if police were ever able to access his deleted computer info or phone records for the phone he claims to have lost.He was certainly tried to hide something from them

Where are all these computer hackers when you need one. As the police are known to use crims for info, surely they could lay their hand on a cyber hacker or two.

 

[icemaiden65]

The nature of how data is stored on PCs etc. is that it's chopped up into fragments and fitted in where there's spare space, with each file having an index of where the data is stored. So-called erasing files merely cleans away the index - the actual data is still there until such times as the system itself decides to use that space up. My guess is that they had recovered something of interest and would need to do some deeper recovery. I really cannot believe that IS would have the savvy or knowledge to securely wipe data leaving no trace behind.

 

[Alyce]

Then we've also got to add the visit/s to the tip and didnt he at one stage claim that he must have thrown Helen's note away at the tip, even though the visit to the tip was before he would have discovered the note?

Exactly that, re the refuse tip.
I think he stretched the solicitors timing to being * the last one of the day * so that he would have a good alibi, if needed at some point. Unfortunately for him, they dont seem to remember him calling in a second time.

He also then moved his refuse tip visit to the Tuesday - presumably when he realised his mistake re the note - hence his later comment re multiple trips to the dump.


BIB is my edit.....to be completely accurate. The solicitors did remember him calling in once - it was the second visit they did not remember....that would be because, as Tortoise has said, there was no second visit,...it was his excuse for his trip to the refuse tip.

 

[Alyce]

Huge Thank You to the Mods....... the new name for this thread.

 

[icemaiden65]

That's not as far fetched as it might sound! Quite a few have come over from the 'dark side' and are now working in places that would raise a lot of eyebrows!

 

[icemaiden65]

He's a bit like a spinning top really! No wonder he went into meltdown last week.

 

[Alyce]

It appears to me that IS was genuinely dim enough to think that the police would just make a record and leave it at that. The police must have known very quickly that HB never left that house.

Indeed, I am sure he thought they would give him a reference number, much like if you lose an item ! and that would be it.



Welcome Squamous, wanted to add earlier, I fully understand your husband's relief, mine has similar gratitude to Websleuths.

 

[Tortoise]

Wow, good point. I hadn't thought that the expense of the wedding could be a factor but to somebody motivated by money it would be. Going by how he described broadstairs as theirs rather than Helen's I bet he saw it as her wasting "their" (read HIS) money .

The only doubt I have about it being planned for that day, is that doing it the same day that the sale was due to be agreed and then changing the standing order that very same day makes it look really suspicious and make shim the number 1 suspect. It would have made more sense to do those things first (days/week in advance) so that her disappearance wasnt linked to the same day as those things.

The standing order had to change that day if he was going to be able to pass it off as something Helen did herself before she left.

I also think he had to use that trip to the solicitors as a reason to be out long enough for Helen to make a decision like leaving and pack her bags. If it was just a trip to the doctors he would be back in half an hour. I imagine he didn't have many opportunities to be out of the house for long enough, especially with his claimed weakness and tiredness. Isn't it just amazing how much he did that day and evening.

I'm sure he had planned to do this first thing in the morning (after Jamie left for work), couldn't get Helen to take the drug with her breakfast and that's why he made a last minute change to his doctor's appointment. In fact he was close to succeeding it seems, with Helen stopping her activity just before 11 and him phoning the doctors at 11:33, 3 minutes after he should have been there. He just knew he couldn't quite make it, probably had to change his clothes and get rid of the duvet in case anyone popped round and saw it. Perhaps a soiling he hadn't anticipated.

 

[Alyce]

One of the things I picked up on in that 101 call, was how he found her date of birth. I was thinking if I couldn't recall my 'partners' then where would I look to find where it was written down? I'd have to go searching for his passport or birth certificate as I can't think what else it would be written on. I just wouldn't be able to put my hand on it within a few seconds, like he does. Nothing in this I know, It just made me think he was there, in amongst her personal stuff.
PS. I was just going to delete this post as it's totally irrelevant but knowing what we know now, it makes me feel as though he was intruding on her privacy and I want to tell him to stop touching her things and get out of her space. I'm feeling particularly sorry for Helen and Boris right now.

That's true. It didn't sound, on the call, as though he just remembered it, it sounded as though he was actively searching for the information. So I wonder what he found. Of the three obvious ones, I would have said driving licence in her bag would be the most likely. And perhaps a reminder to him that he needed to dispose of the bag.

 

[Alyce]

Could be. However would they not be anything up to 8-9 years old? They would be out of date but would that bother him? I have forgotten exactly when his first wife died but he was given them after that event. The Doc he saw in Royston said his records showed he had taken it before and had no problems. I am assuming this was not during the time he had been living in Royston (3 years ?) but could be wrong. Anyone else pick up on this?

Wife died June 2010 - his prescriptions were in 2005 and in August 2010.
It seems he did not change surgeries when he moved to Royston but continued to attend at his doctor's surgery in Bassingbourn. So they should have had a complete record of his past prescriptions.
And, thinking about it, everything is on line these days, so they could have accessed his record either way, even if he had changed doctors.


PS re Skype - I managed to sort it on my PC but dont have the privacy option on my Ipad. I will see if I can find someone with more knowledge than me to advise what to do.

 

[ZaZara]

I think some of IS's shock and disbelief having been asked for the cottage address probably also came from him already being aware of Helen and Boris's whereabouts.

Family/Friends had already been to the cottage to look for Helen and there was no sign of her so why the need for the Police? How would it benefit him?

Had she actually gone away and in her note it hinted to that being where she was heading of course Police would want to go there as part of their initial enquiries

Anyone with half a brain would have had the address ready for them if it had been a genuine missing person enquiry.

But he knew where she was so had no details ready - he didn't want her to be found.

BBM

IMHO his explanation for not knowing the address immediately was not that strange.
I still have to look up the name of the street that I visit almost weekly. Yet I have no problem finding the street, nor the house, but I could not tell you the number without looking it up

 

[Alyce]

I so hope the police impounded/removed his computer and got their guys to take a look at it. Even on the open market there's free basic recovery software available and the police forensics chaps/chapesses would have much more sophisticated recovery means available - I would hope! Wiping a computer doesn't clean it of the buried (sorry!) data - it merely removes the indexing to that data - which can be restored as I said. His only surefire way would have been to do a total write-over several times (seven or so is the standard) using special software. Even reformatting leaves the data there, albeit unaddressed/indexed. That was my line of work and the only way I ever trust erasing data from media is to physically destroy it (yup, sledgehammer to a hard drive) - so there should be information lurking still.

I would also like to know what they managed to recover and hope he was not smart enough to do write overs.
Many years ago my hard drive just combusted one day but the very clever people who deal with such things were able to recover all the info.

 

[Tortoise]

I would also like to know what they managed to recover and hope he was not smart enough to do write overs.
Many years ago my hard drive just combusted one day but the very clever people who deal with such things were able to recover all the info.

The crown didn't reference anything about his computer in their opening statement. All they recovered from Helen's laptop was the searches she made on google about falling asleep. When police looked at her laptop on 15th her email account was open on the screen and the browsing history was empty.

 

[icemaiden65]

I would also like to know what they managed to recover and hope he was not smart enough to do write overs.
Many years ago my hard drive just combusted one day but the very clever people who deal with such things were able to recover all the info.

Can't see him doing the write-overs - but who know! Absolutely right Alyce about the recovery of your hard drive, and at a fairly basic user level there's trusted recovery software available on line free and for nothing if it ever happens to you again. Always worth it for a first attempt - that's supposing your system boots up of course, if your hard disk truly crashed that might be a bit tricky-woo! Have used Recuva to salvage erased data in the home from memory sticks, hard drives etc and most notably for a friend who accidentally lost all her photos from SD card - with a South African Safari holiday almost ruined for her. It's called Recuva, by Piriform. Sorry, bit off topic but handy to know anyhow!

Ha! I finally worked out how to quote and comment - sorry if some of my replies have been scattered around!

 

[sleepyhead25]

IMHO his explanation for not knowing the address immediately was not that strange.
I still have to look up the name of the street that I visit almost weekly. Yet I have no problem finding the street, nor the house, but I could not tell you the number without looking it up

I know what you mean and I am the same - I know how to get to places in my car and could give rough directions but don't know the exact postal address as there is rarely a need for it - especially if its somewhere you visit regularly.

However if my partner went missing and left a note saying where he had planned to go and I was making initial contact with the police to report him missing - whether or not I knew the address or not, I would make sure I had it to hand as would assume police would want to follow that line of enquiry and would need the address to do so.

He seemed almost took back and surprised when he was asked. No mention of sorry I hadn't thought of that. Give me 10 minutes and I will give someone a call back... He seemed totally put out. Really unusual suspicious behaviour IMO.

 

[icemaiden65]

The crown didn't reference anything about his computer in their opening statement. All they recovered from Helen's laptop was the searches she made on google about falling asleep. When police looked at her laptop on 15th her email account was open on the screen and the browsing history was empty.

Found this on line as a quick explanation:
It’s worth remembering that your entire internet browsing history is stored somewhere, whether temporarily or permanently, and whether by your ISP, the government, or whoever else decides to cache your list of browsed sites.

Typically, a warrant for the information would be required to get your ISP to release the details.

So it depends how much credence they want to attach to Helen's browsing history. But it's possible for sure!

 

[Squamous]

Diane.

Yes, maiden name Lem.

On how they met, this blog entry covers a lot of it.

http://planetgrief.com/2012/05/17/painful-pleasure/


I'm a bit startled, looking back, that because of a "genuine misunderstanding" they first met when she wasn't expecting him to come round and was still in her dressing gown. With what we know now, I'd say genuine misunderstand my ar*e.

 

[Tortoise]

As Alyce pointed out, one of the biggest red flags is that he didn't say, my partner and her dog are missing. He waited until he was asked if she took a car and said no, but she did take her dog. As if Boris was an accessory like a suitcase, and not information that would be useful for tracing them both if he desperately wanted them found. A few names spring to mind but it's against TOS.

 

[Alyce]

Can't see him doing the write-overs - but who know! Absolutely right Alyce about the recovery of your hard drive, and at a fairly basic user level there's trusted recovery software available on line free and for nothing if it ever happens to you again. Always worth it for a first attempt - that's supposing your system boots up of course, if your hard disk truly crashed that might be a bit tricky-woo! Have used Recuva to salvage erased data in the home from memory sticks, hard drives etc and most notably for a friend who accidentally lost all her photos from SD card - with a South African Safari holiday almost ruined for her. It's called Recuva, by Piriform. Sorry, bit off topic but handy to know anyhow!

Ha! I finally worked out how to quote and comment - sorry if some of my replies have been scattered around!

Huge thanks for those tips IceMaiden.

It had actually died completely - there wasn't quite smoke pouring out of it, but pretty close to. I was so immensely grateful to those guys as I had a fair amount of important work stuff on there that I hadn't backed up ( that was in the old days, when I used to do manual back ups ).

 

[Squamous]

As Alyce pointed out, one of the biggest red flags is that he didn't say, my partner and her dog are missing. He waited until he was asked if she took a car and said no, but she did take her dog. As if Boris was an accessory like a suitcase, and not information that would be useful for tracing them both if he desperately wanted them found. A few names spring to mind but it's against TOS.

Indeed. And that was the other example I couldn't bring to mind earlier. A sausage dog is a pretty identifiable thing and really narrows down lots if options in that he'd need food and exercise and toileting, wherever she was (except for, of course, where she actually was).

ETA: what I meant to say earlier was that he didn't make it clear to the call taker that Boris was a sausage dog - she might not have known the term Dachshund - just like he didn't explain that Broadstairs was on the Kent coast.

I have a lot of hatred for that man today, this case has really got to me.