GUILTY UK - Helen Bailey, 51, Royston, 11 April 2016 #5

[ColourPurple]

Sky twitter are tweeting a little

Stuart Duggan ‏@SkyNewsStu 3m3 minutes ago
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Prosecution is now asking about Stewart and Helen Bailey's finances, including the author's arrangements around inheritance tax

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Hopefully they will clarify that he wouldn;t have been any better off waiting to marry Helen.

 

[JudgeJudi]

RSBM

12:14
'I tried to find out about power of attorney'

“I tried to find out about power of attorney. I just wanted to get back.

“I thought about asking my dad for the money, I still had some money from Diane at that point.”

Ah, so he did benefit from Diane's will after all. That probably now confirms that the balance was to be held in trust for Jamie and Nick until they reached 18 or 21.

 

[sar2them1984]

12:13
'Nick turned up at my Stansted hotel and said they wanted £500,000 if they did not get what they wanted soon'

“I went on June 12 from Stansted Airport. I booked the Raddison Blue hotel the night before.

“Nick and Joe wanted details of what I was going to do, what the police were doing and what the press wanted.

“I got up to the room and on the phone Joe had given me I got a phone call, saying go down to the bar and meet Nick.

“I went down to the bar, a world cup football game was on. I said: ‘Is Helen here? Where’s Helen?’

“He said she wasn’t here.

He said: ‘Do the police know you’re here?’

“I said: ‘Yes.’

He said: ‘If we don’t get what we want by the time you get back we’re going to want compensation.

“I asked him what that meant and he said they want half a million pounds.

“I said: ‘I haven’t got that money.’

He said: ‘Helen has and you’ve got power of attorney’.

“He didn’t say why. I said: ‘I can’t do that, I don’t have it.’

“He said: ‘Go on holiday, it looks good if you go.

“He then said you won’t need the phone while you’re in Spain, and he took it off me.

“He then also threatened Jamie and Oliver. He said if you tell anyone you’ll not only never see Helen again but you’ll be visiting Jamie and Oliver in hospital”

Stewart breaks down again.

No cctv to corroborate this I'm guessing

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[BlueMosaic]

So he was trying to sell one of her cars too? Why could none of these things wait till she was back?

Indeed. Who would be up to something like that?

 

[Tortoise]

I'd love to hear about his demeanour under cross.

 

[Duchy]

12:55
Stewart said he had to lie 'to keep Helen safe'

Trimmer: “You lied from April 11 to the first arrest, telling everyone she’d gone to Broadstairs. That’s the first section of lies. Stewart: “Yes, I had to give that version of events to keep Helen safe.”

Trimmer: “And from then on until December 13?”

Stewart: “Yes. Some of that was not true but I had no choice in my mind.”

 

[Alyce]

I'd love to hear about his demeanour under cross.

Hope Michelle and Lit Up got in, even if one is sitting on the other's lap

 

[Tortoise]

[FONT=&quot]Trimmer: “These people who killed Helen would have been capable of killing your sons?”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Stewart: “Yes”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Trimmer: “Yet here you are sitting in a police station with senior detectives. Didn’t you want to say to them: ‘Look it’s not me, It’s Joe and Nick, and they might get my sons’? Not a hint of that ever passed your lips.”

Just a bit that was added to the last blog entry

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/helen-bailey-murder-trial-ian-12578906
[/FONT]

 

[Alyce]

Dominic Reynolds Verified account ‏@domreynolds 3m3 minutes ago

IS is reminded he knew about the life insurance policy & inheritance tax insurance #helenbailey had taken out

 

[icemaiden65]

I'd love to hear about his demeanour under cross.

My guess is that any prison officers who might be close to him in the dock will need pegs for their noses! He surely must be cr*pping himself - or perhaps not as we already know he's totally off his trolley anyhow.

 

[Squamous]

RSBM


Ah, so he did benefit from Diane's will after all. That probably now confirms that the balance was to be held in trust for Jamie and Nick until they reached 18 or 21.

Oliver rather than Nick. Nick is persona non grata in all this

 

[Alyce]

Dominic Reynolds Verified account ‏@domreynolds 2m2 minutes ago

He's reminded that on bereavement support forums there are warnings to new users. "Widows with a lot of £ might be a target"

 

[Duchy]

12:58
Trimmer said Stewart knew he was safe from inheritance tax

Trimmer: “You tell us you were well off, yes?”

Stewart: “In my mind, not in Helen’s. Helen’s wish for me was that I would be entirely independent and looked after. And that I would never have anything from a comfortable life, which I already had.”

Trimmer: “She was very keen that that was sorted out just in case, so much so that she put in place a new will. You knew you were safe from inheritance tax.”

 

[neteditor]

The courts look favourably on people who plead guilty at the outset as it saves a lot of time and a huge amount of money, hence the discount of 5 years.

I'm not fully caught up so this may have been mentioned. There is only one sentence for murder and that is life imprisonment. The judge sets a minimum term (used to be called the tariff) based on the facts in the case. Only after that term can parole be considered. Even if parole is granted the life prisoner is released on license. They are effectively continuing their sentence on the outside. The parole conditions are usually pretty strict and any slight breach means they are straight back into the clink, questions asked later.

More details here: https://fullfact.org/crime/how-long-do-murderers-serve-prison/

So effectively there's not a great deal of benefit to be had from pleading guilty at the first opportunity especially if you're an old fart who's been at death's door most of your adult life

I once caused a slight kerfuffle at the home of a life license prisoner. (I had good reason lol). The police were called and I am not kidding 3 minibuses full of uniform were on the doorstep within minutes. There was no need, it was just a row, but the silly cow thought she was being a smart*rse dialling 999 on me. Love to know how she explained that to her posh neighbours!

 

[Duchy]

13:00
Trimmer asks about dating websites for widows and widowers

Trimmer: “You knew there was all sorts of advice given on those websites about how widowers meet people.”

Stewart: “Yes, anyone could go and have a look.”

Trimmer: “How would people take advantage in this situation?”

Stewart: “Widowers are very vulnerable at that time in their lives. They could be confused”

Trimmer: “Widowers with a lot of money, might they be a target?”

Stewart: “Yes. It is suggested people are to be careful and just get to know people.”

Trimmer: “When was it from your first conversation with Helen Bailey and when you were intimate with her?

Stewart: “A month or so.”

Trimmer: “Were you surprised it was so quick?”

Stewart: “No”.

 

[ColourPurple]

12:58
Trimmer said Stewart knew he was safe from inheritance tax

Trimmer: “You tell us you were well off, yes?”

Stewart: “In my mind, not in Helen’s. Helen’s wish for me was that I would be entirely independent and looked after. And that I would never have anything from a comfortable life, which I already had.”

Trimmer: “She was very keen that that was sorted out just in case, so much so that she put in place a new will. You knew you were safe from inheritance tax.”

Yes!! Finally, clarification for the jury that he would not have been better off had he married her first.

 

[Duchy]

13:00
Trimmer asks about how quickly Stewart and Helen Bailey's relationship progressed

Trimmer: “You knew there was all sorts of advice given on those websites about how widowers meet people.”

Stewart: “Yes, anyone could go and have a look.”

Trimmer: “How would people take advantage in this situation?”

Stewart: “Widowers are very vulnerable at that time in their lives. They could be confused”

Trimmer: “Widowers with a lot of money, might they be a target?”

Stewart: “Yes. It is suggested people are to be careful and just get to know people.”

Trimmer: “When was it from your first conversation with Helen Bailey and when you were intimate with her?

Stewart: “A month or so.”

Trimmer: “Were you surprised it was so quick?”

Stewart: “No”.

Trimmer: “It wasn’t long before financial conversations were contemplated, moving house and so on.”

Stewart: “Yes”

Trimmer: “You tell us you never fell out with her at all, ever, and you always thought this would end in a wedding.”

Stewart: “Not when we first met.”

Trimmer: “You tell us it all went very well.”

Stewart: “Extremely well.”

 

[JudgeJudi]

RSBM

12:23

Stewart then said: “I thought I’d wait and see if she was still with Joe and Dave - oh sorry Joe and Nick”.

Hahahahaha. No-one else but Einstein Ian could make this up. I can hardly believe this is really happening.

 

[Duchy]

13:05
Stewart is quizzed about the sleeping drug found in Helen's body

Trimmer: “There came a time you started giving her Zopiclone.”

Stewart: “No”.

Trimmer: “You said Helen took the zopiclone tablets from you.”

Stewart: “She took them on two occasions herself. She told me that.”

Trimmer: “Once, she took the tablets from you, and she said ‘I might be taking some of those’. Then you’ve just told us now that she told you she had taken zopiclone when you were in hospital?

Stewart: “Yes”

Trimmer: “If she had zopiclone in her system that’s because she took it herself.”

Stewart: “Yes”.

Trimmer: “Those facts don’t feature in your defence case statement.”

Stewart: “It didn’t come in my mind. It came back to me later. It came back to me when I was first given the pathologist report to read.”

Trimmer: “You knew you were being accused of poisoning Helen, smothering her, then putting her in the cesspit.

“By the date your defence case had been served in December you had the majority of documents in the defence case.

“You knew perfectly well the prosecution were alleging you had poisoned her.”

Stewart: “Yes”

Trimmer: “Why did these facts not appear in your defence case statement?

Stewart: “They just don’t, I didn’t put it all together. My defence had nothing to do with that zopiclone.

Trimmer: “They are lies”

Stewart: “No”.

 

[Duchy]

Court breaks for an hour

There will now be a break until 2.05pm.