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

[Ironside]

I wonder will we hear if police were keeping an eye on IS whilst he was on holiday? It sounds like they knew it was him straight away.

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[Interested Bystander]

The really odd thing here is that without a body (his obvious MO) he would have to wait seven years before he inherited. That seems a long time if the guy had bowel cancer (though we are not sure about exactly what his op was for). He likely may not have survived that long. Is it me or does anyone feel to kill and be prepared to wait seven years to inherit a bit strange. He may well have not been able to afford to live in that huge house. Would he have been allowed to sell it?

Is there any way he could have accessed the money before the normal 7 years, apart from bleeding her current account dry? I cannot imagine she kept all her money in her current account.

 

[jessie]

The really odd thing here is that without a body (his obvious MO) he would have to wait seven years before he inherited. That seems a long time if the guy had bowel cancer (though we are not sure about exactly what his op was for). He likely may not have survived that long. Is it me or does anyone feel to kill and be prepared to wait seven years to inherit a bit strange. He may well have not been able to afford to live in that huge house. Would he have been allowed to sell it?

Is there any way he could have accessed the money before the normal 7 years, apart from bleeding her current account dry? I cannot imagine she kept all her money in her current account.

If accounts were in joint names he could wing it probably. I do not think he could sell the house though as it would need both signatures to do this. imo happy to be corrected
Someone mentioned he had Power Of Attorney in an earlier post? This makes me wonder just how long he had been planning this, getting everything in order to make access to her funds easier for himself.

 

[Legally Bland]

The really odd thing here is that without a body (his obvious MO) he would have to wait seven years before he inherited. That seems a long time if the guy had bowel cancer (though we are not sure about exactly what his op was for). He likely may not have survived that long. Is it me or does anyone feel to kill and be prepared to wait seven years to inherit a bit strange. He may well have not been able to afford to live in that huge house. Would he have been allowed to sell it?

Is there any way he could have accessed the money before the normal 7 years, apart from bleeding her current account dry? I cannot imagine she kept all her money in her current account.

It depends how far reaching the power of attorney was, but quite possibly, yes.

In one of today's articles it was also estimated that HB was receiving £5k a month in royalties. I imagine that would keep her current account nicely topped up.
____________

After her disappearance a neighbour – who did not want to be named – claimed Mr Stewart had also been given power of attorney over Miss Bailey’s affairs.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.da...uspicion-murder.html?client=ms-android-google

 

[Alyce]

The really odd thing here is that without a body (his obvious MO) he would have to wait seven years before he inherited. That seems a long time if the guy had bowel cancer (though we are not sure about exactly what his op was for). He likely may not have survived that long. Is it me or does anyone feel to kill and be prepared to wait seven years to inherit a bit strange. He may well have not been able to afford to live in that huge house. Would he have been allowed to sell it?

Is there any way he could have accessed the money before the normal 7 years, apart from bleeding her current account dry? I cannot imagine she kept all her money in her current account.

My guess is that there was no mortgage on the property. Helen had plenty of money to make an outright sale.

Royalties going in, as Legally says, would keep the account topped up enough to pay the bills and give him a decent chunk of spending money.
I imagine Helen also had plenty of jewellery and no doubt some items in the house ( furniture, paintings ) that were valuable, so again, he could sell those over time, to keep his cash flow healthy.

But, as you have said, the difficulty would be the fact that Helen was considered to be missing, not just around but unable to manage her affairs , due to ill health or memory loss. The POA authority only goes so far, I dont think it would stretch to him being able to access all her wealth, when she was listed as a missing person.

This is something that often comes up in cases ( Claudia Lawrence comes to mind ) where the family's hands are tied somewhat in trying to deal with her affairs and possessions before the end of 7 years.

 

[Interested Bystander]

They did have a joint account but she also had a sole account which he tried to access on the morning he murdered her. I know a POA had been mentioned by somebody but it was some long time ago. Has it been mentioned by the prosecutor again today? If it has I think I missed it.

I expect we will hear a lot more about this as the trial progresses.

 

[mrazda71]

This is what has been bothering me reading all this. It sounds like he was set for life. Bagged himself a lovely lady who was obviously very wealthy and willing to financially support him and his kids. Why risk all that to do this, AND so badly, to possibly end up in jail for the rest of his life. It doesn't make sense. I think she was going to leave him and he knew it.

If she were going to end the relationship then why would she have been searching for a wedding venue? It seemed from today evidence that police believe it was genuinely Helen on ipad and I recall reading comments from Helen on a blog somewhere that she'd been watching a wedding themed tv show ...

 

[Legally Bland]

Starting to wonder if he was using the sleeping drugs to gaslight HB into giving him power of attorney.

I'd love to know when he got POA.

Hopefully we'll find out.

 

[Alyce]

This is interesting.

Long doc and I have not read it in detail, but it seems that there is some kind of system in place ( or being proposed ) that would allow someone to become guardian of the property and affairs of a missing person.
That would certainly help the cash flow, if IS had been able to obtain this role. He could claim all sorts of money from Helen's estate, on the basis of maintaining her estate for her.

Here's a snippet,

Guardianship would be a fiduciary role akin to trusteeship.
• The guardian would be required to act only in the best interests of the missing person.
• Actions taken by the guardian should have the same effect as if they had been taken by the missing person.
• The guardian should generally be able to access information relating to the missing person and do anything in relation to the property and affairs of the missing person (except make a will) that the missing person would have been able to do in person.
• Anyone should be able to apply for appointment as guardian provided he or she had a sufficient interest and expertise, and did not have interests which conflicted with those of the missing person.
• The appointment should be made by a court.
• The appointment should only be capable of being made if a person had been missing for 90 days or more and it seemed likely that a decision would need to be made regarding the property and affairs of the missing person.
• The appointment should be for a period of up to four years with the possibility of applying for an extension for up to another four years.
• The appointment could be general or limited and could be made on condition that an adequate security bond was provided.
• The guardian would be supervised by the Office of the Public Guardian and would be required to file accounts.


http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN04890

 

[Tortoise]

[h=3]Author made a will in 2014, naming Stewart as the beneficiary[/h][FONT=&quot]The prosecution state that on the event of her death, Stewart would benefit from £1.8million in addition to the value of the main Royston house and the second home in Broadstairs. Helen Bailey made a will in 2014 - she was apparently concerned that Stewart might be financially vulnerable if she died.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]She expressly provided that her marriage to Stewart would not automatically revoke her will, as would otherwise have been the case. A Power of Attorney was registered in May 2015, giving control of her affairs in favour of the defendant and her brother John Bailey should she become unfit to administer her own affairs. The defendant twice enquired about this, requesting copes of it in June 2016 when Helen was still regarded as ‘missing’.

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/live-day-one-murder-trial-12427078
[/FONT]

 

[Interested Bystander]

Author made a will in 2014, naming Stewart as the beneficiary

[FONT=&amp]The prosecution state that on the event of her death, Stewart would benefit from £1.8million in addition to the value of the main Royston house and the second home in Broadstairs. Helen Bailey made a will in 2014 - she was apparently concerned that Stewart might be financially vulnerable if she died.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]She expressly provided that her marriage to Stewart would not automatically revoke her will, as would otherwise have been the case. A Power of Attorney was registered in May 2015, giving control of her affairs in favour of the defendant and her brother John Bailey should she become unfit to administer her own affairs. The defendant twice enquired about this, requesting copes of it in June 2016 when Helen was still regarded as ‘missing’.

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/live-day-one-murder-trial-12427078
[/FONT]

Many thanks. I wonder if he had a hand in organising her finances/will/POA or whether it was all her idea. It does seem a bit odd that so much was entered into and they were not at that time engaged or married.

 

[Tortoise]

I wonder if he was going to try to move her body at a later date, so it would be found, say in woodland, to prove her death and claim under her will.

 

[Alyce]

Many thanks. I wonder if he had a hand in organising her finances/will/POA or whether it was all her idea. It does seem a bit odd that so much was entered into and they were not at that time engaged or married.

So the POA was May 2015, almost two years after they moved into the Royston property. I wonder if there is any significance of this date, or if he had been pushing for it for a long time.

POAs can vary in authority - it would be interesting to know what type IS held for Helen.


edited my original post as realised I had dates wrong

 

[Alyce]

I wonder if he was going to try to move her body at a later date, so it would be found, say in woodland, to prove her death and claim under her will.

I think that might have been a distinct possibility that he would have in mind as a possible thing to do, if the money started to dwindle before the 7 year statute.

 

[michelle230]

Hi everyone (special hello to Tortoise!),
Just wanted to say that I was in court today and will be going tomorrow and as often as I can before I collapse in exhaustion!! I leave court to go straight to work so don`t get home until about 10 pm.
I haven`t had time to read all the posts.
I know that so many of the new revelations have been tweeted straight from the court room e.g. the drugging etc. More shocking than we ever thought.
The courtroom was full - and that`s without all the family, witnesses etc as obviously they are not allowed in at the moment.
The evidence is breathtaking and cannot be disputed. IS knows this - Tortoise - the other case I met you on - I talked about the "nodding dog"!! This one - is a twitcher!
Well done a million times to all those who worked on the case - the evidence they collected is amazing..truly amazing.
This "man" - for want of a better word - he thought he was oh..so very clever. I`m sure he is in shock at the cleverness and highly specialised detective and forensic work that cannot be disputed. He must have nightmares every night and bang his head against the wall in disbelief. He knows...he knows...
Am not going to write a long post and not exactly sure what is permissible but I don`t know how else to say this.....this is a smart man...this is a greedy man...this is a callous man...this is a man who plans....this is a calculated man.....
.....His first wife.......
Oh....and his poor, poor boys.
How many lives have been destroyed...
Michelle

 

[Legally Bland]

Thanks for the POA info Tortoise. I'm sure you've already posted that today, I should have read back a few pages. Sorry for being lazy.

Does anyone have experience of a joint POA and how that could be awkward for IS (or not)?

 

[michelle230]

They were engaged but very few people knew, not even his sons.
Helen had been on the phone and texting her friends about the wedding plans.
Michelle

 

[michelle230]

yes it would be awkward - if there is only one POA they have full control. More than one and they have to liaise/agree/plan together

 

[Alyce]

Who does this remind you of............. Nathan and Shauna with their video and take away

Stewart, who has two sons, Jamie, 24, and 21-year-old Oliver, had watched one of them play a bowls match on the night of his fiancee’s death. He later collected a Chinese takeaway.


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/helen-baileys-beloved-dog-killed-9600128

 

[Alyce]

Hi everyone (special hello to Tortoise!),
Just wanted to say that I was in court today and will be going tomorrow and as often as I can before I collapse in exhaustion!! I leave court to go straight to work so don`t get home until about 10 pm.
I haven`t had time to read all the posts.
I know that so many of the new revelations have been tweeted straight from the court room e.g. the drugging etc. More shocking than we ever thought.
The courtroom was full - and that`s without all the family, witnesses etc as obviously they are not allowed in at the moment.
The evidence is breathtaking and cannot be disputed. IS knows this - Tortoise - the other case I met you on - I talked about the "nodding dog"!! This one - is a twitcher!
Well done a million times to all those who worked on the case - the evidence they collected is amazing..truly amazing.
This "man" - for want of a better word - he thought he was oh..so very clever. I`m sure he is in shock at the cleverness and highly specialised detective and forensic work that cannot be disputed. He must have nightmares every night and bang his head against the wall in disbelief. He knows...he knows...
Am not going to write a long post and not exactly sure what is permissible but I don`t know how else to say this.....this is a smart man...this is a greedy man...this is a callous man...this is a man who plans....this is a calculated man.....
.....His first wife.......
Oh....and his poor, poor boys.
How many lives have been destroyed...
Michelle

Huge thanks for the update Michelle..... good to have someone, literally first hand, who can hear everything and confirm our thoughts of how rotten and evil this sc*m is...