Helen Bailey

Helen Elizabeth Bailey (22 August 1964 – c. 11 April 2016)[2] was a British author who wrote the Electra Brown series of books aimed at a teenage audience.

"[2] She gained a degree in physiology at Thames Polytechnic in London,[4] intending to become a forensic scientist, before undertaking postgraduate research in a teaching hospital.

[3] Bailey wrote five books of "teenage angst" in the Crazy World of Electra Brown series: Life at the Shallow End (2008), Out of my Depth (2008), Swimming Against the Tide (2009), Taking the Plunge (2009), and Falling Hook, Line & Sinker (2010).

[2][7][14] She appeared on television to talk about the grieving process,[15] and in October 2015, she discussed her experiences and the book on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.

[20][21] He was initially released on bail,[22] but on 15 July police reported that human remains, and those of Bailey's dog, had been found in a hidden second septic tank at her house, Hartwell Lodge, in Royston.

[23] At the trial in January 2017, the prosecution alleged Stewart had secretly drugged Bailey with zopiclone sleeping pills for several months before suffocating her.

[30] During the trial, the prosecution claimed that Stewart had inadvertently connected Bailey's mobile phone to the WiFi router in the couple's holiday home in Kent by visiting it the day after reporting her missing, an event which prosecutor Stuart Trimmer called 'very significant'.

[31] The jury was later told by Bailey's brother that during his only visit to her home in Royston she had joked about the cesspit in the garage being a "good place to hide a body", and that the remark had been made in "full earshot" of Stewart.

The jury was played a recording of Stewart's telephone call to the police in which he reported Bailey missing;[35] when asked to describe her he could not recall the colour of her eyes, had to look up both her mobile phone number and date of birth, and was unable to give the address of their holiday home in Kent.

[38][39] Giving evidence in his defence, Stewart claimed that Bailey and her dog had been kidnapped on 11 April 2016 by two men called Nick and Joe, saying that he had not told the police about this "to keep Helen safe" and that the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of £500,000.

[40] He was subsequently presented in court with two men who the prosecution alleged he had based the descriptions of the kidnappers on: Nick Cook, Stewart's next-door neighbour, and Joe Cippullo, whom he knew from his former home in Bassingbourn.

"[44] In response, Simon Russell Flint, the barrister acting for Stewart, dismissed the prosecution's "highly speculative theories", and asked, "What possible motive could he have?

[45] At St Albans Crown Court the following day, Judge Andrew Bright sentenced Stewart to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 34 years.