Fiance, 61, who was jailed for killing children's author Helen Bailey and dumping her body in a cesspit murdered his first wife six years earlier and blamed it on epilepsy, court hears

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A widower in prison for killing his famous children's author fiancée Helen Bailey has gone on trial today accused of murdering his wife six years earlier.  

Ian Stewart, 61, was jailed for a minimum of 34 years in 2017 for murdering Ms Bailey, 51, who had been drugged with sleeping medication and suffocated at their £3.3million Royston mansion.  

His wife-to-be, who wrote the Electra Brown books, was discovered in a cesspit under the garage with her beloved dog in 2016.

After his conviction, police began looking into the 2010 death of Stewart's wife Diane, 47, whose sudden passing was put down to a massive epileptic fit.

But Huntingdon Crown Court heard today that a 'stroke of fortune' meant she had donated her brain for medical research. The stored tissue was re-examined and experts concluded the chances of her dying from a seizure were actually '100,000 to one'. 

Stuart Trimmer QC, prosecuting, told the jury that tests on the brain proved oxygen to her brain had been 'substantially reduced' by an 'outside source' in the hour before her death, adding: 'This defendant murdered his own wife at the home they shared'.

He said: 'Initially he [Ian Stewart] was able to fool the medical professionals by suggesting she had died in the course of an epileptic fit. The Crown say that was not the case. Re-examination of this case showed, the Crown say, that was not true and his explanation for the circumstances of her death can be disproved by the medical evidence. In short, he killed her.'

Ian Stewart, 61, was convicted of murdering Helen Bailey, 51, pictured together, in 2016, and is now accused of murdering his wife six years before

Stewart was charged with murdering his first wife, Diane Stewart, in Cambridgeshire in 2010

Stewart, who is serving life in jail, is now on trial for murdering Mrs Stewart, 47, the mother of his children. Mrs Stewart died at the couple's family home in Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, on June 25, 2010. 

Mr Trimmer said: 'The Crown say that this defendant intended to kill Dianne Stewart and the only serious issue you have to determine is whether Ian Stewart was responsible for the killing or whether it was a medical accident'. 

The jury was told that the guilty verdict at St Albans Crown Court in January 2017 for the killing of Ms Bailey led to more focus on the death of Stewart's deceased wife, Diane.

Mr Trimmer told the court: 'Dianne Stewart died on June 25, 2010.

'Ian Stewart was at home, alone, with her. At 11.24am he called an ambulance claiming he had found his wife unresponsive, not breathing.'

Paramedics were called but 'tried in vain' to save her and she was declared dead.

Her original cause of death was given as 'sudden unexplained death through epilepsy'.

Although most of her remains were cremated the jury was told Mrs Stewart had donated her brain to medical research which meant that brain tissue was kept.

After the guilty verdict scientists and pathologists re-examined her death and found it was only a one in 100,000 chance that the mum-of-two would have died from epilepsy.

The court heard how it had been 18 years since she had last had a seizure of note and it was 'an extremely low' chance that epilepsy has caused her death.

Instead it emerged there had been a 'substantial reduction of oxygen' to her brain in the hour before her death - which was proven by 'well developed ischaemia  - a change to the make up of the tissue which could be seen with the naked eye.

'The cause of death was most likely caused by a prolonged restriction of her breathing from an outside source and the account given by Mr Stewart, the only other person on the premises, was directly contradicted by the medical evidence,' Mr Trimmer told the jury.

Mr Trimmer said the amount of ischaemia discovered could not have happened in such a short space of time and were 'wholly inconsistent' with Stewart's account.

Stewart was arrested and questioned by police and gave a pre-prepared statement but refused to answer questions or offered 'no comment', Mr Trimmer said.

According to Stewart's statement: 'On that day I had left our home and when I returned a short while later I found Dianne lying unconscious on the patio.

'I went inside to get the cordless house phone and dialled 999.'

Mr Trimmer added :' There is no evidence beyond his word that in fact he left the house at all, no one saw him - both his sons were away from the house...

'In their variations and inconsistencies on such an important and life changing event, it might be though he was lying.'

Helen Bailey was dragged into a cesspit below the garage of the couple's luxury home. Her dog was found with her

The court heard how on the morning Mrs Stewart died the couple, who met as students at Salford University, were home alone together.

There had been arguments in the week before the alleged murder, Mr Trimmer said.

After the death of his wife the court heard how Stewart had acted strangely - going out to buy a sports car and also began new relationships.

'The Crown concedes that people deal with grief differently but you will hear evidence that is difficult to square with the conduct of a grieving husband.

'In one instance he was shortly out buying a sports car and embarking on new relationships.

'Friends of Dianne recall his behaviour at the funeral as being unusual, ' Mr Trimer said.

The jury heard there had been various differing accounts given by the defendant about events of the morning his wife died - telling some people he had been at home, but others that he had been out shopping before returning to collect his wallet.

He told one woman, Debbie Priest, that Mrs Stewart died whilst putting the washing out and that he found her slumped in the garden.

Stewart told his son, Jamie, that he had been out to Tesco and returned to find her dead.

Mr Trimmer told the jury how Ms Stewart 'by a stroke of fortune' had agreed to donate her brain to science - with the rest of her body being cremated.

Mrs Stewart had been heard arguing with her husband in the week of her death, the court heard

Three experts examined all the material and concluded the death had not been from epilepsy as she had a mild form which was well-controlled through medication.

The court heard how Stewart later went on to a relationship with 'successful children's author' Ms Bailey after the death of his wife.

In 2016 he murder Ms Bailey and her dog before dumping them in a cess pit. He was convicted of her murder in February 2017.

Mr Trimmer said that whilst police were investigating that 'particularly callous crime' police started to look again at the death of Mrs Stewart.

'In each case the victim being a woman in an intimate relationship with Ian Stewart', he added.

The jury heard how Stewart started a relationship with Ms Bailey in 2012 on a web forum for widowed people.

By 2016 they were living together and planning to get married.

The jury was told she was 'by far and away' the wealthier of the couple as she was worth £4m whereas the defendant had been out of work for 16 years.

By March of 2016 Ms Bailey was complaining of drowsy spells and falling asleep so went online to try to find out what was happening to her.

She lost contact with friends that April when she and her dog, Boris, disappeared - with police treating her as a missing person after Stewart told officers she left home as 'she needed space'.

It was later discovered that Stewart had been in possession of the phone and the jury heard how Stewart made 'repeated attempts' to alter his fiancee's finances to his benefit - setting up direct debits.

Police searching the property tragically found murdered Ms Bailey and her dog dead.

'Helen went nowhere without her dog, and a story she had just gone away was likely to fail as a credible account so the dog also was killed, no doubt to make her murder resemble a voluntary disappearance with her pet,' Mr Trimmer said.

It later emerged she had been drugged with sleeping medication before she was killed.

Stewart, formerly of Royston, Herts, denies murder. The case continues.

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