Partner of children’s author Helen Bailey joined search for missing writer ‘after murdering her and dumping body in cesspit’
THE accused killer and partner of murdered children's author Helen Bailey paid for flyers and attended a dog walk as part of the search effort to find her.
St Albans Crown Court heart today that Ian Stewart, 56, was "emotionless" and was said to have gone on holiday to Spain in the wake of his fiancee's disappearance last April.
Ms Bailey, 51, was found dead in a cesspit in the depths of her £1.5m estate in Hertfordshire along with her beloved miniature Dachshund Boris three months after she was reported missing.
Mr Stewart is currently on trial for her murder, accused of drugging the writer with sedatives before suffocating her in her sleep before dumping her body in a bid to inherit her fortune.
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The jury heard today that a friend of Ms Bailey found Mr Stewart "unemotional" and "contained" as he searched for his missing partner.
In her statement read to the court, Jay Nolan-Latchford said: "When Helen was missing I set up the Where Is Helen Bailey? Facebook page.
"As part of our campaign we organised an awareness walk in Royston. It was during this walk I met Ian Stewart for the first time."
She added: "Ian insisted on paying for the leaflets we were going to distribute during the walk.
"I was surprised when Ian said he would come across to wave the group off - throughout the whole day I found Ian to be unemotional and very contained in his manner."
The court heard yesterday how Mr Stewart told police "you won't find anything in the garage" before her body was discovered beneath it.
He allegedly claimed he “didn’t know what good it would do” for search teams to scour the home he shared with Helen.
Detective Constable Hollie Daines said Stewart “became upset” when they asked to search the house and “did not consent to the search taking place.”
She said: “He started to ask a lot of questions, specifically what we were going to be searching for.
“He said he was getting fed up with all this now. We explained again the reasons why we wanted to search the house, and he said ‘you keep saying it’s the last time’.
“He became upset, his breathing increased and he began rubbing his forehead. He appeared to be anxious and uncomfortable with what we were asking of him.
"He went on to say that 'you won't find anything in the garage, if anywhere, devices will be in the house'.
"We'd spoken that searches would be conducted in the garage and the house.
"He continued to air concern about officers searching the house, saying he didn't see what good it would do.
"Stewart said he did not consent to the search taking place. Stewart didn't seem happy about them going to the garage.
"He said if 'Helen does come back, I don't want to be with her anymore'.
"I took that in the context of what he was going through."
The couple had been in a relationship for four years, having lived together for the last three.
They had been planning for an “imminent” wedding in the months before Ms Bailey’s death.
The court heard the couple also lived with Stewart’s two sons, Jamie Stewart, 24, and 21-year-old Oliver Stewart, who were not home on the day she died.
The court heard the “very successful author” had published her first book in October 2015, titled “Bad Things Happen in Good Bikinis” which was about the death of her husband, John Sinfield in 2013.
She also referred to meeting Ian Stewart, who she nicknamed “GGHW – Gorgeous Grey Haired Widower”.
Stewart, of Baldock Road, Royston, Hertfordshire, denies murder, preventing a lawful burial, fraud and three counts of perverting the course of justice.
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