'YOU'RE JOKING'
Moment Helen Bailey’s fiancé Ian Stewart pretended to be dumbfounded as he was arrested in his dressing gown – as jury find him GUILTY of murdering kids’ author for her £3.3m fortune
NEVER-before-seen footage of the moment Ian Stewart was arrested in his dressing gown for the murder of fiancee Helen Bailey has emerged after he was today found guilty of killing her to get his hands on her fortune.
The 56-year-old could only weakly protest "you're joking" as he was detained by cops for drugging and suffocating the successful children's author before dumping her body in the cesspit of their £1.5m home.
12
12
12
Stewart, who was barefoot and wearing nothing but a bathrobe, had nothing to say except "I don't understand" as he was confronted by cops in a dawn raid at the couple's Royston home in July.
Police body-cam footage shows the murderer sitting down on the stairs, asking "bloody hell, why?" and "where is she?" after police informed him they had obtained a search warrant for the home.
He also can be heard repeatedly asking why the garage door was open - likely fearing police had already found the 14ft deep cesspit where he had callously dumped his 51-year-old partner's body.
The arrest footage emerged for the first time today as the devious IT expert was found guilty of killing Ms Bailey and her pet dog in a bid to get his hands on her £3.3million fortune.
Stewart could be seen shaking his head as the jury, made up of five women and seven men, convicted him at St Albans’ Crown Court Court after deliberating for five and a half hours.
His son Jamie did not meet his eye as he was led away from the dock - with it now revealed that cops will re-examine the circumstances surrounding the sudden death of Stewart's first wife.
12
12
12
12
Whispers of "yes" were heard in the public gallery as the guilty verdicts were read out.
Judge Andrew Bright, who will sentence Stewart at 10am on Thursday, told defence's Mr Russell Flint: "You will have a hard job to persuade me this wasn't a murder for gain, it's quite clear to me that it was."
He added: "He may have had mixed motives, one doesn't know what other motives there could have been, quite frankly. But money is, in my judgment, the most obvious and principal reason he did what he did."
Stewart, who now faces a life-term behind bars, had denied any involvement in Miss Bailey's murder but his alibi came unstuck as his web of lies unravelled to reveal him as her killer.
The pair had met on a Facebook group for the bereaved, starting a relationship within a year of Ms Bailey's first husband drowning while on holiday.
But as the relationship progressed, Stewart's plan unfolded as he slowly drugged the children's author over several months before suffocating her and throwing her body, and that of her beloved pet dog Boris, into a cesspit full of human excrement.
Stewart, who had been named as a potential beneficiary to Ms Bailey's will 21 months before her death, had stood to gain £1.8m from her investment portfolio, plus her properties in Royston and Kent.
As part of his cunning plan, he pretended that Ms Bailey had wanted time alone in Broadstairs but was in the meantime wiring money to his own account - a move which later led cops to identify him as the prime suspect.
He was questioned a number of times, giving officers confused answers and claiming he could not remember much about the day she went missing.
Cops eventually obtained a warrant to search the Royston home - with it later revealed that Stewart had tried to throw them off the scent by parking his car over the entrance to the cesspit.
But when they eventually discovered the sceptic tank, they spotted an arm protruding from the raw sewage and later recovered Ms Bailey's body and that of her dog Boris.
Despite the shocking discovery, Stewart still failed to cooperate with police, even when he was hauled in for questioning on suspicion of her murder.
New footage of police interviews shows him at one point being asked: "Did you kill Helen Bailey? Or was this an accident, did you just lose control, just lose it.
"Some big argument and you killed her and you have been covering up ever since. If that's what's happened, you need to tell us now."
Sitting silently, Stewart only reacts when questioned by the officer asking: "Financially, you would have benefited from her death, would you not say?"
Stewart makes a noise and then sits still with a hand over his mouth.
12
12
12
12
12
LIVING IN FANTASY LAND: How Helen Bailey's deceitful IT expert fiance tried to pin her death on two blokes called 'Nick and Joe' before his web of lies slowly unravelled to reveal sinister truth
Ian Stewart faces a lifetime behind bars for the murder of Helen Bailey. But protesting his innocence til the very end, Stewart had to come up with a plausible explanation for why his fiancee's body was found underneath their Royston home, three months after he reported her missing. Sitting in jail, awaiting his trial, Stewart knew he had to think of an excuse. So, five months after she disappeared, he told this story to police: Ian Stewart told police that Helen Bailey had been kidnapped by former business associates of her dead husband, John Sinfield. Identifying the men only as "Joe" and "Nick", he said that the pair had called around to the Royston home in February 2016, demanding to speak to Helen about some paperwork. It was during one of their mysterious visits that the men saw the cesspit, being inspected by Helen and Stewart, with Nick, described as a big man with tattoos on his neck, even helping to slide the manhole cover back into place. The men visited the home again, with Stewart claiming Helen said: "Please go away and leave me alone" with Joe simply whispering back "Just think about it". Later that day, Helen disappeared and Stewart was confronted by the thug Nick, who punched him in the stomach. Painting himself as the victim, Stewart said he ended up on the floor and was told: "Helen and Boris are with us. She is helping us solve a problem. Don't tell anyone where Helen is." It wasn't until Friday that he heard from Helen, with Nick handing him a phone with Helen on the other end. Stewart said: "She said 'I love you, sorry about everything.' I said 'It's not your fault, I love you too'." Months later, in June, the pair visited again, forcing him to let them drive their car into their home. It was then, Stewart claimed, they must have stashed Helen's body in the cesspit without him knowing. In June of last year Stewart claimed he was told by the kidnappers he would have to come up with half-a-million pounds in "compensation." Stewart claimed he hadn't told the police about the kidnapping for fear that harm would come to Helen and his sons. Even on remand in Bedford Prison, Stewart claimed the kidnappers managed to warn him against talking to the police. He said he was attacked by another inmate who told him "Don't snitch." It was since revealed in court that there were, in fact, two men who resembled the mysterious abductors. Joe Cippullo and Nick Cook were men known to him from when he lived in Bassingbourne. Joe Cippullo went bowling with him and Nick Cook was his former next door neighbour. The real life Nick and Joe were presented to the jury while Stewart was being cross-examined. " You recognise them, do you, Mr Stewart?" asked Mr Trimmer. "Yes, it's Nick and Joe," he replied.
At the time of her sudden disappearance in April last year, the author was said to have had assets worth £3,326,316.
Ian Stewart was in line to gain two homes, enough cash to ensure a “very comfortable” lifestyle, and pension and life insurance payments from his fiancee.
Upon his arrest, police accused of Stewart of Helen Bailey's murder, fraud, preventing a lawful burial and three counts of perverting the course of justice.
Detective Chief Inspector Jerome Kent said: "To kill somebody was despicable enough, but to dispose of her in the way he did and lie to everyone including his own children shows how wicked and despicable that man is."
He revealed that Helen's body may never have been found, with Stewart a "cold, calculated and wicked individual".
He said: "That well is 14ft deep. It has a natural clay bottom.
"Had there been a foot of sludge at the bottom, had we not been able to get all the way down, if her body had sunk and remained at the bottom - we might never have found her.
"I think had we not found her body on July 15, there probably would have never been any of this.
"There wasn't one single piece of evidence that said to me this is now a murder investigation - it was just a culmination of little things."
Stewart was branded a man who "lacks any remorse and empathy" by prosecutor Charles White.
He added: "He was an arch dissembler, he was able to trick everyone, so I think anybody who came across his path was a potential victim."
A financial inquiry will be held to ensure Stewart does not profit from the crime, Mr White said.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368