Helen Bailey: Man who killed his millionaire lover for money only gains a few thousand
The man who killed children's author Helen Bailey for her multi-million pound fortune, only made a few thousand pounds from her murder.
Ian Stewart sedated his fiancé with sleeping pills before suffocating her and dumping her and her dachshund Boris in a cess pit under the garage of the £1.5 million home they shared in Royston, Hertfordshire.
A judge branded Stewart a 'real danger to women' as he handed him a minimum 34 year sentence for her murder.
The 51-year-old, who wrote the Electra Brown series of books, was reported missing April last year, but her remains, and those of Boris, were not discovered by the police until three months later.
Stewart appeared at St Albans crown court via a video link from Bedford prison today for a confiscation hearing. He spoke only to confirm his name.
Prosecutor Stuart Trimmer QC said it has been ascertained that the only financial benefit Stewart obtained was £10,200 that he had transferred into a joint account that he shared with Helen. After her disappearance he electronically altered a standing order paid from Helen's account from £600 to £4,000 a month.
He had spent £3,154, on renewing Arsenal season tickets, but the rest of the money remained in this account.
Judge Andrew Bright QC made a confiscation order for £5,100 - half of the money in the joint account, which is currently frozen.
He told Stewart: "You have assets that outweigh that figure. You have 28 days to pay. The alternative is a month in jail."
Under the terms of her will, Stewart would have received the £1.5 million house in Royston, a holiday cottage in Broadstairs, Kent and other money.
During the trial, the jury heard he plotted to murder the author soon after they met in 2012 through an online bereavement group.
The prosecutor said Stewart realised she was a very wealthy woman and was vulnerable because she was grieving for her husband.
He and Helen were engaged and in 2014 she changed her will making Stewart the main beneficiary.
Following the hearing Charles White, the Senior Crown Prosecutor for Thames and Chiltern CPS, said: "Ian Stewart had hoped to make a substantial financial gain from the murder of Helen Bailey. His arrest, charge and conviction, however, thwarted that hope."
"The removal of criminal assets from offenders is a very important way of showing our communities that crime dos not pay and this should reassure members of the public's the CPS is committed to ensuring offenders do not benefit financially from their crimes."
A costs hearing against Stewart is to be heard on 14 August.