Helen Bailey murder trial

A man who killed Northumberland author Helen Bailey by drugging her with sleeping pills before dumping her body in a cesspit has been jailed for 34 years.

Ian Stewart, who always denied any involvement in her disappearance, was convicted of murdering his fiancee at St Albans Crown Court.

The 56-year-old spent weeks poisoning his fiancee with prescription sedatives, before smothering her in a "heinous" plot motivated by greed in April last year.

The 51-year-old Electra Brown writer was dragged into the tank, deep below the couple's luxury home, where she remained hidden for three months.

Her devoted dachshund Boris was found dead at her side.

Stewart refused to attend the hearing, where he was sentenced to life with a minimum of 34 years.

A jury found Stewart, of Baldock Road, Royston, Hertfordshire guilty in a unanimous verdict of murder, fraud, preventing a lawful burial and perverting the course of justice.

For months Stewart lied about the disappearance of his bride-to-be, whom he claimed had abruptly left for 'space'. He came up with a story that two men named Nick and Joe had kidnapped her and were to blame for her death.

After the pair moved into their £1.5 million home together, Stewart slowly began slipping her his prescription anti-insomnia medication. Then once she had been stupefied by the drugs, he killed her on 11th April last year.

The jury has been sent out to consider its verdicts in the trial of a man accused of the murder of Northumberland author Helen Bailey.

Ms Bailey, 51 and from Ponteland, was found dead alongside her dog, in a cesspit at her home in Royston, Hertfordshire, last July.

Her fiance Ian Stewart, 56, denies murder, fraud, preventing a lawful burial, and three counts of perverting the course of justice.

His trial has been ongoing for six weeks at St Albans Crown Court.