Ian Stewart: Man who killed children’s author guilty of murdering wife at Bassingbourn home

A man convicted of murdering a children’s book author in 2016 has been found guilty of murdering his wife six years earlier at their Bassingbourn home and handed a whole-life sentence.

Ian Stewart, 61, was found guilty of murdering Diane Stewart by a jury at Huntingdon Crown Court today (Wednesday, February 9) in the garden of the family home they shared with their two sons on June 25, 2010.

Her death in 2010 had been recorded at the time as Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP).

But a re-examination of her death by the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit began during his earlier trial where he was found guilty of murdering children’s book author Helen Bailey. Stewart was charged with the murder of Diane in July 2020.

Mr Justice Simon Bryan sentenced Stewart to a whole-life order today, meaning he will never be released from prison.

Stewart had claimed in court, as his two sons listened to his evidence, that he had returned from the supermarket to the family home in Bassingbourn and found his wife collapsed in the garden. He said he thought she had suffered an epileptic fit.

Mrs Stewart had not had an epileptic fit for 18 years and took daily medication, jurors were told, with consultant neurologist Dr Christopher Derry estimating that her risk of having a fatal epileptic seizure was about one in 100,000.

During a 999 call Stewart was instructed to perform CPR on his wife and said he was doing so, but paramedic Spencer North, who attended the scene, said there “didn’t seem to be any effective CPR”.

Mrs Stewart’s death was not treated as suspicious at the time and, while a post-mortem examination was carried out, it was not a forensic post-mortem.

As part of the police investigation, following Stewart’s 2017 murder conviction, consultant neuropathologist Professor Safa Al-Sarraj was asked to examine preserved parts of Mrs Stewart’s brain, which had been donated to medical science.

Prof Al-Sarraj said there was evidence that Mrs Stewart’s brain had suffered a lack of oxygen prior to her death, and he estimated that this happened over a period of 35 minutes to an hour.

Prosecutor Stuart Trimmer QC said her death was “most likely caused by a prolonged restriction to her breathing from an outside source”, such as smothering or a neck hold.

Home Office pathologist Dr Nat Cary described SUDEP as a “diagnosis of exclusion”, adding that “an equal diagnosis of exclusion is having been put into such a state by some covert means – smothering or interfering with the mechanics of breathing or some kind of drug use”.

The court heard that full toxicology was not carried out as part of the 2010 routine post-mortem examination, and nor was a neck dissection.

The court heard that Stewart received £96,607.37 after his wife’s death, in the form of £28,500.21 from a life insurance policy and the rest from bank accounts.

Both of the couple’s sons were out on the day of their mother’s death, with then 15-year-old Oliver at school and Jamie, then 18, taking his driving test.

Jamie Stewart had told the court that he recalled “raised voices… between my mother and father” when he was at home on study leave for A-levels the week his mother died.

Stewart was convicted at St Albans Crown Court in 2017 of secretly drugging and suffocating Ms Bailey. He was jailed for life with a minimum 34-year term.

Detective Superintendent Jerome Kent led the investigations into both Helen and Diane’s deaths. He said: “My thoughts and those of the investigating team are with Diane’s family at this extremely difficult time.

“Both Helen and Diane were extremely talented women who had their lives taken by a man who skilfully controlled them both in the same way by playing on his own frailties and needs. He is a calculated killer who planned his attacks to coincide to times when others were away from the house, and he was alone with his victim.

“He is so much a master manipulator, he had the ability to convince agencies of his innocence and kept the truth of what happened from family and friends, keeping those lies going over months and years as well as through the court process.

“In each case, no reports of domestic abuse or concerns about coercive behaviour were reported to any agency. It is often the case that perpetrators are powerful and subtle in their ability to control.

“There is no typical victim of domestic abuse. The fact is it can happen to anyone. We investigate reports of domestic abuse or homicide equally, regardless of age, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, class or gender. Where cases are identified, those who are suffering domestic violence or coercive control should be reassured we are determined and relentless in our pursuit to bring offenders to justice, even years down the line.”