The murderer of children’s author Helen Bailey – now on trial accused of killing his first wife – was ‘in bits’ after her death, his youngest son told a jury today.
Ian Stewart (61), is being tried for the murder of Diane Stewart (47), at their Bassingbourn home, Cambridgeshire in 2010.
Prosecutors claim he initially thought he could fool medical personnel by suggesting she died from epileptic fits. But brain scans later revealed that her breathing had been restricted from an “outside source”.
Oliver Stewart was just 15 when his mother died. A neighbor brought him home from school, he said.
He said he saw ambulances at the door and thought that he was going to be admitted again.
Oliver said that Oliver had been told by Huntingdon Crown Court that someone either from the police or the ambulance service informed him that his mother was deceased.
Helen Bailey, her killer Ian Stewart were both convicted of her murder and sentenced to 34-years imprisonment
Ian Stewart, 61, has denied the killing of Diane Stewart in Cambridgeshire in 2010.
He wept and told the jury that he had identified her body.
He said that she had foam in her mouth and he gave his mother “one last kiss”.
Amjad Malik, QC defence barrister asked Oliver how his father was doing at the time. Oliver answered: “In bits.”
Oliver claimed that he received information from the pathologist regarding how his mother died later.
He said, “I knew that she was epileptic. I saw the foam in her mouth. It added up.”
Oliver described their relationship as being ‘loving and caring’, ‘kind, family-orientated’.
Stewart, according to the prosecution, was initially capable of ‘fool’ medical personnel by suggesting that Mrs Stewart had ‘died in an epileptic fit.
Jamie Stewart was 18, at the time. He told jurors that his older son was driving on the day of his mother’s death.
“My driving instructor drove us from Cambridge. He then said, “Then, we pulled into our street and there were three ambulances out front of our house.”
Jamie claimed that Jamie’s father was “in tears and very upset” and that the paramedics and neighbours had tried to console him.
Jamie stated that he was aware of his mother’s epileptic condition and would take two pills every morning. However, he had never seen her suffer a seizure ‘in my life’.
According to him, he can recall hearing the ‘raised voice’ of his mother and father when he was home for A Levels that week.
Jamie answered Mr Malik’s questions and stated that he could not hear the topic being addressed.
He claimed that his parents had argued over the years. However, it wasn’t something he did often.
Jamie answered the question “Devastated” when asked how his father felt during the funeral.
Stewart was jailed for a minimum of 34 years in 2017 for murdering Ms Bailey, 51, who had been drugged with sleeping medication and suffocated at their £3.3million Royston mansion.
The Electra brown books were written by his future wife. She was found under her garage in 2016 in a cesspit.
Police began investigating Stewart’s 2010 death.
Stewart has denied that his wife was murdered. The trial is continuing.