Helen Bailey

Life and career

Bailey was born in Ponteland, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and was brought up there. She later wrote of her experience at Ponteland High School: "Whilst at school I used to sit and stare out of the window, dreaming of anything but lessons, then go home and write pages and pages in my diary of who did what to whom and (usually) why wasn’t I part of it."

She gained a degree in physiology at Thames Polytechnic in London, intending to become a forensic scientist, before undertaking postgraduate research in a teaching hospital. She then changed career to work in the media, and worked on licensing and marketing campaigns for characters such as Rugrats and Garfield, and for Nintendo, feature film and cartoon characters. While working as a temporary secretary, she met and, in 1996, married the head of a licensing rights company, John Sinfield. She moved from Clerkenwell to Highgate around the same time.

Bailey wrote five books of "teenage angst" in the Crazy World of Electra Brown series: Life at the Shallow End (2008), Out of my Depth (2008), Swimming Against the Tide (2009), Taking the Plunge (2009), and Falling Hook, Line & Sinker (2010). She was nominated for a "Queen of Teen" award in 2010. In Running in Heels (2011), she featured a new character, Daisy Davenport. Bailey also wrote books for younger children, including the Willow the Woodsprite series, the Topaz series, and the Felicity Wishes series. In all, she had 22 books of short stories, picture books and young-adult fiction published.

In February 2011, her husband John Sinfield drowned while swimming when the couple were on holiday in Barbados. They had been together for 22 years, and married for the last 15. Her first book for adults, When Bad Things Happen in Good Bikinis (2015), was based on her Planet Grief blog which sets out her "journey through grief" after he died. It was described in The Guardian as "a painful and companionable account of coming to terms with life without her husband." The book also noted her subsequent relationship, beginning in October 2011, with widower Ian Stewart, a father of two adult sons. She appeared on television to talk about the grieving process, and in October 2015, she discussed her experiences and the book on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.

Disappearance and death

Bailey was reported missing from her home in Royston, Hertfordshire, by her partner Ian Stewart, after last being seen out walking her dog on 11 April 2016. A note was purportedly found, saying she was going to stay at the family holiday home in Broadstairs, but it was later established that she had not been there. Her brother and mother described her disappearance as out of character, and the police described it as "perplexing".

On 11 July, police reported that they had arrested a 55-year-old Royston man, and questioned him on suspicion of murder and disposing of a body. He was initially released on bail, but on 15 July police reported that human remains, and those of Bailey's dog, had been found in a hidden second septic tank at her house, Hartwell Lodge, in Royston. Police confirmed that the remains found were those of Bailey. Ian Stewart was charged on 16 July with murder, perverting the course of justice and preventing a lawful burial. He was remanded in custody and appeared at St Albans Crown Court on 19 July. On 12 October he pleaded not guilty, with his trial set for January 2017.

Murder trial

At the trial in January 2017, the prosecution alleged Stewart had secretly drugged Bailey with Zopiclone sleeping pills for several months before suffocating her. It was subsequently alleged that she may still have been alive when dumped in the cesspit. During the trial, the prosecution claimed that Stewart had inadvertently connected Bailey's mobile phone to the WiFi router in the couple's holiday home in Kent when he visited it the day after reporting her missing, an event which prosecutor Stuart Trimmer called 'very significant'. The jury was later told by Bailey's brother that during his only visit to her home in Royston she had joked about the cesspit in the garage being a "good place to hide a body", and that the remark had been made in "full earshot" of Stewart. The members of the jury subsequently visited the site where her body had been discovered. They also heard that it was alleged by the prosecution that Stewart had twice attempted to use power of attorney to sell a flat owned by Bailey; these attempts included one on the afternoon of the day on which she went missing, when he told the solicitor dealing with the sale that Bailey was too unwell to attend in person. On the day she vanished, the jury heard Stewart also increased a standing order to transfer £600 per month from Helen's bank account to their joint account. He increased it to £4000 per month. The jury learned Stewart was the main beneficiary of Helen's £3.4 million estate, and was in line to benefit from a large life insurance policy as well.

The jury was played a recording of Stewart's telephone call to the police in which he reported Bailey missing; when asked to describe her he could not recall the colour of her eyes, had to look up both her mobile phone number and date of birth, and was unable to give the address of their holiday home in Kent.

Eileen Bailey (Helen's mother) testified that Helen had been concerned about how much she was sleeping, and her state of mind. The prosecution stated that traces of anti-insomnia medication had been found in Bailey's body.

Giving evidence in his defence, Stewart claimed that Bailey and her dog had been kidnapped on 11 April 2016 by two men called Nick and Joe, saying that he had not told the police about this "to keep Helen safe" and that the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of £500,000. He said that he had spoken to her for the last time on a mobile phone belonging to one of the men on 15 April. He was subsequently presented in court with two men who the prosecution alleged he had based the descriptions of the kidnappers on: Nick Cook, Stewart's next-door neighbour, and Joe Cippullo, whom he knew from his former home in Bassingbourn. Stewart admitted to knowing both men, but denied that they matched the descriptions of the kidnappers which he had given to the police, saying "they don't compare at all".

The jury heard of several sightings of Bailey after the time at which the prosecution alleged that the murder had taken place. One of Bailey's neighbours gave evidence that she had seen the author walking her dachshund Boris "between 15:40 and 15:50" on the day of her disappearance. Two other neighbours said they had seen her walking her dog that day between about 13:20 and 14:20. A further witness claimed to have seen Bailey in Broadstairs after her alleged murder, but admitted under cross-examination that he had not thought about the sighting until a journalist from The Sun had interviewed him; he accepted that the sighting could have been in March, before Bailey was reported missing.

In his closing statement, prosecutor Stuart Trimmer QC told the jury that Stewart's version of events was "quite absurd" and that the accused had "grossly deceived" Bailey, saying: "It is perfectly plain she was completely overwhelmed by what some people might call 'love bombing'. […] It is a matter of common sense and knowledge that someone shortly bereaved might not have the logical equipment to see she was being deceived." In response, Simon Russell Flint, the barrister acting for Mr Stewart, dismissed the prosecution's "highly speculative theories", and asked, "What possible motive could he have?"

On 22 February 2017, Stewart was found guilty of her murder and given a minimum prison sentence of 34 years; consequently he will be eligible for parole at the age of 90. Following his conviction, the police began to re-examine the death of his first wife in 2010. The detective who led the murder inquiry called Stewart a "greedy, wicked narcissist". Neighbours related episodes when Stewart revealed volcanic rages.