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Bailey fiancé pushed for property sale, court hears
The fiancé of murdered children’s author Helen Bailey pushed for a sale of her property after she had gone missing, a court has heard.
According to the Daily Mail, Ian Stewart, who is accused of her murder, visited a solicitor about the sale of a £185,000 property Bailey owned in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear on 11th April 2016, the day he is accused of her murder. Solicitor Timothy Penn told St Albans Crown Court that Stewart said he was attending in place of Bailey because she was “unwell”.
After Bailey was reported missing, Stewart went on to contact Penn several times.
In one phone call, Penn told the court Stewart said: "He said 'You probably know that Helen is missing and I'm wondering if you can carry on with this transaction in the meantime'. I said effectively no. He talked about a power of attorney and I said 'in these circumstances we would want to hear from Helen'."
The court had previously heard that Stewart was given power of attorney over Bailey’s affairs in 2015, along with her brother John.
Stewart’s son Jamie Stewart also gave evidence in court, saying that he had gone to watch his father play bowls on the day he is accused of killing Bailey, but he hadn’t known whether he would turn up because his father had been feeling unwell.
He said: “When I went into the bowls club he happened to be just there in front of me - I was a bit surprised to see him there, but I was happy.”
It wasn’t until the following day Jamie Stewart noticed Bailey was not at home. He said: “Normally when you walk through the front door Boris the dog comes bounding up to meet you - I remember that not happening, which was a bit unusual.”
Stewart had told his son that Bailey had left a note saying she had gone to her home in Broadstairs, Kent, and wanted to be left alone.
He told the court he never saw the note and was informed by his father that it had been "thrown out with the rubbish".
“Throughout that week, he began to get visibly more stressed out. He was spending a lot more time with myself and my brother and wanting to be around us,” Jamie Stewart said.
Ian Stewart is on trial for killing Bailey and her dog Boris on 11th April 2016, then dumping their bodies in the grounds of their home in Hertfordshire. He has denied charges of murder, fraud, preventing a lawful burial and three counts of perverting the course of justice.
The trial continues.
