Helen Bailey's partner found guilty of her murder

The partner of children’s author Helen Bailey has been found guilty of her murder.

A jury unanimously found Ian Stewart, aged 56, guilty of killing the writer on 11th April 2016 and of fraud for altering a standing order, of preventing a lawful burial, and three offences of perverting the course of justice. The verdicts follow a seven-week trial at St Alban’s Crown Court. The jury retired to consider their verdicts just after noon on Tuesday (21st February).

Bailey, who wrote the Electra Brown series (Hodder Children’s Books), was reported missing in April last year, along with her pet dog Boris. Her body, and that of her dog's, were found in the grounds of their £1.5m home in Royston, Hertfordshire three months later. The prosecution had accused Stewart of killing Bailey “probably by suffocation” after slowly drugging her with sleeping pill Zopiclone in the weeks running up to her death.

Prosecutor Stuart Trimmer QC had told the court that Stewart had been "preying" on Bailey, following her widowhood. Stewart in his defence accused two men, known only as “Joe” and “Nick”, of kidnapping Bailey. However in summing up Trimmer called this explanation "quite absurd".