A killer husband has been found guilty of murdering his first wife.
The murder came six years before he strangled his kids’ author fiancee for her £4 million estate.
Ian Stewart denied murdering his 47-year-old wife Diane Stewart in 2010 but jurors at Huntingdon Crown Court rejected his account that he found her collapsed having suffered an epileptic fit at their home in Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire.
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Prosecutors said it is most likely her death was caused by a prolonged restriction to her breathing from an outside source, such as smothering or a neck hold.
The 61-year-old defendant looked across from the secure dock to his two sons who sat in the public gallery after the unanimous verdict was returned.
Stewart had been alone with Diane when he claimed he returned to find her “twisted” on the back patio of their home.
He told the police in a 999 call: “My wife has had a fit. I think she has died”.
Consultant neuropathologist Professor Safa Al-Sarraj said there was evidence that Mrs Stewart’s brain had suffered a lack of oxygen prior to her death, and he estimated this happened over a period of 35 minutes to an hour.
Prosecutor Stuart Trimmer QC said Mrs Stewart’s death was “most likely caused by a prolonged restriction to her breathing from an outside source”, such as smothering or a neck hold.
He was found guilty of the 2016 murder of his fiancee, the children’s book author Helen Bailey, too.
Her body was found in a cesspit with dog Boris.
The 61 year old spent weeks poisoning 51-year-old Ms Bailey with prescription sedatives before smothering her and dumping her.
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