The partner of the children’s novelist Helen Bailey has been charged with her murder.

Ian Stewart, 55, who was due to appear at Hatfield remand court on Saturday, was charged after the body of the 51-year-old Electra Brown author was found in the garden of her home in Royston, Hertfordshire.

Police said Stewart, of Royston, had also been charged with perverting the course of justice by reporting Bailey as missing and hiding her body, as well as preventing a lawful burial.

A postmortem examination is due to take place on Monday while specialist searches at her home continue.