The fiance of the children’s writer Helen Bailey, whose body was found at her home last July, has been accused of carrying out a “long-crafted, cynical plan” to inherit her fortune.



Ian Stewart was called a “cruel” and “devious” man by the prosecutor during his trial on Thursday, following his claim that Bailey had been kidnapped by thugs who demanded money for her safe return.

Stewart admitted deceiving his fiancee’s family, friends and the police for months and knowingly financing a futile search effort for her. He told the jury he did so because he feared for her safety if he spoke out about her kidnapping, claiming he had been blackmailed by the people holding her.

Sketch of Ian Stewart at St Albans crown court. Photograph: Elizabeth Cook/PA

But his account was repeatedly dismissed by the prosecutor Stuart Trimmer who labelled it “fantasy” and “nonsense”. He told Stewart: “You are a devious, and I was about to say a wicked man, and you did not want anybody interfering with what you were doing.”

Stewart admitted that deceiving Bailey’s family over her disappearance had been callous. Indicating to Bailey’s brother John and other friends and family in court, the prosecutor told Stewart: “What you did was cruel to them and to him.”



“It was extremely, yes,” Stewart replied.

“They were as entitled as you to make a decision if Helen was at risk or not,” the prosecutor added.

The bodies of Bailey and her dog, Boris, were found in a septic tank at her home in Royston, Hertfordshire, three months after she vanished last spring.



Stewart is accused of murder, preventing a lawful burial, fraud and three counts of perverting the course of justice as part of a plot to steal her £3.3m fortune. It is alleged that he fed sedatives to Bailey for weeks before attacking her when she was in a “stupefied” state.

Stewart, who denies the charges, insisted his fiancee had been taking the drugs of her own volition.



He has claimed that two former business associates of Bailey’s now-deceased husband, named as Nick and Joe, were demanding £500,000 from him. Stewart said he met Nick in a hotel bar in June 2016, when the demand was made.

“He said: ‘If you tell anyone, you’ll not only not see Helen again, but you will be visiting Jamie and Oliver in hospital’,” Stewart told St Albans crown court.

The prosecutor told Stewart: “That, I would suggest, is a fantasy you’ve made up. This is a long-crafted, cynical plan of yours to do away with Helen Bailey.”

The presence of a pillowcase in the septic tank was another factor which was not explained away by Nick and Joe’s involvement, the prosecutor said.



“I am going to suggest to you that you smothered her when she was asleep or unconscious, maybe with a pillow or with a pillowcase on it because curiously there is a pillowcase that had gone in the pit.”

Stewart agreed with the prosecutor it was a “remarkable coincidence” his fiancee’s remains were hidden in the cesspit she once joked was a “good place to hide a body”.

The trial continues.