The Murder of Helen Bailey Part 2

Three months after Helen Bailey vanished, a search team lowered
themselves into a hidden cesspit beneath her luxury home. What
they found there ended a twelve-week missing-person search — and
led to Ian Stewart being exposed  as a calculating,
money-driven killer who had drugged his fiancée with his own
sleeping tablets, dumped her body, and then spun a defence about
phantom blackmailers. In the conclusion of this story, forensic
psychologist Kerry Daynes follows Stewart’s trial, conviction and
sentence – then rewinds to 2010 as police begin investigating the
mystery of his first wife’s death.  Listen now to The
Profiler with Kerry Daynes



Key psychological themes

This episode explores: psychopathy and the absence of empathy •
the financial motive and the 'serial widower' pattern • the
construction and collapse of an alibi • coercive control
culminating in homicide • the role of forensic preservation in
cold-case justice 



Contributors featured in this episode

•     Kerry
Daynes — Forensic psychologist, presenter, and
author


•     Colin
Sutton — Former Senior Investigating Officer,
Metropolitan Police


•     Jack Hardy —
Press Association journalist who covered both the Helen Bailey
and Diane Stewart trials


•     Kate
Bradbrook — Journalist who covered the 2022 trial
for the murder of Diane Stewart.


•     Mavis
Drake — Helen Bailey's neighbour in Royston, whose
intervention proved crucial.



What you'll learn in this episode

•     What was found in the converted
well beneath the garage at the Royston house — and how a 48-hour
excavation finally ended the search for Helen.


•     How Hertfordshire Police pieced
together Stewart's 'phantom blackmailers' defence and
demonstrated that it could not be true


•     The forensic significance of
Zopiclone in Helen's hair — and how it linked her, chemically, to
her killer's own prescription


•     Why police were drawn back to the
death of Stewart's first wife, Diane — and what one hospital had
quietly preserved that made a second prosecution possible


•     The 999 call from June 2010 that’s
been described as 'a complete sham from start to finish'


•     Kerry's psychological assessment
of why the label 'psychopath' — so often over-used in true-crime
— applies to Ian Stewart with unusual precision



Relevant links and further reading

•     Kerry Daynes — Dark Side of
the Mind (Endeavour, 2019)


•     Kerry Daynes — What Lies
Buried (Endeavour, 2021)


•     Faking It: Tears of a
Crime (Warner Bros. Discovery) — some interviews in this
episode were originally featured in the series. Watch
on discoveryplus.com.


•     https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/feb/16/ian-stewart-guilty-of-murdering-first-wife-diane-stewart —
The Guardian: 'Ian Stewart found guilty of murdering first wife
Diane Stewart'


•     https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-60413716 —
BBC News: full coverage of the Diane Stewart trial and verdict


•     https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/what-happened-helen-baileys-beloved-12646909 —
Cambridge News: aftermath of the Helen Bailey case


•     Support for those bereaved by
homicide — Victim
Support • AAFDA (Advocacy After Fatal
Domestic Abuse)



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Credits

•     Presented by Kerry Daynes


•     Produced by Shearwater Media


•     Executive producers: Jeff Anderson
and Steve Anderson


•     Editing & Music: Rob Warner



Content note

This episode contains descriptions of homicide, references to the
discovery of human remains, and the re-investigation of a
previous suspected death. Listener discretion is advised. If you
have been affected by the issues raised, support is available
from Victim Support (0808 168 9111), AAFDA (0207 186 8270), and
the Samaritans (116 123).


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