16/03/2011

'Suicide' Killer Gets 18 Years

Co Londonderry killer, Hazel Stewart has been sentenced to a minimum of 18 years in jail for the murders of her first husband and former lover's wife.

Mrs Stewart, 49, was convicted earlier this month of the murders of Lesley Howell and Trevor Buchanan.

The Coleraine woman was sentenced to life in prison and the length of her term was given at Belfast Crown Court on Wednesday.

This came after her former lover, dentist Colin Howell pleaded guilty to the double murder last year and gave evidence against her while still serving a life sentence.

He told how Stewart knew about and even assisted in the murders that led to the bodies of Mr Buchanan and Mrs Howell being discovered in a fume-filled car in Castlerock in May 1991.

At the time it was thought to have been a double suicide with the truth only emerging when Howell confessed to their murder in January 2009.

Stewart even disposed of evidence including the hose pipe used to gas their spouses and the judge, Mr Justice Hart, said that by its verdict the jury had accepted that Stewart and Howell "were in it together".

See: Killer Dentist 'Used Gas To Sedate Lovers'

(BMcC)

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