Anyone following the Hazel Stewart murder case?

[Sinkingfeeling]

Hazel Stewart case

I heard the same, about the baby, I mean, not the sexual assaults. I was told this by someone who once knew the family very well; she was a friend of Lesley Howell. There was a mention that Colin Howell wasn't living at the family home, but in a caravan, as he and Kyle had split up over this other woman and baby.

I honestly am amazed at what's been going on in our neck of the woods. It just shows you never know anybody, not really. I was told that Hazel Stewart was very vocal about her religion, always asking people what church they went to, that sort of thing. If true, then how hypocritical is that?

I don't know what David Stewart must feel; as an ex-RUC chief superintendent he must have attended many funerals of murdered policemen, he must have met many heartbroken police widows. Yet here he is, married to someone convicted of murdering her own policeman husband. I presume he must have known nothing of the murders, otherwise surely he'd have gone straight to the authorities? Would he have fallen for her if he'd known the truth - that she was involved in the murder of her husband? That she allowed her lover to come to their house and gas her husband and then destroyed evidence and lied to the police, lied at the inquest and lied ever since until Howell confessed? Absolutely mind-boggling stuff.

I'm glad that at least now the relatives know the truth of what happened and have finally got justice for both Trevor and Lesley. To see those two headstones near each other in the cemetery is just so sad, two people deprived of many years of life by the two people who'd promised to love and cherish them 'till death us do part'.

Iseult - he was in O'Neills caravan park, if you know Castlerock?

The young girl who was pregnant was also complicit in the sexual assaults as far as I know - she was one of the dental nurses in the surgery IIRC?

You literally could not make it up

All mind boggling.

The sexual assaults should also be investigated and charges made, no matter whether Howell is in for life already.

I think in these cases they should investigate accomplices further whether male or female -to try to stop all future activity such as this.

I wouldnt be surprised for more stuff to come out if they find anything out from questioning Kyle that they regard as significant. I get the sense its been kept quiet in the States but a scandal such as this in evangelical circles involving a US national may eventually get more publicity and snowball more.

Sexual assaults have been investigated Mumfun - he's also doing time for them.

I just don't know how all these people who knew what had happened could live with themselves and keep quiet.

Wow, it looks like there is so much more to this than has come out! So not only were they parishioners of my very devout aunt and uncles church, also my old dentist, but I used to work for O'Neills restaurant in the caravan park back in the early 90s too! What I would like to know was how long did the minister know about it all before going to the police? Are protestant ministers bound to secrecy by confssion? for that matter, are Catholic priests? ANyway, I hear a book is being written, no doubt to be followed by a movie.

It's just nuts, and all from Castlerock, the sleepiest wee village EVER (well apart from the brothel run by the community policeman of the year and the cannabis factory lmao)

I know - it IS all nuts, isn't it? I used to always think this part of NI was pretty dull ... very nice, of course, with all the beaches and the coast road and the North West 200 the most exciting thing that happens, but seems there's a heck of a lot more than we could have guessed at. Pity it's all bad stuff, though.

glastocat, I don't think Protestant ministers are actually bound to secrecy, but what this pastor would've done if Howell hadn't gone to the police I don't know. Much as I detest everything Howell has done I'm glad he confessed eventually. I wonder how he'll cope with his 21 years sentence? And I wonder how many years Hazel Stewart will get? I can't imagine being stuck in jail for years on end; I'd go mad.

There's a brothel and a cannabis factory in Castlerock? I guess the fact that Hazel Stewart didn't plead guilty to the murder charges might mean her sentence could be longer than if she'd pleaded guilty. I can't imagine facing spending most of the rest of your life in prison, though she must have known it was a strong possibility from the day CH confessed in January 2009. By all accounts, she was used to the good things in life so prison life will hit her doubly hard.

In one of her police interviews in January 2009, Hazel Stewart actually said 'My life is going to be in a jail for the rest of my life. You know that.' So it sounds as though she knew very well what was going to happen eventually, though whether over the intervening 2 years she managed to convince herself otherwise is something we don't know. It seems strange that she pleaded 'Not Guilty' when in this same interview she said things such as 'We had a plan' and 'Yes, I could have stopped it' (when asked if she could have stopped both murders.) I think her defence was based on her claims that Howell controlled her and that she was frightened of him, but it's hard to see how she ever expected anyone to believe that, and the jury certainly don't seem to have believed it. Not testifying herself didn't help, I'm sure.

The full transcript of the final police interview can be read here:

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/hazel-stewart-interview-transcript-15095152.html

I know it all happened 20 years ago, but to the families concerned I'm sure it all seems like it was yesterday. The revelations of how it was done and who did what must have come as body blows to the relatives of the victims; if something like that had happened in my family I'd find it hard ever to come to terms with it.

It's awful for the families involved - I do know some of the people involved and it's just gutting, tragic, awful - there's not enough words.

Yes, a cannabis factory raided by the drugs police in Liffock and a brothel in Belvedere !!!

She won't have testified because the prosecution would have torn her "story" to shreads I suppose?

As an aside, met a woman in the supermarket yesterday who was talking about it and said "well my friend used to work for him and goes to his church and she doesn't believe he did it because she says he's a lovely man"

WTF are these people on?

WTF indeed!

I read Hazel Stewart told the cope that she intended to commit suicide if she thought she was at risk of arrest. Thankfully the cops surprised her, how I have no idea. I believe she is now on suicide watch being checked every 15 minutes. She will likely get a longer sentence than Howell as she pleaded not guilty.

She will - although it's a mandatory life sentence anyway for murder, so it makes little difference.

The whole thing is just so far beyond normal - I'm amazed it hasn't made more coverage in the national news tbh.

If there was a decent investigative journo on the case it wouldn't take them too long to dig some interesting stuff out!

Still feel so so sorry for the families though

Especially the kids.

Itisnotgoingwell - my Mum (who still lives in the area) said to me on the phone about Hazel Stewart this week: 1) she's a lovely looking girl, 2) she dresses very smartly and always looks well groomed and 3) she was completely under the influence of Colin Howell and was powerless to stop him! WTF!

I just don't get it.

She could've NOT drugged her husband and emmmm he had a GUN coz he was a POLICEMAN in N Ireland in the troubles.

WTF was she afraid of - all she had to do was tell the police or Trevor Buchanan.

Oh I don't know - and I don't get the keeping it quiet that the church did and in my opinion are still doing.

And all the people who KNOW what went on and said nothing for so long - how the hell do they sleep at night???

Do you mean that the church hushed up the affair, or that they knew about the murders and hushed that up as well? Who else knew and said nothing apart from Kyle?

Both - loads of people in the church had "suspicions" and allegedly Colin Howell's father knew as well.

I see the whole financial side of things is going to be looked into, with a view to recovering money from Hazel Stewart and Colin Howell. It seems Howell had bank accounts in various countries and allegedly had other properties. I assumed the £350,000 he lost in the Philippines scam was the bulk of his money, but maybe I've been underestimating the amount of money a cosmetic dentist can save, even one with 10 kids to provide for. :)

Hazel Stewart's money would seem to be from an insurance payout, plus a police pension. I know she said in a police interview that money never came into her head, but I presume she didn't refuse to take it when it was paid to her. Maybe she didn't spend it, of course, in which case recovering it should be easy enough.

Just picking up this thread. For folks professing concern over the children involved this speculating and disecting of their lives is I'm sure extremely helpful.Its a complete load of rubbish that a young girl turned up at the door saying she was pregnant!! In fact a lot of the chat here is just local gossip. Kyle Howell has maintained a dignified silence throughout this whole affair. The story Colin spun her was absolutely nothing like the real truth.She has been nothing but honest with the police. Her side of the story will come out in due course. As a closely connected friend to the Howell family I see first hand the devastation CH caused to lives around him far beyond his immediate family. Its heartbreaking.

Perpetually - emmmmm - really??

As to Kyle maintaining a "dignified" silence - I disagree.

perpetuallystressed - you can hardly imagine that people won't discuss this case at all, including what local people are saying. Yes, of course some of that may be simply gossip, but when certain things come from various 'sources', and some of them are repeated in the media, it's hardly fair to expect complete silence over their possibility. This is by no means the only place where discussion on the case is going on.

As far as Kyle Howell is concerned, all that's known really is that Colin Howell said he told her about the murders many years ago, but of course we don't know if this is true or not. I don't think anyone has suggested she was anything other than honest with the police. It's been reported that the police will be getting in touch with her again; if so, I'm sure they'll be able to sort out what, if anything, she was told and how much of it was true.

I totally agree about the devastation Colin Howell and Hazel Stewart have caused to so many people. I personally know someone who knew Lesley very well and who was close to the family for many years. She also is of the opinion that various people may have suspected this was not a case of double suicide, but I suppose in the absence of proof to the contrary they had little choice but to keep silent. You are right - it is heartbreaking.

perpetually No one on this thread has expressed anything other than sympathy for all the children involved in this case. There has certainly not been any 'dissecting of their lives'. All of us have local connections, and some of us have more personal connections, and we are simply expressing our shock and sadness online, as many others are doubtless doing in real life.

I've just read that Hazel Stewart's defence will have cost the taxpayer about £77000. Something to do with legal aid always being granted in a murder case, though I have to confess this makes no sense to me. It's been said often enough that HS and her husband are well-off people (the husband is an ex-chief superintendent, no lowly constable second time around), so I see no reason why they couldn't have paid for her defence themselves. Is it really the case that anyone charged with murder automatically gets legal aid, regardless of their own and their spouse's financial position? If so, then a change in the law is urgently needed, IMO.

yy held that anyone regardless of social standing gets representation as a safeguard to protect access to a fair trial

So if I win the euromillions this weekend and then murder someone, I can still get the taxpayer to pay for my defence? 'Fair' isn't how I'd describe that, somehow.

The thing is, I know someone who's involved in a case concerning totally inappropriate surgical treatment, surgery that was completely unnecessary and which has left him with permanent side effects. He's been told he may not qualify for legal aid for compensation, in spite of the fact that he's unable to work and is thus badly off. Yet a well-off person who admits to having been part of a plan to murder two people, who admits they could have stopped it, decides to plead Not Guilty and thus costs the taxpayer £77000? How bizarre is that? This case is certainly something of an eye-opener, in more ways than one.

I would never deprive anyone of a fair trial, but IMO all legal aid should be means tested, regardless of the crime involved.

Hazel Stewart has just been sentenced to 18 years.