Helen Bailey: Man arrested

[BringMeTea]

Very sad.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-36768593

It's her partner they have arrested, isn't it? The police are currently digging in the garden of their house.

I must admit when I heard they had arrested a man I did wonder if it was her partner.

Very sad case. I hope they find out what happened soon.

Here's the Daily Mail link

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3685026/Police-investigating-disappearance-children-s-author-arrest-man-55-suspicion-murder-disposing-body.html

Yes. Her partner. Horrific.

I could have sworn I read that weeks ago.

Her body - it seems - has been found in her own garden. I wonder why the authorities didn't check the garden for ground disturbance in the first place.

Didn't her partner front an appeal for Helen to get in touch with the police?

The fact that it's her partner is so predictable and yet it should be just a plot from a thriller but it's so often real life. Am I wrong in thinking women are always going to be vulnerable because they are usually smaller, lighter? Not all women but a substantial number. It makes me feel sick.

Just a reminder that the case is sub judice, so we shouldn't be speculating on the guilt of the person accused.

But this article sheds light on why the body wasn't found earlier - the police drained the septic tank very early on in the investigation, but it turns out that there was a hidden underground cesspit they weren't aware of until a neighbour alerted them:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3693186/Fianc-author-Helen-Bailey-charged-murder-body-discovered-garden-three-months-vanished.html

Message received and understood hack. Sorry.

RIP Helen, justice done

Yes, finally. It's absolutely chilling to think about how he deceived her. It looks as if he planned the whole thing from the very beginning.

I've just been looking through her blog. There's one post from very early on, before she met Stewart that talks about the importance of staying safe whilst dating. How terribly she was deceived and I hope to goodness she was dead when he put her in that terrible place.

They said on the news today that they are looking into the death of his first wife. Tragic.

It's reported that they're going to take another look at his former wife's death. She supposedly died from an epileptic seizure in 2010.

Xpost redshoe

It's so predictable, sadly. I'm glad he didn't get away with it.

RIP Helen.

His or sons. Hope they have some support.

Sorry that should be poor sons

RIP Helen

From the media reports from court, it looks like she was a Mumsnetter too

Oh, where did you see that, Mcmcmcmc?

She does seem to have been a well-liked person, as well as a highly successful one. The neighbour said that it was a real mismatch, in that she was obviously very outgoing, very likeable and very successful, while he was someone who didn't say much and was generally a bit unprepossessing. Can't help wondering how and why she fell for him - I suppose she was incredibly vulnerable after her husband's death and perhaps that affected her judgement. Or perhaps he just put on a very good act.

Moving out of London was the classic tactic to isolate her wasn't it?

I think you're right, Northernlurker. Also, you have to wonder whether he was already eyeing up that cesspit when they bought the house together.

I'd been wondering for a while about his previous wife. She seems to have just died very suddenly, despite being previously healthy (apart from the epilepsy).

hackmum the police searched her laptop for her internet searchers and lots of Mumsnet searches came up when she was searching why she was feeling so tired and falling asleep during the day. Stewart also told the court that she used Mumsnet a lot.

Killing Boris the dog was also incredibly cruel, and probably done with the intent to deceive people into thinking she had gone away. One of the reasons this case shocked me so much was the killing and disposal of the dog's body next to hers.

How awful. I didn't know that about the dog.

Nobody who knew her would have believed she would have left the dog behind. The absence of the dog gave a lot more conviction to his story. It was very calculated.