Children's author Helen Bailey may have DROWNED in a cesspit after being drugged or rendered unconscious with a martial arts neck hold and dumped there while she was alive, doctor tells court 

  • Children's author Helen Bailey may still have been alive when dumped in cesspit
  • Her fiance Ian Stewart is accused of drugging and then suffocating her to death
  • Mrs Bailey's arm spotted poking out of 'human excrement' in a cesspit at home
  • A sleep drug Zopiclone prescribed to Stewart was found in Mrs Bailey's system 
  • Likened to date rape drug if combined with alcohol but unclear if latter ingested
  • Stewart has denied a charge of murder and killing her for her £4million fortune

By Sam Tonkin For Mailonline

Published: 07:22 EST, 11 January 2017 | Updated: 11:44 EST, 11 January 2017

Children's author Helen Bailey may still have been alive when her fiance dumped her in a cesspit while trying to kill her for her £4million fortune, a court has heard.

The renowned 51-year-old writer could also have been put in a martial arts neck lock while drugged and then suffocated, jurors were told, before being found alongside the body of her beloved dachshund Boris submerged in 'human excrement'.

Her arm was spotted poking out of the cesspit deep below her lavish property in Royston, Hertfordshire, in July 2016, a jury at St Albans Crown Court was told. 

Mrs Bailey's fiance, Ian Stewart, 56, from Royston, is accused of drugging and killing her, before dumping her body at the £1.5million home the couple shared.

And today a pathologist told jurors it was 'possible she was put down the well in an unconscious state' after being given a 'date rape'-type drug and then drowned. 

Theory: Author Helen Bailey may still have been alive when her fiance Ian Stewart (pictured) dumped her in a cesspit while trying to kill her for her £4million fortune, a court has heard

In the dock: Stewart, 56, pictured left in the dock at St Albans Crown Court, allegedly secretly drugged Helen Bailey for months with sleeping pills before killing her

Her arm was spotted poking out of the cesspit deep below her home in Royston, Hertfordshire (left), in July 2016, a jury heard. Mrs Bailey's body was found with that of her dog Boris (right)

Meanwhile, a post-mortem of Mrs Bailey's dog was unable to determine the cause of its death.

A statement from veterinary surgeon Dr Jonathan Williams said decomposition of the remains meant it was not possible to 'confirm or refute whether the animal drowned', or whether it was alive when it entered the cesspit. 

Stewart denies charges of murder, preventing a lawful burial, fraud and three counts of perverting the cause of justice.

Jurors were today shown photographs of where Mrs Bailey's body was found. In one of them, her arm can be seen sticking through the top of the cesspit. 

The court was told by Home Office pathologist Dr Nat Cary that, although there were no 'obvious' signs of physical injury, the sedative Zopiclone was found in her system.

The sleep drug had been prescribed to Stewart, but hair analysis suggested it had been in Ms Bailey's system for several months, including at the time she died.

Dr Cary likened the effect of combining the sedative with alcohol to a 'date rape' drug. But he told the court it was impossible to tell whether there was alcohol in Mrs Bailey's system because of the decomposition of her body. 

Investigation: Mrs Bailey had been reported missing from her home by her partner on April 15

Conspiracy: Mrs Bailey's dog Boris (pictured) was also killed to give credence to the theory that she had gone missing because she was 'devoted' to him, the court was told

Although the cause of death was 'undetermined', Dr Cary said a sedated Ms Bailey could have been killed without visual injuries by more 'subtle' means. 

He said: 'Subtle modes of death include smothering and compression of the neck by means including an arm lock, using the crook of the elbow ... also called a sleeper hold, it is used in certain martial arts to reduce consciousness.

'That is another possibility to consider.' 

But on cross-examination by defence counsel Russell Flint QC, he said this was only speculation. 

TIMELINE: HOW HELEN BAILEY MET 'KILLER' AT BEREAVEMENT GROUP

Tragedy: Mrs Bailey, pictured, who created the Electra Brown and Daisy Davenport books for children, had been reported missing by her partner on April 15. He suggested she was suicide

2011: Stewart, a widower, met Helen Bailey through a Facebook bereavement group, which he joined after his wife Diane died in 2010. Her husband of 22 years John Sinfield drowned in 2011 as she watched helplessly from a beach.

2013: Couple move in together 

2014: Helen Bailey makes a will because she had been concerned that Ian Stewart might be 'financially vulnerable' if she died. 

February 2016: Stewart allegedly starts giving the author anti-insomnia drug Zopiclone and in the days before she died her Google searches included: 'Why do I keep falling asleep' and 'I'm so tired', the jury was told. 

April 11 2016: Stewart allegedly drugs his partner into 'stupefied' state and smothers her before throwing her body down into their cesspit. Boris the dog follows.

April 15: He reports her missing to the police saying she left with her Dachshund saying she needed time alone

April 16: Stewart drives to Broadstairs in his BMW. Mrs Bailey's phone was found to have connected to the WiFi at her address in Broadstairs - the same day it was visited by Stewart. He denies having it, the court heard.

June: Alleged killer says he lost his phone. He goes to Spain on holiday and renews his Arsenal season ticket

July 11: Police raid their home and he is arrested

July 12: He refuses to answer questions and is bailed.

July 15: Police lift up manhole in garage and find her body in sewage with her dog Boris beside her 

He added: 'I am not (sure) but, on the basis of the case as a whole, it is my opinion that not only was she concealed by a third party but it seems likely she died at the hands of the third party by some means.' 

Jurors were told it was possible that Ms Bailey had consumed the drug unknowingly, but Dr Cary later said he could not know for sure.

It is alleged that the killing had 'money as its driving motive', with Stewart in line to be a 'substantial' benefactor of the author's £4million fortune in the event of her death.

Ms Bailey had been missing for three months when police officers opened the hatch to the cesspit beneath her garage and saw an arm protruding from the waste.

The court heard that she was fully clothed, except for her bare feet.

Stewart's GP, Dr Afshan Khan, said she had prescribed the sedative to him on January 25 - describing the drug as 'very mild'.

Yesterday, the court heard that Ms Bailey had become concerned about feeling unnaturally sleepy in the weeks leading up to her death.

She used search engine Google to look up terms including 'can't stop falling asleep' and told her family she felt forgetful. 

But when asked if she had heard about the drug making patients fall asleep suddenly, Dr Khan said she had not.

She added that Zopiclone could only be considered a safe drug when used by a patient to whom it was prescribed.

Jurors were told by Dr Piper that traces of it were found in Ms Bailey's hair, chest cavity fluid, liver and thigh muscle.

Due to the amount of time that had passed between her alleged time of death in April and the discovery of her body in July, he said it was difficult to say how much was in her system when she was killed.

Samples of her hair were split into four sections for analysis, with each said to represent a four-week period, with the most recent closest to the scalp - representing a 'historical profile'.

Zopiclone was found in all four, but in such small doses in the farthest away from the scalp that it was said it could have been contaminated.

Dr Piper told the court that in the hair sample closest to the scalp it was of a 'significant' concentration.

He said: 'It is above the level that scientists recognise as a single, one-off event.' 

Zopiclone was prescribed to Stewart for insomnia, which would have made Ms Bailey easy to kill 'with little or no resistance', jurors were told on the opening day of the trial.

During a post-mortem examination, traces of the drug were found to have been in her body as early as February 2016. 

The court heard that among the side-effects of Zopiclone was short-term memory loss.

Crime: Jurors heard that the killing allegedly took place on April 11 2016 at the home the couple shared, before Ms Bailey's body was hidden in a septic tank below the garage

Plea: Stewart, who denies murder, made a heartfelt plea for her return, saying her disappearance had 'shattered' his life and left him feeling like his 'heart doesn't even exist'

Dr Piper agreed, when asked by the prosecutor, that this could lead someone to have concerns about their 'state of mind'.

The drug was also said to create a metallic, bitter taste in the mouth when consumed - caused not by the tablet itself, but a subsequent chemical reaction when it takes effect.

A post-mortem examination of Boris the dog was unable to determine the cause of his death, the jury was told.

A statement from veterinary surgeon Dr Jonathan Williams said decomposition of the remains meant it was not possible to 'confirm or refute whether the animal drowned'.

He added that there was 'no evidence of skeletal trauma' in the pet.

The trial continues.

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