25/10/2017

Convicted Killer Hazel Stewart's Home To Be Sold

A judge has granted an order that convicted double murderer Hazel Stewart hands over her share of the current family home.

The property can be linked to fraudulently claimed insurance policies and police pension benefits.

Following the apparent suicide of her policeman first husband Mrs Stewart claimed a number of financial benefits including claiming on an insurance policy which allowed her to settle the mortgage then outstanding on her family home. In 2006 Mrs Stewart remarried, sold the family home and used the profit to jointly build a new property with her second husband.

In 2011, a jury in Coleraine Crown Court unanimously convicted Mrs Stewart of the murder of both her husband, Trevor Buchanan, and Lesley Howell, the wife of her then lover Colin Howell. The Court of Appeal upheld her conviction.

Her case was referred to the then Serious Organised Crime Agency by the PSNI for a civil recovery investigation that has been continued by the NCA.

In its civil recovery application, the NCA submitted that a portion of Hazel Stewart’s interest in her current property could be traced to the various fraudulent applications she made following the death of her first husband.

On 16 October 2017, Hazel Stewart, 54, agreed to settle the NCA’s civil recovery claim by handing over her majority interest in her current family home. The property will now be sold.

Clive Michel, Head of Civil Recovery and Tax at the NCA said: "No-one who commits a serious crime should be in a position to benefit financially from it. Hazel Stewart’s claims on the insurance policy and widow’s pension were fraud, and as such we have a duty to recover these assets. Using its powers under The Proceeds of Crime Act, the NCA working with the PSNI, has ensured that upon release Hazel Stewart will no-longer be able to benefit financially from her crimes."

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07 June 2011
Inquest Verdict 'Carbon Monoxide Poisoning'
A second inquest has today found that two people murdered by disgraced dentist, Colin Howell and his lover Hazel Stewart were the victims of "homicidal carbon monoxide poisoning". Trevor Buchanan, a 32-year-old policeman and Mrs Howell, 31, were found in a car in a fume-filled garage in the seaside town of Castlerock, Co Londonderry.
15 February 2011
Bizarre Double Murder Trial Continues
Defence counsel for a Co Londonderry woman accused of freely taking part in the plot to kill her own husband and her then lover's wife, have claimed that dentist Colin Howell was forcing the accused, Hazel Stewart against her will to be complicit in the deadly plot.
23 February 2011
Killer Dentist 'Used Gas To Sedate Lovers'
A high profile murder trial has heard that the accused, Hazel Stewart, feared her former lover - a dentist - gave her too much laughing gas before a sex session on his dentist's chair. Mrs Stewart, 47, is denying murdering her husband, Trevor Buchanan, 32, and her former lover Colin Howell's wife, Leslie, 31, in May 1991.
08 February 2013
Hazel Stewart Was 'Knowing And Willing' Accomplice
The Appeal Court has ruled Hazel Stewart was a "knowing and willing" participant in the murder of her husband and her former lover’s wife, the BBC has reported. Three senior judges have concluded she supported the double murder, carried out by former dentist Colin Howell, by providing him with assistance.
21 January 2013
Hazel Stewart Drops Murder Appeal
Hazel Stewart has dropped an appeal against her conviction for murdering her husband over twenty years ago. The 49-year-old was involved in a ploy with her ex-lover, Colin Howell, to murder their respective spouses and pass it off as a suicide pact.