Helen Bailey: Children's author killed by the man she loved

Bestselling author Helen Bailey was murdered by the man she loved.

While she was planning her wedding to fiance Ian Stewart - he was planning her death.

Stewart had been drugging his wife-to-be with sleeping pills prescribed to him for months before smothering her in a calculated killing on 11 April 2016.

He dumped her body in a cesspit underneath the couple's garage - where she was found three months later alongside her dog Boris.

His motive for murder was financial. Ms Bailey's career as a bestselling author of 23 books had amassed her a £4m fortune - which was to be left to him should she die.

After murdering his fiancee, Stewart transferred thousands of pounds from her bank account into one he had access to, before CCTV captured him dumping bedding involved in the killing at a nearby tip.

Stewart only reported that Helen was missing four days later after pressure from concerned friends.

In an erratic call to police he couldn't answer the most basic of questions, such as her date of birth or eye colour. He also spoke about her in the past tense and broke off from the conversation to take another phone call.

He trotted out his cover story, that she had left a note saying she had needed some space and had gone to her home in Broadstairs in Kent.

He never provided the note to authorities, claiming he had lost it and Helen had never gone to Broadstairs that day.

During the three-month search for Ms Bailey, Stewart was uncooperative and sometimes obstructive as he watched police conduct what he knew to be a futile missing person investigation.

He continued to text her phone, which was never found but believed to be in his possession and despite his apparent grief went on holiday.

In an interview six months before her murder to promote her last book about becoming a widow, she told Sky News: "You know, life is good again, I never thought I'd say it, I'd never believe it, but it's good again".

In the book, Bad Things Happen In Good Bikinis, she describes meeting GGHW - the Gorgeous Grey Haired Widower.

That man was Ian Stewart.

The pair had met online following the deaths in 2011 of Ms Bailey's husband John Sinfield, who drowned on holiday in Barbados, and of Mr Stewart's wife in 2010.

Ms Bailey became besotted by Stewart.

In his closing statement, prosecutor Stuart Trimmer QC told the jury at St Albans Crown Court that "it is perfectly plain she was completely overwhelmed by what some people might call 'love bombing.'"

She went on to love him and they became engaged.

Close friend Shelley Whitehead told Sky News that she was blissfully happy.

"He was on a widow and widowers website, he'd lost his wife, and Helen was very excited to meet someone. He's spoken about or written about very much in his book. There was nothing that alerted me."

In the weeks before her murder Helen was concerned she was becoming increasingly sleepy, googling potential causes.

The prosecution believe Stewart had been administering the sleeping pill Zoplicone - found in her system - in increasing doses over months.

Stewart denied murder, fraud, preventing a lawful burial and three counts of perverting the course of justice.

The 56-year-old claims that two men named just Joe and Nick were responsible for the murder and disposal of Ms Bailey's body.

Stewart murdered Ms Bailey "probably by suffocation" between 10.51am and 2.30pm on Monday 11 April 2016.

The prosecution state that Stewart carried out a "cynically executed murder" that had "money as its driving motive".

Her brother John Bailey said: "Despite this victory for justice there can be no celebration. Our families have been devastated and nothing can ever bring Helen back to us or truly right this wrong.

"A long shadow of loss has been cast over the lives of so many who will always remember Helen with enduring love and affection."

Charles White, Senior Crown Prosecutor with Crown Prosecution Service, told Sky News that the case was extremely unusual.

"You had the money, you had the planning, you had the use of the sedative and then you had this extraordinary cover that went on for several months," he said.

"And then this fantastical story that the crime had been committed by these shadowy figures Nick and Joe."