Jurors view cesspit where author Helen Bailey’s body was found

Jurors have visited the home of children’s writer Helen Bailey to view the cesspit where her body was found.

The author shared the £1.5 million property in Royston, Hertfordshire, with her fiance Ian Stewart and his two sons.

Stewart, 56, is accused of murdering the 51-year-old and disposing of her body in order to obtain the property.

The 12 jurors have now been shown the cesspit, which was inside an old-fashioned well 15ft beneath the concrete floor of the garage.

It is alleged that the body lay in the tank for three months, with Stewart parking Ms Bailey’s white Jeep over its cover to avoid detection.

The alarm was raised in April 2016, after her brother was unable to make contact with her.

Police officers discovered the cesspit in July of that year, when they lifted the hatch to find an arm protruding from the waste.

The remains of Ms Bailey’s miniature dachshund Boris were also found in the tank next to her body.

Stewart is accused of "secretly" giving Ms Bailey insomnia drug Zoplicone, which was prescribed to him, in increasing amounts over time as part of a "long-planned" plot.

Estimated to be worth around £4 million, Ms Bailey was best known for her Electra Brown series of children’s books, and went on to win a new audience with her bereavement blog Planet Grief.

She met Stewart on a dating website for people who had been widowed following the death of her husband in 2011.

The pair were engaged and had been due to marry in September 2016, with arrangements made for Stewart to obtain the house and money in the event of Ms Bailey's death.

The defendant denies murder as well as charges of preventing a lawful burial, fraud and three counts of perverting the cause of justice.

The trial, which is expected to last seven weeks, continues.