The partner of the children’s author Helen Bailey has pleaded not guilty to her murder, almost three months after her body was found, along with that of her pet dachshund, in the grounds of her home.
Ian Stewart, 55, appeared at St Albans crown court, where he also pleaded not guilty to fraud, preventing the lawful and decent burial of a dead body, and perverting the course of justice. He was held on remand until a trial early next year.
Stewart, a computer expert, had reported the 51-year-old author missing on 15 April, telling police she had left the home they shared in Royston, Hertfordshire, and not returned.
Friends initially said they believed the author might have gone to the couple’s holiday home in Broadstairs, Kent. Then, in July, officers found her body after searching the grounds of the home.
Bailey was the author of 22 published books of short stories, picture books and young-adult fiction. She was best known for creating the Electra Brown and Daisy Davenport books for teenagers.
In more recent years she had developed another audience with Planet Grief, a blog about the complexities of grieving and trying to make sense of the death of her husband, John Sinfield, who drowned during a holiday in Barbados in 2011. She turned the blog into a memoir, When Bad Things Happen in Good Bikinis.
