Double murderer Hazel Stewart has been refused leave to appeal against the length of her sentence for killing her policeman husband and the wife of her ex-lover.
A panel of judges at the Court of Appeal in Belfast ruled that the sentence imposed on Stewart, 62, a former Sunday school teacher, was “neither wrong nor manifestly excessive”.
Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan told the court that Stewart’s latest attempted appeal would have caused “stress and upset” to the families of those she killed.
Stewart’s lawyer described the ruling as disappointing, but said it “doesn’t end the quest to highlight that she was a victim of coercive control”.
She is serving a minimum 18 years behind bars for the killing of Constable Trevor Buchanan, 32, and 31-year-old Lesley Howell, the wife of her former lover Colin Howell.
Both were found in a fume-filled garage in Castlerock, Co Londonderry, in May 1991.
Police originally believed they had died in a suicide pact, after discovering that their partners were having an extra-marital affair.
Instead, they had been drugged and murdered and their bodies arranged to make it look as though they had taken their own lives.
Nearly two decades passed before dentist Howell, 65, confessed to both killings.
He implicated Stewart and she was ordered to serve at least 18 years, at her trial in 2011.
Stewart launched her appeal against the length of her sentence on the basis of fresh psychiatric evidence that suggested she was suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder at the time of the murders and had been coercively controlled by Howell.
Stewart, wearing a pale blue T-shirt and a cross necklace, watched the court of appeal ruling via a videolink from Hydebank Prison.
Dame Siobhan said the fresh psychiatric evidence had been presented “well after the event” and “places reliance on prison records to contradict the case made by all other experts”.
She said: “Even if there were any traction in the points now made, which we do not find, the trial judge also made allowance for Howell’s control in the sentence he passed.
“No injustice arises in refusing to reopen this long-concluded appeal on these facts.”
The Lady Chief Justice added: “We record this was a double murder of spouses in the cruellest of circumstances.
“Our overall view is that the sentence was neither wrong nor manifestly excessive.
“We refuse leave to admit the new evidence or to extend time as we are not convinced the new evidence establishes a valid ground of appeal.
“We are similarly not convinced that a fulsome enough explanation why this evidence was not produced earlier has been provided.
“In reaching our conclusion we reiterate the need for finality in criminal proceedings, we must deduce from this appeal that the applicant does not fully appreciate that.
“What must be self-evident is the stress and upset this latest appeal attempt will have caused to the families of the deceased.”
Dame Siobhan said the original trial judge had been cited on the issue of Howell’s control of Stewart and he altered her sentence accordingly.
She concluded: “We find no merit in any of the points raised on appeal.”
Stewart’s lawyer, Kevin Winters of KRW Law, said: “Today’s decision of the Court of Appeal to refuse leave is disappointing but in many ways not unexpected given the very high bar we had to reach to convince the court to look at this relatively new issue after so many years.”
He added: “Today’s ruling doesn’t end the quest for Hazel Stewart to highlight that she was a victim of coercive control.
“She engaged with the criminal justice agencies in an open and transparent manner to present as a victim of criminality.
“She made her case to a specialist abuse unit of the PSNI to allege that she was drugged, sexually and mentally abused and raped by Colin Howell.
“For that she is to be commended in taking the decision to come forward. It wasn’t taken lightly.”
Mr Winters said: “It shouldn’t be lost on any one that Hazel Stewart has the full backing and support of her family which includes Trevor Buchanan’s two children.
“That support has been with her ever since her conviction for her role in the double killing of her husband and Colin Howell’s wife over 20 years ago.
“That support has been here as well throughout the criminal investigation against Colin Howell and right up until today’s appeal ruling.”
