Fiancé of Northumberland author Helen Bailey guilty of her murder

The partner of Northumberland author Helen Bailey has been found guilty of drugging and killing her in a long-planned plot to acquire her riches.

Driven by greed, Ian Stewart secretly spent months poisoning the Electra Brown writer with his sedatives, smothering her once she had been stupefied in April last year.

The lifeless 51-year-old was dragged into a cesspit hidden deep below their luxury Hertfordshire home, where her body lay undiscovered for three months.

Following a six-week trial at St Albans Crown Court, a jury of five women and seven men found Stewart, 56, of Baldock Road, Royston, Hertfordshire, guilty of murder, fraud, three counts of perverting the course of justice and preventing a lawful burial.

Police said the sudden, unexpected'' death of Stewart's first wife, Diane - who was found in the couple's garden in 2010 - will now be re-examined.

The love and devotion Helen Bailey showed to Boris, her miniature dachshund, also ended up costing him his life.

His demise was a callous footnote to the deadly plot hatched by his owner's fiance, as he sought to craft a feasible explanation for her disappearance.

If the world were to think Helen Bailey was missing, the dog too had to be missing,'' prosecutor Stuart Trimmer told the trial of Ian Stewart.

The author's tiny, brown-coated companion was the chief character in her life, as anyone who received her greeting card might have guessed.

Her neighbour and friend Mavis Drake said: Ian Stewart came round to the house with their calling card, which I felt was rather strange at the time because on the card it said in one line 'Helen, Boris, Ian, Jamie and Oliver'.''

He came before both Ian's sons - and Ian. I hadn't realised until then that Boris was everything to Helen.''

Her killer knew it was inconceivable that Ms Bailey would have vanished without her beloved pet trotting beside her.

Boris was bought with her first husband, John Sinfield, and gave her a reason to go on after he drowned while on holiday in 2011.

She wrote that in many ways, Boris saved me''.

In death, as in life, Boris remained at her side - found in the same undignified burial site where she lay for three months.