Ian Stewart: Helen Bailey's killer to stand trial over Diane Stewart's murder

Diane Stewart died at her home in the village of Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, in 2010

A man already jailed for killing his fiancee will stand trial in the autumn charged with murdering his wife six years earlier.

Ian Stewart, 60, was jailed for life for murdering children's author Helen Bailey, whose body was found at the couple's Hertfordshire home in 2016.

He has denied killing Diane Stewart, 47, who died at the family home in Bassingbourn, Cambs, on 25 June 2010.

The trial will be heard at Luton Crown Court in November.

Stewart received a life term at St Albans Crown Court in February 2017 after being convicted of killing his 51-year-old partner, who wrote the Electra Brown series of books.

The couple lived in Royston where, in July 2016, Ms Bailey's remains were found. She had been reported missing the previous April.

At the court hearing which set a trial date for the latest charge, defence barrister Amjad Malik QC said Stewart could not appear on a video link from HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire due to ill health.

"The defendant has been very unwell. He has breathing difficulties. He is very vulnerable," he said.

Stewart was jailed for a minimum of 34 years for the murder of Helen Bailey