A HUSBAND who killed author Helen Bailey appeared "totally unbothered" at the funeral of the first wife he's accused of murdering, a court heard today.

Ian Stewart, 61, allegedly killed Diane Stewart, 47, on the patio of the home she shared with him and their two sons in Bassingbourn, Cambs, in 2010.

Huntingdon Crown Court heard today how the dad-of-two reacted when Diane was laid to rest.

Alexandra Bailey, who was friends with the school secretary, said: "I do recall Ian's behaviour at the funeral appeared a little odd," she said.

"He seemed totally unbothered and seemed quite aloof."

She went on: "I didn't know if he was behaving this way for the boys but I just didn't feel it was right."

An inquest concluded Diane suffered a "sudden unexplained death through epilepsy".

But the court was told a pathologist found the death was most likely caused by "a prolonged restriction of her breathing from an outside source".

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Jurors heard in a "stroke of fortune", Diane had donated her brain with tests showing she was either suffocated or strangled in the hour before her death.

The court was told he was at home with his wife alone on the day she died and no one else had seen her that morning.

Stewart called an ambulance saying he had returned home from Tesco to find his wife unresponsive and not breathing.

When paramedics arrived at the home, they discovered Diane without a heartbeat, jurors heard.

There was also no evidence Stewart had left the house on the day she fatally collapsed, the court was told.

He also gave "differing accounts" of what happened and where he had been, it was said.

TRAGIC END

Diane's remains were cremated but her brain was donated to medical research and brain tissue was also kept.

Scientists were able to use this to find her chances of dying from epilepsy were more than one in 100,000, it was said.

The court was told she had not suffered a seizure for 18 years and it was an "extremely low" chance her "mild" epilepsy killed her.

Her brain also showed evidence of ischemia – when the brain is starved of oxygen for up to an hour, jurors were told.

Jurors were told jobless Stewart was convicted in 2017 of murdering his millionaire partner Helen Bailey, who was worth £4million.

The couple met in a Facebook bereavement group, which Stewart joined after Diane died.

'CALLOUS'

The remains of the children's author were discovered in a cesspit full of human excrement alongside her beloved pet dog Boris in April 2016.

Helen wrote the successful Crazy World of Electra Brown series and published 22 books of short stories, picture books and young-adult fiction.

It later emerged she had been drugged with sleeping medication before she was killed.

Police officers and scientists began re-examining Diane's death after that "particularly callous crime", it was said.

Prosecutor Stuart Trimmer QC said: “Helen Bailey’s murder is significant in this instance.

“Of particular significance is that he murdered a partner. He murdered her at home, in a home he shared with her.

“He murdered her at a time both his sons were absent.

“He murdered her mid-morning and murdered her by restricting breathing, probably by a choke hold.

“And he showed a willingness to cover up the murder.”

The trial continues.

If you have been affected by anything in this article, call the 24-hour ­National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.

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