Convicted double killer Hazel Stewart has launched a new legal bid to secure a reduced jail sentence for murdering her policeman husband and the wife of her ex-lover, it was revealed on Friday.
The 61-year-old former Sunday school teacher is set to claim she was under the coercive control of Colin Howell when their partners’ deaths were plotted.
Based on newly obtained medical evidence that she had been suffering from a mental disorder, her lawyers lodged papers at the Court of Appeal on Friday seeking leave to challenge her prison term.
Solicitor Kevin Winters said: “Hazel Stewart was also a victim herself but for various reasons she was never treated as such at her original trial.
“This application will hopefully bring a fresh judicial evaluation on coercive control and in turn serve to realign her status as a victim.”
Stewart is currently serving a minimum 18 years behind bars for the double killing of Constable Buchanan (32) and Howell’s 31-year-old wife Lesley Howell.
Both victims were found in a fume-filled garage in Castlerock, Co Londonderry back in May 1991.
Police originally believed they had died in a suicide pact after discovering their partners were having an extramarital affair.
Instead, they had been drugged and murdered before their bodies were arranged to make it look like they had taken their own lives.
Nearly two decades passed before dentist Howell (65) suddenly confessed to both killings.
He pleaded guilty to the murders in 2010 and was ordered to serve at least 21 years behind bars.
Howell also implicated his former lover in the plot and gave evidence against her at her trial.
In March 2011 Stewart was unanimously convicted of both killings by a jury at Coleraine Crown Court.
Howell gave evidence against her at the trial, describing them as having a “blood pact” which was strengthened when she had a secret abortion in London after becoming pregnant by him.
Since then Stewart has failed in a series of attempts to have her convictions overturned.
The mother of two is now seeking leave to argue in the Court of Appeal that her prison term was manifestly excessive.
Stewart’s legal team claim the sentence was imposed without any available information about her state of depression at the time of the murders.
New evidence obtained from medical experts show her ability to make rational choices or properly comprehend the consequences of her actions was impaired, they allege.
Papers lodged today as part of the application contend: “The applicant’s abnormality of mind made her vulnerable to the coercive control exercised over her by her co-accused, Colin Howell, and also adversely affected her ability to exercise appropriate judgment.”
A consultant psychiatrist who assessed Stewart has formed the opinion that she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder related to the abortion procedure in 1990.
“This directly impacted on her ability to stop or dissuade Howell in his actions and also affected her decision making in the months afterwards in her interactions with the authorities,” the defence documents state.
The latest legal challenge was mounted after the Public Prosecution Service decided not to charge Howell with alleged assaults against Stewart.
Mr Winters confirmed that new grounds to appeal her sentence for the two murder convictions have been lodged in an attempt to “recalibrate the outdated narrative on this case”.
“We are now inviting the court to reassess sentencing with the benefit of new psychiatric evidence on coercive control,” he said.
“We believe there ought to have been a much greater sentencing disparity between Colin Howell and Hazel Stewart.”
“This appeal is about resetting sentencing through the prism of our client as a victim of Colin Howell’s coercive control.”
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