DENTIST COLIN Howell broke down in the witness box yesterday as he gave evidence in the double murder trial of his former lover.
Howell (51) has already pleaded guilty to killing his wife Lesley and Trevor Buchanan, the policeman husband of his then mistress Hazel Stewart. Howell wept when asked to tell the jury at Coleraine Crown Court when his and Lesley’s four children were born.
Hazel Stewart, who is accused of the double murder in May 1991, sat impassively in the dock as her ex-boyfriend explained why he had confessed to the crimes, which he originally staged to look like a suicide pact.
“I just knew that the time had come that the truth had to be told,” he said, his voice cracked and low. “I was overwhelmed by my conscience from hiding those crimes for such a long time.
“I believed there still were scars that needed to be put right and I wanted to tell the truth, that was my only motive.”
The bodies of Mrs Howell (31) and Mr Buchanan (32) were found in a fume-filled garage in the seaside town of Castlerock.
Howell, who is serving a 21-year sentence at Maghaberry prison, Co Antrim, had poisoned them as they slept in their own homes. He then set up a scene to look as though they had taken their own lives because they could not cope with his and Stewart’s affair.
Ms Stewart (47), from Ballystrone Road, Coleraine, denies the murder charges.
Howell arrived at court in a prison van for what was expected to be the first of two days as a Crown witness. In front of Mr Justice Anthony Hart, he recounted in detail how and why his affair with Ms Stewart had developed in 1990.
Ms Stewart became pregnant and had an abortion in August 1990 when the affair was still undetected. Ms Stewart did not know who the father was. If the child had blue eyes and blond hair, then it was Howell’s. But if it had brown eyes and dark hair, then it was Mr Buchanan’s, the court was told.
“The game would have been up,” said Howell. “The affair was still clandestine. I didn’t want the relationship to end.”
He said it was a critical moment and they were faced with two options, either confess to the affair or have the abortion. They decided on the second. Howell said his wife had had an abortion before they married and he knew what arrangements to make.
The affair remained secret until it was discovered by Dr Alan Topping as they sat in their cars one lunchtime at Castleroe Forest Park outside Coleraine.
Earlier Howell claimed he and his wife Lesley had relationship problems before their marriage in 1983 and these got worse as the years passed.“We both sincerely wanted it to work, but it didn’t.”