Keep Hazel Stewart in jail

I was greatly encouraged to read what Lord Neuberger (Supreme Court President) said with respect to the possibility of potential murder appeals “the principle of joint murder is not in question” adding “a person who intentionally assists or encourages another to commit an offence is guilty of that offence as a secondary party”.

He warned murderers hoping for freedom: “The evidence may have been such that they would have been convicted anyway.”

I trust that the respective families who have suffered immeasurable agony as a result of the actions of Colin Howell and Hazel Stewart will be spared further pain of any possible appeal that Stewart may think she is entitled to.

Given that her double murder trail and subsequent court proceedings have cost the taxpayer in terms of Legal Aid in excess of £440,000 (as recently reported in your newspaper) I think it’s surely long past time when the whistle should be blow and Stewart told she has exhausted due process.

It is therefore appropriate that she completes the jail sentence handed down by retired Judge Anthony Hart who at her conviction summed up her actions very well, when he said she could have at various times stopped the murders.

The jury of the day got it right when they unanimously convicted Stewart.

A further case comes before the High Court on 4th-5th May with respect to clawing back the police pension that Stewart claimed post the murdering of her first husband. This whole matter has been like a piece of string which must surely be compounding the pain of the Buchanan family circle.

George F.D. Young, Co Antrim