Ian Stewart: Murder accused's 999 call played to trial jury

A 999 call made by a man accused of killing his wife has been played to the jury at his murder trial.

Ian Stewart, 61, denies killing Diane Stewart, 47, at their home in Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, in 2010.

Mrs Stewart's cause of death was recorded at the time as Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP).

The investigation was opened after Mr Stewart was jailed for life in 2017 for the murder of his partner, author Helen Bailey, in 2016.

He denies murdering his wife in Bassingbourn on 25 June, six years before he killed Ms Bailey at the Royston home they shared.

During the emergency call, Mr Stewart tells the 999 operator: "My wife had a fit. She's in the garden."

Asked by the call handler if his wife is breathing, he replies: "No, I don't think so, no."

When asked if he thinks she has suffered a fit he says: "I think so, she does have epilepsy."

Mr Stewart adds: "She hasn't had a fit in a long, long time."

The couple's sons Jamie and Oliver Stewart, and Mrs Stewart's sister Wendy Bellamy-Lee, sat in the public gallery at Huntingdon Crown Court as the call was played.

The operator tells Mr Stewart to "pump the chest hard and fast at least twice per second", adding: "We're going to do this at least 600 times or until help arrives."

The call lasts about 20 minutes, and for several minutes of it Mr Stewart is heard repeatedly counting "one, two, three, four".

At one point he asks the call handler: "Do I just keep going?"

She replies: "I will tell you when to stop. You need to go at least 600 times."

Later in the call, the operator gives Mr Stewart instructions to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on his wife.

He says: "It's difficult as I think she's been sick. I'm trying to clear it out."

Later sirens are heard in the background of the call, Mr Stewart is heard telling the arriving paramedics: "I think she's had a fit."

Earlier in the trial, paramedic Spencer North, who attended the scene, said Mr Stewart appeared "initially distracted, idly pacing".

The trial continues.

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