Author Helen Bailey's partner jailed for 34 years for murder
By Associated Press
Feb 23, 2017 5:47 AM CST
FILE - In this file photo dated July 18, 2016, showing tributes left outside the home of children's author Helen Bailey in Royston, England, as police investigations continue at the property. The jury found Ian Stewart, the partner of Helen Bailey, guilty of killing her and dumping her body in a cesspool...   (Associated Press)

LONDON (AP) — The partner of children's author Helen Bailey has been sentenced to at least 34 years in prison for murdering her and dumping her body in a cesspool at their home.

Judge Andrew Bright told Ian Stewart it was "difficult to imagine a more heinous crime." The judge said Thursday that Stewart posed a "real danger" to women.

Stewart, 56, was convicted Wednesday of murdering Bailey, hiding her body in a cesspool and then reporting her missing.

Prosecutors say Stewart poisoned the 51-year-old writer with prescription sedatives then smothered her to gain her 3.3 million-pound ($4.1 million) estate.

Bailey created the Electra Brown and Daisy Davenport series of novels for teenagers, and wrote a blog called Planet Grief after her husband of 22 years drowned during a Caribbean holiday in 2011.

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This story has been corrected to "Stewart" instead of "Bailey" in 3rd paragraph.

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