Greetings! Please Share & Subcribe.
A dentist who poisoned his wife and ex-lover's husband and then covered it up as a double suicide will serve a minimum of 21 years in jail.
Killer Colin Howell, 51, from Castlerock, County Londonderry, hid the truth from his family, friends and neighbours for 19 years.
He poisoned his wife Lesley, 31, and Trevor Buchanan, 32, by pumping car fumes into each of their homes through a hosepipe in 1991.
Mrs Howell had been sleeping on the sofa in her living room, Mr Buchanan in his own bed.
Belfast Crown Court heard both woke up in their final moments.
Mrs Howell called out for her son Matthew and Mr Buchanan struggled in vain to escape, slightly injuring his assailant.
Mr Howell then drove to the home of his recently deceased father-in-law with his victims' bodies in the car boot.
He staged the double suicide by placing them inside the vehicle, attaching a pipe to the exhaust and starting the engine.
Neighbour Ben Corr said: "A car was found in the garage, a lady in the back seat, apparently clutching photographs of her children… and a gentleman in the front."
Mr Howell had seemingly committed the perfect crime. He would have taken the secret to his grave had his conscience not got the better of him.
In 2009, he contacted elders from his church and confessed to the double murder, which had taken place some 18 years earlier.
David Rankin, editor of the Coleraine Times, said: "He professed to be a Christian man… so I'm sure he found it extremely difficult to conduct his life with this albatross around his neck."
Howell was a successful cosmetic dentist. He boasted Jordanian royals among his patients. His fall from grace has gripped Northern Ireland.
Mr Buchanan's friends were stunned when his apparent suicide became a murder inquiry.
Derek Ewing said: "Certainly, the revelation surprised me. With the value of hindsight, we can all look back and say, there was this, that or the other thing, but nobody ever thought (murder) until the revelation…"
Howell's former lover and co-accused Hazel Stewart - she has since remarried - denies double murder charges.
Her trial is expected to take place early in the New Year.
SKYNEWS
0 Comments