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THE DEFENCE AND PROSECUTION teams have been delivering their closing arguments at the double murder trial of Hazel Stewart, 47, in Coleraine.
Stewart denies murdering her husband Trevor Buchanan and Lesley Howell, the wife of her former lover, in 1991.
The two deaths were initially treated as suicide when the bodies were found in a fume-filled car.
However, Howell’s husband Colin Howell, a lay preacher and dentist, confessed to both murders to church elders in 2009.
Disguised murders
Howell has been convicted of the two murders and sentenced to serve a minimum of 21 years in prison.
His trial heard he had killed each of the two victims as they slept in their own homes using a length of pipe attached to the exhaust pipe of his car. Howell then took both bodies and arranged them to appear as a double suicide.
Hazel Stewart’s trial heard evidence from Howell, who claimed Stewart knew of his plan and had no moral objection to it.
“Hazel and I were waltzing together, in time. All the side-stepping was done together”, he claimed. The court also heard that Howell and his wife had held a birthday party for their young son on the same day he killed her.
In a police interview played to the court, Stewart claimed she was vulnerable and had been bullied by Howell. She said he told her of his plan but she feared he would kill her if she did not go along with it.
Stewart did not take the stand during her trial. UTV reports that prosecutors claim this is because she in unable to provide an innocent explanation for her role in the two deaths.
Her lawyer told the court Stewart could not have had a joint enterprise with Howell to carry out the killings because he thought her weak and easy to control, the BBC reports.
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keep one for medical emergancies such as the girl who missed out on a liver transplant first time round because of botched transport plans, let the ministers take commercial flights!
Which they do already
We are all in this together….
when they are scrapping them make sure hogan and the rest are on them
Hogan will need it to go to Portugal…
Fat Cats. This Government does not intend to be Patriotic.
Once you get a taste of the good life you never want to give it up, double standards
They’re like the pigs in Orwell’s Animal Farm, now they’re walking on hind legs.
I taught animal farm was a film
four legs good, two legs baaaaaaad…
They’re like?
They definitely are.
Also make them use ryanair and aerlingus set an example…
@Jimbo
They did nothing but shout F Fail down for years about those two planes. There is absolutely no need for them. If they must, let them fly first class on Aer Lingus or even Ryan Air. Sell the bloody things, fine, they’ve probably lost a lot of money but at least they’d bring in some cash for something that’s really needed in peoples lives.
The cost of maintaining and servicing them is huge and so are the salaries for the staff that fly them. Wrong, so wrong. At least Aer Lingus or Ryan Air would earn some money flying these ass holes to Brussels or wherever they feel they need to be! Keep people in real jobs.
Please , please I will do / sign anything, just dont let me do the Ryanair thing again !!!!!!
What I wouldn’t do just to drop kick that Shatter c u next Tuesday !
Phil wants to go to Portugal on it tomorrow to pay the charge on his penthouse.
they are right to keep it, they will need a fast means of transport to escape with all the loot…
or the hangman :-)
That’s right Mr Shatter hang on to the Governments toys.
While hundreds of thousands of native Irish people have to emigrate and send money home to keep a roof over their family’s head and pay your extortionate taxes and your extortionate salary.
Get a life Shatter!!
Dictatorship!!
Think taxes are high here, go live elsewhere in Europe.
@H Spruiker
Far from bloody private jets all of them were born! F . . kwits! (Sorry, I’m so angry)
Oh Shatter said so it has to true – he rarely tells the truth even in court.
Waste waste waste waste
Never ends.
FG honestly, it’s beyond me how stupid you all are..
You just keep putting bullets in that political roulette gun..
Guess its just pure arrogance..
Tick tick
What a moany shower of commie fuckers. Let’s criticise absolutely single thing about the government…
Journal time to abandon comments you’ve been hijacked by Eirigi.
Gavin you are so right. Starting to think the journal looks for any story to start the rabble rousing. Getting a bit transparent aren’t they?
In case our silence is interpreted as agreement, I’m going to casually drop in here and say no, we don’t choose our stories based on the frenzy they seem to work people into.
(If anything it creates more work for ourselves, because more frenzied comments mean more work for us, because more comments require moderation.)
If they deny it…it’s true :)
Gavin ive often spoken out against the commie mentality in this country and the dangers of these upcoming quasi terrorist groups like you mentioned( cant say their name or il get my comment removed) however i do have to say after voting for FG they are going back on everything. Their soft on crime their soft on immigration and on welfare fraud. They still havent let us have a referendum to get rid of the gentlemen’s club the Senate. There is no need for government jets were too small a country and thats why FF made a balls of the place they thought our population was 45 million not 4.5 million.
@Gavin,
That was a really childish message you left. I am not a commie f . . ker! Nor am I Labour, F Fail, Sin Fein, or Fine Gael!!! I am as independent as one could be in every way including politics!
I think for myself and do what I think is best for my two children, myself and others around me. So keep your rotten comments and judgements to yourself.
Gavan. I have no idea how the Journal chooses it’s stories though I’ll take your word that it’s not for the “frenzy they seem to work people into”. However in the comments there are many many untrue things stated as fact and many myths stated as fact, on a daily basis. Perhaps it would be a good idea to write articles that correct those untruths. Right now any article about the government or EU etc will have 95% of people complaining about god knows what, but most definitely complaining. Honestly many of things said are pure conspiracy theory. Thing is, the opinion polls are showing continued support for the government so something has gotten very skewed in here. I appreciate that people will often disagree but arming them with the facts is always a good thing. I emailed you previously suggesting an article on the myths surrounding the household charge so perhaps you’d have a think about that.
And that’s one of the reasons they want your €100 – to keep their arses nice and cosy and get us eejits to pay for it!
Our politicians should be ashamed of themselves, they’re not loosing out on anything, it’s us at the bottom of the food chain that’s suffering.
Shame, shame, shame on you!
Just what will it take for the people of Ireland to say enough is enough!….
Shirley,
We just did yesterday..
The property tax was only the conduit..
Now they know how the people of this feel.
But the arrogance and stupidity still continues.
Foolish to ignore this message.
It is the rock they will perish on..
You’ll probably use it to deport criminals.
While our youth emigrate on Ryanair.
Whats the big deal? If we have them we might as well use them! Theres no suggestion that the planes are being used for personal use by government members.
I have said this before and will probably say it again. We through our taxes pay for the jets. Try hitching a ride on one to say the UK when a minister is going there and see what the answer is.
Would people with no money be allowed to buy cars? WE ARE BROKE. they are borrowing to pay for jets. INSANE.
Eh one was bought 21 years ago and the other about 5 years ago……read the bloody article.
Yes they were bought years ago but they still have to be crewed, maintained and parked. Flying economy class is good enough for the President of Iceland, it should be good enough for our lot. Then again i’ve just looked at the Dail reply over ministerial expense claims and Varadkar claimed €750 for economy from Dublin to Luxembourg. If he thinks that’s value, I’d dread to see what he pays for flights to India!
€750 for 3 people…..
Gavin, if they can rob our Pension Reserve fund, tax our homes, sell our money making semi states and socialize private debt, then surely they could sell off one effin jet.
Enda Kenny said we face difficult decisions as a country. Seems the easy ones are being ignored.
If that makes me a commie, I don’t know what it make you.
@ Gavin,
Doesn’t matter what age they are or when they were purchased. They are extremely expensive to run, service and salaries to pay even when they are not flying. They could be sold Gavin, yes, at a loss, but the money that is made from the sale could be put to better use.
When Ireland is on top again in ……. 20/25 years time, then, if we feel we need one, purchase one.
Bastards
Can the ministers just .. get a life … Oh no we are still a banana republic and don’t have any resources to sell off now Corrib, Coillte, et al are gone anyone thought… who’s paying “airforce 1′s” fuel bill or the pilot by the way????
The airforce maybe?
Why do we all think that the government should not have private transportation…? I would imagine most governments have their own plane, which makes perfect sense. They are tools of the people we have elected to administrate the country, which means, regardless of our ability to use them when we want, they still are ours.
because were broke and were too small a country thats like manchester having 2 jets for their ministers.
The president of the USA has an extra 747 jumbo jet to fly behind his jumbo jet and carry all his helicopters and presidential limousines….
@ Randy Savage
I disagree with you on the subject of getting ‘rid’ of the Senate. It is there for many reasons. The senators discuss, argue and hold up laws being passed that the Dail try and bring in as law. They do this for you, me and all the Irish electorate.
They can’t stop the Dail passing it but they can certainly hold it up and maybe, maybe stop it going through. I believe that the Senate could be run by a smaller number of senators but we must hold on to it or whoever is in Government will get away with bloody murder because I, you …. nobody will be able to stop them. Whoever is in Government will have the majority of TDs in power, so they will always win.
@Actually Andrew its a C140 just thought you’d like to know.
Tools is right.
Actually Norman it is a C5 Galaxy.
Who ever is in charge of their PR should get the sack. First Phil refusing to pay his service Charge for his property in Portugal, and now this? Seriously, They’re their own worst enemies at this stage.
What needs to be done is a fully equip the Gulfstream for Air Ambulance missions rather then have it rusting in a hanger and using the CASA’s. The Ministerial Air Transport flight hours for the Learjet should be limited.
Randy Manchester is a city. We are a country. Give this government a chance. A lot to do in difficult times and knuckleheaded opposition to everything.
Slurp, slurp, slurp. FG really are FF just in rolled gold, and the green is starting to show!
If I was them I would sell it
@Alan Dempsey
Ah ya, but remember Alan, ‘they are them’, and we are us!!! They will always feel that ‘they are them’…. not us!!!!
Give a beggar a horse and he will ride to hell.
Continity FF run by Val Falvey types
Does any proof exist of these jets actually taking part in humanitarian or rescue assistance? I’m asking because I genuinely haven’t a clue. If so, how often are they in use? One day a year? Two? A week? I’m sure they aren’t out too much being government jets…
My point is they could be doing bugger all the majority of the year but how much is it costing to keep them doing bugger all? Maintenance, fuel etc all adds up. I’d bet you could get cheaper flights with Ryanair and while doing so, your placing your money into an Irish business…Give O’Leary a buzz, I bet he’d do a deal :-)
the search and rescue excuse was utter horseshit, neither aircraft are suitable for these tasks. Yes they could be used for air ambulance but there designed to fly high and fast. SAR aircraft are more likely to be the CASA as they can fly in bad weather and at lower speeds. Where did Shitter pull that excuse from!!
What government ministers to use commercial flights and Ryan air at that ?
No they might catch bad habits from ordinary people
Give the fuckers train and bus passes
The government jet brought Meadhbh McGivern to London for her operation. Ryanair would not cut it for something like this.
Keep the jets, downside is government use, upside is life saving air ambulance flights to the UK for transplant op’s. I don’t mind my tax bucks going towards that service.
Air corp, coast guard and charter companies have aircraft a plenty for air ambulance and other humanitarian tasks. Why do govt ministers need these expensive toys?
To put some factual detail on this, the following is the statement by the then Minister Killeen (from Budget Dec 2010)
“There are currently 2 aircrafts available for the Ministerial Air Transport Service. The Gulfstream IV aircraft is in service for almost 20 years and no provision has been made in the Estimates for a replacement or for any major structural repair. The Learjet aircraft will continue in operation.”
Now. There is nothing in there to suggest that the “Gulfstream Jet” was to be dispensed with. Nothing at all.
Keep the bloody jets. Get rid of Shatter instead the mope.
Welcome to Banana republic Airways !
Air corp and coast guard don’t have any aircraft suitable for popping across to UK hospitals except for those two jets, which are flown and managed by the air corp. As for charter. Your looking at next day for a flight, the planes generally have to be ferried to your nearest airport first. That’s no good to a child who gets a pager beeb at 2 am to go to Manchester within 4 hours.
These air craft, in the absence of a dedicated air ambulance service are very important as an option for the transport of transplant teams around Ireland when required. I believe a small price for such a vital function. If better organised maybe Maeve mc givern could have benefited , again HSE incompetence and little has been learnt since that cock up
Totally agree with Gary above. I think it now is up to the journal to write articles debunking much of the incorrect and frankly hysterical information that some of the people commenting are putting forward as fact. This then becomes like Chinese whispers.
They should only be used sparingly.
I approve of keeping the birds, they are actually very useful.
have your say