He said he was teaching Stewart the front crawl when he apologised for not having 'innocent thoughts' about her. The couple met at swimming lessons organised by the church. The two of them plotted to get rid of their spouses and dress it up to look like suicide so that they could spend the rest of their lives together. Despite their outward appearances as God-fearing parents, Howell and Stewart were not just lovers but ruthless killers. No one, however, suspected the real truth, a dark secret that lay hidden for 19 years. It would be almost 20 years before he was convicted for the crimes Howell, a religious man, pictured with his wife Lesley before her murder at his hands in 1991. Stewart, a 58-year-old mother-of-two, who was a Sunday school teacher when she fell for lay preacher Howell, finally broke her silence this week, telling the Belfast Telegraph this week that she had been 'naive'. Stewart denied everything, saying she was an innocent pawn but Howell revealed they had plotted the murders together, telling the jury: 'I may have been the lead partner in the waltz but Hazel was dancing in cooperation.' Howell was convicted in December 2010 and sentenced to a minimum of 21 years. Stewart is currently serving 18 years in Hydebank Prison in Belfast for her part in the murder, which saw their spouses found dead in May 1991, slumped in a parked Toyota with a pipe running from the exhaust into the car in an apparent double suicide. Hazel Stewart, also known by her married name of Hazel Buchanan, and lover Colin Howell were convicted of murdering Howell's wife Lesley, 31, and Stewart's husband Trevor, 32, in 1991. The accomplice of killer dentist Colin Howell has spoken out for the first time from her prison cell about their relationship, saying he 'held all the cards' and she was too terrified of him to confess to their crimes.
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