Killer in the House: Where is Hazel Stewart now?

The heartbreaking murders of Constable Trevor Buchanan, 32, and Lesley Howell, 31, back in 1991 have been the subject of several TV programmes, both documentaries and dramatisations alike.

Now, ITV is re-examining the case which saw Colin Howell and Hazel Stewart murder their partners and stage it to look like a joint suicide, as part of its Killer in the House series. Trevor and Lesley were sadly both found dead in a gas-filled garage, with Colin and Hazel going on to allege it was because their affair had been uncovered and resulted in the demise of their respective relationships.

A legal document stated: "On 19 May 1991, the bodies of Lesley Howell and Trevor Buchanan were discovered a car in the garage of Mrs Howell’s father who had died a few weeks earlier. Mr Buchanan’s body was slumped in the front driver’s seat, while Lesley Howell’s body was found lying in the boot of the car.

"Lesley Howell’s body was found with headphones on and family photographs were positioned beside her body. Fitted to the end of the exhaust pipe of the car was one end of a vacuum cleaner hose pipe. The other end of the hose was located in the boot beside the head of Lesley Howell."

Hazel and Colin's families were both torn apart with grief as a result, but it wasn't until almost two decades later that the truth would out, when Colin confessed to his role in the murders in 2009 – implicating Hazel in the process.

Here's what we know about Hazel Stewart's involvement in the tragic killing of Trevor and Lesley, and where she is today.

Hazel Stewart is a former Sunday school teacher who was first publicly linked to the murder of her former partner, Trevor Buchanan, and Colin Howell's wife, Lesley Howell, in 2011.

Trevor and Lesley were both found in a gassed out garage in Castlerock, Co Londonderry, in May 1991 and it was initially believed to be the result of a joint suicide after learning that their spouses were having an affair with one another.

Nearly two decades on, dentist Colin confessed all was not as it first seemed. According to the Irish Independent's reporting, "[Colin] Howell confessed all to the police after being conned out of £353,000 in a crazy scheme to recover gold bullion which was supposedly buried in the Philippines, admitting to another affair and indecently assaulting women in his dental clinic at Ballymoney, Co Antrim."

When speaking about their affair in court in 2011 and giving evidence against Hazel (from whom he had split with by that point), Colin would go on to say, "Hazel and I were waltzing together, in time. All the side-stepping was done together. I was not dragging her around the floor. I may have been the lead partner in that dance, but she was doing it in perfect harmony, and willingly."

Legal documents on the case later said of Hazel: "In her fourteenth interview the police put to her that when she got the phone call from Howell in the early hours of the morning she knew that Lesley Howell had been murdered and that the plan was going ahead. It was put to her 'You fully accept that?' She said 'Yes, I do'. This was entirely at odds with her assertions in earlier interviews that she did not know why [Colin] was coming [to see her on the date of the murders].

"The police put to her the following question: 'You were allowing somebody with your consent (and you had been in it from the start) to come and murder your husband, that he had murdered his own partner which was all part of the plan? Do you accept that?' Her answer was 'Yes'."

During the 2011 trial, the court heard how Hazel was a willing accomplice in the double murders. "She cut up and burned the garden hose he used to pipe in the poisonous carbon monoxide fumes, washed the bedclothes, and then agreed to concoct a story that fooled investigating police officers," reports state.

She would go on to receive an 18-year prison sentence after being found guilty of the murders of Lesley and Trevor.

In 2025, Hazel would claim that she was suffering from severe PTSD and depression when she helped to kill the two much-loved parents. The appeal failed.

Speaking of Hazel's efforts to have her sentence overturned, Lesley's children said, "This is a life sentence, and we must continue to live with the pain caused by Hazel's ongoing attempt to evade justice. Nothing will bring our mum back [...] [Our] beautiful mum's memory will not be shadowed by this, and we will continue to love and honour the person she was."

Hazel is currently serving her sentence in HMP Maghaberry, a high security prison near Lisburn, Northern Ireland.