Double murderer Hazel Stewart was under the coercive control of her then lover, Colin Howell, when the couple killed her husband and his wife, the Court of Appeal has been told.
Judgment was reserved on whether to grant Stewart leave to appeal her sentence of a minimum of 18 years in prison.
Stewart, a 62-year-old former Sunday school teacher, and her former lover, dentist Howell, were convicted in 2011 of the murders of their spouses, Trevor Buchanan (32) and Lesley Howell (31).
The Belfast court on Friday heard an application to extend time to allow an appeal against the sentence to take place.
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Stewart watched proceedings via videolink from Hydebank women’s prison in south Belfast.
Brendan Kelly KC, for Stewart, argued that his client had been under the coercive control of Howell at the time of the murders. He argued that as this concept “was not identified or recognised” at the time of her trial in 2011, this should be regarded as fresh evidence and an appeal allowed.
Mr Kelly outlined to the court new reports from a consultant psychiatrist, which state that Stewart had been suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder following an abortion in 1990 after she became pregnant by Howell. He said these, coupled with Howell’s coercive behaviour, “ought to have been taken into account when determining the minimum term” of Stewart’s sentence.
“That is what is at the core of this application,” he said.
Prosecution barrister Philip Henry KC challenged the medical evidence, saying it had been provided 13 years after the event. He said it was “in direct contradiction to the expert opinion of every doctor that has gone before”, none of whom “had any concerns about mental illness at the time of the offending”.
It was, he added, “a minority opinion without any support”.
He also argued that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the case as Stewart had abandoned a previous appeal.
Lady Chief Justice Siobhan Keegan, sitting with two senior judges, requested clarification and the submission of documents on several issues. She said she aimed to give a ruling on the application next month.
The bodies of Buchanan and Howell were found inside a fume-filled garage in Castlerock, Co Derry, in 1991.
Police originally believed they had died in a suicide pact after discovering their partners were having an affair.
The case was reopened in 2009 after Howell confessed to their murders and implicated Stewart in a plot to drug and kill them.
Previous attempts to have her convictions overturned have failed.
Relatives of the victims, including Lesley Howell’s daughter Lauren and siblings of Trevor Buchanan, were in court for Friday’s hearing.
