# Footsteps of Jesus... #
'The church and my family are my life.'
I want us to live our whole lives together. Me too.
What if Lesley and Trevor were to die? How would it work?
You'll alert me when Trevor's off duty. He'll have to be sedated.
(GASPS AND STRUGGLES) (THUDS)
MAN: 'I'm terribly sorry to say that Lesley has been found, and Trevor.'
I'm afraid it appears that they have taken their own lives.
Who's he? None of your business.
Get out of my house! We sacrificed so much to be together! I never wanted any sacrifice!
You drew me in! This isn't finished...and it never will be.
(DOORBELL RINGS) I'm Kyle Jorgensen. Is this the right place?
Kyle, I am a good father and husband to you, aren't I? Of course.
I need to tell you something.
I killed Lesley... and I killed Trevor.
'But God has forgiven me. Can you?'
Hazel, how are you? (TREMBLING VOICE) I'm well, thanks.
I'm married now. How are the kids? Matt's at university.
MAN: That was Colin Howell, wasn't it? (SHAKEN) Yes. Are you all right?
Not really.
(SIGHS)
It's Matt!
Hello? YOUNG MAN: He must've slipped and fallen over the banister.
Assuming it took five seconds for you to react,
that totals 17.6 seconds...
..for my son to contemplate his imminent death.
'You have punished me as You punished King David.'
Show me I am forgiven! Let me prosper, like King David prospered!
(SEAGULLS CRY)
(CAWING)
(POIGNANT MUSIC)
I brought death into the family... and this has been my punishment.
But it's all right. It means that God and I are all square.
How can you say that? Because I know now that I am forgiven.
You said before that you'd repented and had been forgiven,
but that's not true. God is still punishing us!
But don't you understand? What? You remember, in the Book of Samuel, how David saw Bathsheba bathing,
he fell in love and just had to possess her? (SOBS)
He engineered to get her husband killed!
He took a life, so God punished him by taking his son. I sinned and God took my son.
But with David's repentance, God forgave him and he became a great king.
I...I have been punished and I, too, will be forgiven. But you still haven't repented, Colin!
No, God allowed David to become a great king.
God allowed David to prosper, and I will prosper! Colin...
God has shown me a way to gain great wealth, even while performing good works.
I have new business interests. Through them, I will show you that God supports me!
I want you out the house. No, don't, Kyle, don't. I'll show you I'm forgiven. He's guiding me now.
I just don't believe you any more! He's shown me a way to bring us great wealth! You'll see... (SIGHS)
'Hello? Hello?'
Oh, hello, yes, it's Colin Howell here.
That's right, yes. Can you hear me?
Yes, how's Manila?
Colder here now, I have to say.
So I just wanted to, erm, confirm... LAPTOP: "(PANTING AND MOANING)"
..that the second tranche, the second payment... (LAPTOP OFF)
That's right. If you can confirm that that has gone through,
then we can start to work on the third tranche. Thank you. Lovely to talk to you.
(ENGINE STARTS UP)
(SEAGULLS CRY)
I can't believe how tall you've gotten! Taller than Dad was?
Easily! He used to sleep on boards to make sure he was tall enough to join the RUC.
I don't remember him being really tall. Do you want a cup of tea? Oh, I'm all right, thank you, Dave.
Andrew's got lectures this afternoon. Want me to run you to the station? No, I'll take him.
I'm driving, though. No, you are not. Give me those - No. Go! Please! No. Why not? Bye!
(OMINOUS MUSIC)
Can you take this to the Northern Bank as soon as it opens tomorrow?
Erm, tell them I am the sender...and it's going to this overseas account.
The reference is "Church Work". Of course, Mr Howell. What? Of course.
Erm...don't tell anyone.
In 1945, the Imperial Japanese Army left huge quantities of sequestered gold
in the jungles of the Philippines. No-one has located it...till now.
Good Lord. Hm!
A church contact in Manila has a team
which has now pinpointed the precise location of these assets.
The blue-sky potential of the salvage operation after costs and commission
is north of £10 million. OK.
The objective is to finance a global Christian charity initiative.
(SIGHS)
I inherited a considerable sum after I lost Lesley
and, as a man of faith, it seems morally right to invest in a worthy cause.
So far, I've committed £150,000...
..and I wondered if the Fellowship could match that.
I'm not sure, Colin. That's...that's a considerable amount of money.
This puts me in a very uncomfortable position.
This is only open to a very select and sophisticated investor profile.
Like-minded Christians, on a very discreet basis.
Now, Phase 4 has been completed on schedule and on budget.
Phase 5 will be actioned next week at the excavation site.
We just need the last tranche of operational cash.
I've sold my half of the Ballymoney practice as a show of confidence in the venture.
Colin, this is all sounding very dodgy. Yeah, yeah, but Peter, my first recovered assets -
"Recovered assets"? What we already have discovered, already excavated, they arrive Monday, by courier,
if...if you want to see proof - and listen, Peter.
Your investment would guarantee the final salvage, so - You know I can't.
So would you like to come in with £30,000? You know I can't. Ten?
Colin... No? OK, listen if you can get it to me by the weekend, I'll take five.
(SEAGULLS CRY)
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
(RATTLING)
(METALLIC CLATTERING)
Oh, God, oh, God! Oh, God! Oh, God...
(HYPERVENTILATES) Oh, God, oh, God...
(FRANTIC WHISPERING)
(POIGNANT MUSIC)
(SEAGULLS CRY)
He's on his way. You need to come now.
(SEAGULLS CRY)
(SHEEP BLEAT IN DISTANCE)
I understand there's something you'd like to share with us, Colin.
I fear for my immortal soul.
I have been unfaithful to you... many times.
And I have touched...
..female patients. KYLE: Oh!
I touched them sexually. (SOBS) They were under sedation.
I can't stop myself.
I've taken £238,000 from patients whose treatments I might not be able to complete.
Maybe more.
I owe over £100,000 to the Inland Revenue.
I've emptied our savings accounts.
I've lost £360,000.
We'll lose this house. We'll lose everything.
And all for Japanese..."war gold".
The whole thing was a gigantic con, a fraud,
and I realised that I...
(SNIFFS, THEN VOICE BREAKS) ..I realised that I am a fraud.
My whole life has been a fraud.
God...finally told me.
I heard His actual voice.
If we put all our sins before the Cross,
the Resurrection of both the just and the unjust take place on Judgment Day.
On...the night...
..of May the 18th 1991,
I murdered my wife Lesley and Trevor Buchanan.
What Hazel and I were doing
was causing so much pain to Lesley and Trevor,
I actually thought I could take that away from them.
We talked about divorce, but I believed that would cause the children too much suffering.
(SNIFFS) In my mind, er...
..it was much worse for Lesley and Trevor to live than to die,
so I made a plan to kill them
and to...make it look like suicide.
It had to be done very, very quickly to fool the pathologist.
The times of death had to be very close together.
I wanted it to be um...
(SOBS) ..easy and painless.
They'd fall asleep, wouldn't feel anything, but...in the end, they did.
Lesley woke up. She called out for...
(SNIFFS) ..she called out for Matthew.
Trevor woke up. I'd told Hazel
to get him to take something to make him fall asleep,
but he woke up and he fought, so...
..Lesley and Trevor both knew they were going to die.
After the struggle, when Trevor was dead, I told Hazel to clear things up.
'I never...thought I'd get away with it, but...
(SOBS) ..but God knew.'
He took my son.
And Lesley and Trevor, they both knew death was coming.
Lesley dying...
..with Matt's name on her lips,
that was God's warning to me.
Hello?
Hi, darling. Hi.
These police officers would like to talk to you.
(OMINOUS MUSIC)
Why?
What's been said?
Just tell the truth. Everything will be fine.
OK?
(NO AUDIBLE SPEECH/ PHONE RINGS IN DISTANCE)
(KNOCKS AT DOOR) Am I going to be here much longer?
Good evening. I am Detective Sergeant Geoff Ferris.
Can I call you Hazel? Yes.
You're in here because you, along with Colin,
are suspected of being involved in the murders.
That's not right. That's not fair.
Why should I be taken down because of HIS act? Why should he drag me down?
I was a victim in my own home because of him.
I accept I am responsible for letting Colin into my house.
You feel that the only thing that you did wrong
was letting Howell into your house that night? Don't you think that's enough?
(SIGHS) (SCRIBBLING)
When Colin arrived at your house, you knew he was there to get rid of Trevor.
No, no, no. OK. Then what action did you take to stop it?
I couldn't do anything...because he controlled me.
He told me to go into the guest room and not to come out.
I was so scared, I thought, "If I say something against this,
he's going to turn around and kill me."
I am a...soft person, but he is a VERY controlling person!
I was easy prey.
But you knew why he was coming around. He rang you.
(SOBS) He just said...he just said he was coming round.
Just for a chit-chat?
Well, I didn't think he was coming round with Lesley in the boot, no.
So let's go over this once more. Colin drives right into your garage
with an experienced police officer and a loaded gun potentially waiting for him...
..and Colin was prepared to roll out a hosepipe right through the house and into the bedroom,
knowing fine rightly that this man's not even going to waken up here. But he did waken. He did waken.
There was a struggle. Well, I'm not surprised he wakened up at that stage of the game.
The fumes could have upset him, woke him up.
But did you give Trevor any drug, or tablet, or whatever that evening?
Well, Trevor took something, because he had some tablets.
All right. What tablets?
I don't...know. Sleeping tablets, but Lesley had given him.
You've a problem with telling the truth in here, Hazel.
You're trying to dig your heels in to try and distance yourself from it!
How did Trevor get the sedatives in his system?
I...I didn't actually give it to him.
He took it him...himself.
I...I didn't encourage.
Well, he said he couldn't sleep at night, so I just says, "Well...
..why don't you take some?"
Part of the plan was that Colin wished you to do this.
No, he wanted me to do this,
but I wasn't for doing it. I wasn't doing it!
(SIGHS) So you're now saying that you were fully aware that Trevor took a tablet that night.
He took a tablet. Yes, I was aware of that.
And you were also aware that, maybe, as a last resort, you had to give it to him,
which, you know, you didn't want to do, but Colin had asked you to do it. Colin HAD asked me to do it!
So you were aware that Colin come up that night to carry out his plan.
He had a plan.
We...had a plan. Whatever way you want to put it.
Yes. And when it came to it, I didn't want to do it...
And in - ..but it's done. And in relation to this plan...
(SOBS)
..do you accept that you went along with it?
I let it happen. He told me what to do and I did.
And this plan that you went along with, do you accept now that you could've stopped it?
(SOBS)
It could've been stopped, yes.
Your part was to drug Trevor, conceal vital evidence...
..and continue the deceit by fooling police, friends and family. (SOBS)
Yes.
This had to be a joint enterprise between the two of you.
The two of you had to work together to make this plan come to fruition. Do you accept that?
(THROUGH TEARS) Yes. And your relationship continued?
(Yes.)
Your children have grown over the years
accepting what you have told them about the death of their father... (SOBS)
(Yeah...) But there's nobody else to blame here, is there,
except for you and Colin. Would you agree?
The biggest mistake I've made in my life was ever meeting Colin Howell
and I've paid the price for the past 18 years.
I've lost my life. It was like living with a black hole every day I woke up.
Every night I went to bed, it was there.
I thought about it 24/7...
but I...
..I had to be strong for my children.
(CRIES) My guilt was horrendous, my shame...
And I've wrecked my wonderful David's life, my children's...
(THROUGH TEARS) They need me! They need me, and I can't be there for them.
I can't have them now because of this! (SOBS)
(APPROACHING FOOTSTEPS)
(BIRDSONG)
(SIGHS)
I phoned the kids. They know you got bail.
Will you not look at me?
Of course. Sorry. (SIREN WAILS IN DISTANCE)
I wasn't me back then.
Hazel...
I know you. God knows you.
You are the most loving, good, pure person that I have ever met.
(What am I going to do?) What are WE gonna do?
(KEYS JANGLE)
(DOOR CREAKS)
Howell?
# (DISTANT SINGING)
Hello again, Colin. DC Devine. How are you?
(SILENCE)
I'd like to speak with you. Your lawyer here will confirm you're under no obligation to talk to me
now that you've been convicted. It's up to you, Colin.
It's fine.
Hazel Stewart.
As you know, she's been released on bail.
She's pleading Not Guilty on the grounds that you coerced her.
She says it was all down to you.
Is that true, Colin? It won't affect your sentence, but would you be willing to come to court,
give an account of what took place?
(OMINOUS MUSIC)
(MUSIC INTENSIFIES)
(SEAGULLS CRY / DOG BARKS)
(LOW CONVERSATION)
WOMAN: That's Hazel Stewart.
Ready?
I'm frightened.
Lord, we ask that You watch over our beloved Hazel
and grant her justice in her time of trial.
(RUMBLE OF THUNDER) Let the jury understand that she was his victim, too,
an innocent victim.
(SEAGULLS CRY)
Hazel! Still confident you'll be found Not Guilty? How's it affected your relationship? How do you feel?
(INDISTINCT COMMENTS)
Come this way, please.
(WHISPERING)
WOMAN: Is that the family?
(HUM OF CONVERSATION)
My Lord, the Crown wishes to call its next witness.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)
(SIGHS)
Mr Howell, you made a full confession to the police
in relation to the murders of your wife Lesley and Trevor Buchanan.
Last year, did you plead Guilty and have now been sentenced in respect of these offences?
Yes, that's correct.
Why did you go to the police? I have no other motivation than to tell the truth
and to allow proper healing to the victims to happen.
Let's go back to 1991.
I want to ask you about the 14th May. Did you meet with Hazel Buchanan? Yes.
Did you tell her a plan? In the car, yes, yes.
Basically, I said to her, "I have a plan for Trevor and Lesley
that can look as if they've committed suicide, but I need your help."
Did she object to you doing it?
Not to the principle of killing Trevor, killing Lesley - no.
Did you give her anything that night? I gave her tablets.
I needed Hazel to cooperate with giving Trevor the medication
so that he would be asleep when I would arrive at the house.
She understood by this stage, before I gave her the tablets, that that was to be her role,
that one of the first steps of her role was that Trevor would be asleep when I arrived.
Had you any particular concern about Trevor?
Yes, he had a gun, so if I...if he woke up,
he could get up and shoot me - as simple as that.
Did you discuss anything else? Yes.
After she took the tablets, I felt it was the moment when the plan was accepted and agreed upon.
It was almost like the contract was signed,
and so I explained to her the four roles she would have to undertake
for this to be successful.
To give the tablets - Step One.
Earlier in the evening, Step Two was to leave the car out of the garage.
Step Three was to leave the clothes out.
Step Four was to cut up the hosepipe and burn it afterwards. (WHISPERS)
So after that meeting in the car, as far as you were concerned,
how much of the plan had been discussed with Hazel?
Not all of the detail, but 100% of the plan.
(MURMURING)
All rise.
No, what he's saying is not true! There's nothing he said we didn't expect.
I got away from him and he's never forgiven me.
He controlled everything. You have to make them believe that. Please trust me,
we know what we're trying to achieve. Maybe...maybe I should speak.
I need to go on the witness stand.
Mrs Stewart, as your husband has observed,
the prosecution's first question is likely to be,
"What was it like having sex with your husband's killer...
..for four years?" We've agreed that the way to do this is to expose Colin.
The jury must see him for the liar that he is.
He's a double murderer. He'll make the jury see that.
You don't know him. You don't know what he's capable of.
I suggest you're a man who would simply do and say anything for your own selfish ends.
You've lied. You lied to Lesley, didn't you?
I did, yes. You lied to the police?
In 1991, yes.
And I suggest you've lied about what the accused did,
and you've elevated what she did to a joint enterprise as an accomplice to you.
That's not right. At your tariff hearing, Mr Howell,
your defence counsel, in an eloquent plea on your behalf,
said that you weren't a "monster". Do you remember that?
He said what I did was monstrous, but that I was not a monster, yes.
Yes. You are a monster, Mr Howell, aren't you?
I was a monster. I was a killer, but I'm not any longer.
That's part of my confession.
Mr Howell, you've been described as "manipulative". Absolutely. I was very manipulative, yes, I was.
Evil?
(INHALES SLOWLY) Yes...I was evil.
Now can I use another adjective to describe you? Would you think you are a controlling person?
I don't believe that I am.
Your relationships with women were not controlling-type relationships?
Actually, I was so out of control,
ultimately, the women in my life controlled ME, because of the adultery I'd had.
Did your financial position improve immeasurably with your wife's death?
After about a year, yes.
The net benefit you obtained from her estate was £212,466, is that right? Yes.
And there were other benefits, such as the life insurance of £120,000.
Your murderous intent was all about the money, was it not?
That was not the motive behind it. That wasn't discussed by me or by Hazel,
because if I had a financial motive,
you'd have to suggest that perhaps Hazel did, as well.
Nothing to do with Hazel at all. All to do with you, Mr Howell.
But this trial is about Hazel.
Isn't the fact of the matter...
that you are, and have been for most of your adult life, Mr Howell, a sexual predator?
No. When I went to Hazel's house, I knew I was not there for guitar lessons.
I walked into the spider's web.
Flies go into a spider's web because they might think there is some food for them there,
so I willingly went after the bait, and we got caught together in a trap.
Isn't your view of Hazel that she was someone who was fairly simplistic and was easy to control?
We have this wrong perception of people who are easily led,
people who have the disguise and the guile to appear innocent.
A word Hazel used about herself is, "I'm just soft,"
but that's part of the huge deception that I was under about Hazel.
Are you saying therefore that no, you didn't control this?
(SILENCE)
The last thing I want to do is make things worse for Hazel... than she deserves,
but control is a very complex thing,
so if I was controlling in one area, Hazel was controlling in another.
'It was a dance between control and manipulation,
two people waltzing together in time.'
I may have been the lead partner, but she was not dragging her feet.
'She was in step and in harmony.'
Is it not that everybody dances to your tune?
What's best for Colin Howell is best for everybody - isn't that right?
Basically, you just do what you want, really?
No.
This was a completely mutual decision, as with the abortion.
Like...a blood contract that Hazel and I had secretly.
A big secret, a strong bond...
..which meant that, when it came to my idea
of a joint venture to kill Trevor and Lesley,
we had already signed a contract in blood that it is OK to kill a human.
Hazel wanted it and I facilitated it.
If you look at the murders, I wanted it and Hazel facilitated it.
So we were both waltzing in time.
She was my full partner.
JUDGE: You must weigh carefully what Mrs Stewart said in her police interviews.
The legal definition of "joint enterprise"
does not mean that Mrs Stewart had physically to commit the murders herself,
and the word "plan" does not mean that there had to be a formal agreement,
worked out in fine detail.
Put simply, the question for you is, "Were they in it together?"
Did she do everything she could to prevent the murders?
Why did she not wake her husband, keep the door closed,
scream the house down, or run to a neighbour to raise the alarm and get help?
The defendant please stand.
Have you reached a verdict on Count One - the murder of Lesley Howell?
Yes, we have. What is the verdict? Guilty or not guilty?
Guilty, Your Honour. LISA: No! No, no, no! (WAILS)
(SOBS)
(MELANCHOLY PIANO MELODY)
(NO AUDIBLE SPEECH)
Put your clothes here.
(APPROACHING FOOTSTEPS)
(BELL RINGS)
(PHONE RINGS)
MALE PRISON OFFICER: Hello?
Yeah, we're coming down about three o'clock.
Yeah, they'll be here later. All right. See you then.
(HANGS UP)
You know, I'm quite all right with taking my punishment.
I've repented my sins...
..and when I walk back out of here,
I'll have atoned for my crimes and paid my debt.
The slate will be wiped clean and I'll have another 20 years of life to enjoy.
My family is known for its longevity.
(POIGNANT MUSIC)
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