Life term for dentist over murders

Dr Colin Howell, 51, changed his plea at Belfast Crown Court and admitted the 1991 killings which police first thought was a suicide pact.

He pleaded guilty to murdering his wife and mother-of-four Lesley, 31, and Pc Trevor Buchanan, 32, whose bodies were discovered in a fume-filled car in the seaside town of Castlerock, Co Londonderry.

Howell, also from Castlerock, had denied the two charges since his arrest last year, but owned up to the double murder when he stood in the dock as relatives of his victims looked on.

His former lover, Hazel Stewart, who was married to Pc Buchanan at the time, is due to stand trial for the two murders in Coleraine, Co Londonderry, next week.

Mother-of-two Mrs Stewart, 47, from Ballystrone Road, Coleraine – she later remarried – was in the Laganside court building yesterday but was not in Court 12 as her co-accused changed his plea.

Howell, dressed in a grey suit, white shirt and tie, spoke only three times during the 10-minute hearing – once to confirm his name and to answer guilty to each charge in turn.

Judge Mr Justice Anthony Hart told him that he would be jailed for life with his minimum term to be determined at a later hearing.

"You have pleaded guilty to two charges of murder. The only sentence the law allows is one of life imprisonment which I now sentence you," he said.

At the time, it was believed the two victims had taken their own lives because of depression over an affair between Howell and Stewart.