The double murder trial of dentist Colin Howell and his ex-lover Hazel Stewart will go ahead as planned later this month, a judge said today.

The trial of a dentist and his ex-lover accused of murdering their partners in the North nearly 20 years ago has had to be delayed because of a hold-up in obtaining psychiatric reports.

PATIENTS held under the Mental Health Act are rarely deemed “unfit to plead” in a criminal trial, an expert said yesterday.