Report condemns investigation into Dentist murderer

Dentist Colin Howell and his ex-lover Hazel Stewart got away with murder for almost 20 years because of a deeply flawed police investigation which also failed the families of their two victims, a report claimed today.

Even though the pair were found to have lied in the days after the discovery of the bodies, detectives persisted in believing the deaths of Lesley Howell, 31, and Constable Trevor Buchanan, 32, were suicides – revealing an investigative bias which inhibited an effective and thorough inquiry lacking objectivity and focus, the report said.