Colin Howell
(born 14 March 1959) is a Northern Irish
convicted double murderer. The murders and the surrounding story was the subject of
an ITV drama series The Secret, broadcast in April and May
2016.
Howell killed his wife Lesley
(née Clarke) and the husband of his lover, Trevor Buchanan (who was an RUC officer), in what appeared to be a
suicide pact between the spouses of two lovers. The bodies were found in a
fume-filled car in Castlerock on 19
May 1991. In 1998, Howell confessed the
murders to his second wife, but she agreed not to inform the authorities. She
was investigated following his arrest but was not charged.
Howell's ex-brother-in-law has since accused him of
murdering Harry Clarke. Howell's
father-in-law died only 11 days before Lesley.
After murdering his wife, Howell received a payout of
£400,000. He later lost £350,000 in a
get-rich-quick scheme which had claimed to find Yamashita's gold in the Philippines.
Howell had been led to believe he would
make £20 million; however, he only acquired a few brass ammunition boxes,
containing silver coins, worth about £30. Howell initially invested £100,000 but, over
six months steadily invested more after being told that the gold was buried
under booby-trapped tunnels. He sold his shares in two dental practices and
attempted to persuade friends to invest.
He believed that this, and the death of his son, was
punishments from God.
Howell, a native of Portadown
and a dentist by occupation, was a deeply religious father of ten and a former
lay preacher. He married Lesley in July
1983. They were members of the local Baptist
church. After his wife's death, Howell married Kyle Jorgensen, a native of New
York, with whom he had five children.
Howell confessed his role in the murders to elders in his
church who urged him to inform the police. He pled guilty to the murders on 18 November
2010 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was told he must serve a
minimum 21-year jail term.
His former lover Hazel
(née Elkin, formerly married to Trevor
Buchanan, currently married to David
Stewart) claimed in court that she acted under duress, but was found guilty
of the murders of Lesley Howell and Trevor Buchanan in March 2011 and
sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 18 years. The trial judge stated that Hazel Stewart could have prevented
Buchanan's death.
Police investigators were later criticized for having
overlooked some facts, most notably that the driver's window was open and that
Buchanan's leg was hanging out of the open car door; in addition, a witness had
told police that Howell had previously tried to murder his wife.
On 17 May 2011, Howell pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting
nine female patients in his surgery over a period of several years. He was consequently stripped of his National Health Service pension.
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