''Let This Be Our Secret'' is a true-crime book by award-winning

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

Deric Henderson about how

Colin Howell Colin Howell (born 14 March 1959) is a Northern Irish convicted double murderer. The murders and surrounding story were the subject of an ITV drama series '' The Secret'', broadcast in April and May 2016. Howell killed his wife Lesley (née Cla ...

, aided and abetted by his mistress and fellow-Christian Hazel Stewart, callously killed their spouses and buried the truth for 18 years by making the deaths look like a suicide pact.

Background

The pair, one the wife of a dentist the other an officer of the

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...

(R.U.C.), died in what was then believed to be a suicide pact, although they were not lovers. The body of nurse Lesley Howell, 30, wearing

Walkman Walkman, stylised as , is a brand of portable audio players manufactured and marketed by Japanese technology company Sony since 1979. The original Walkman was a portable cassette player and its popularity made "walkman" an unofficial term for ...

earphones and clutching photos of her four children, lay on the back seat of a car.

Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

Trevor Buchanan, 31, who was originally from near

Omagh Omagh (; from ga, An Ómaigh , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers River Drumragh, Drumragh and Camowen River, Camowen meet to form the River Strule, Strule. North ...

, lay dead in the front seat. The car was filled with exhaust fumes inside the garage of a house in the seaside town of

Castlerock Castlerock is a seaside village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is five miles west of Coleraine, and part of Causeway Coast and Glens district. It is very popular with summer tourists, with numerous apartment blocks and two caravan ...

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

, in

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

in May 1991. An inquest heard that no crime was suspected, and returned verdicts of suicide.

Howell's secret

Eighteen years later, in 2009, Howell's husband

, 50, a

dental implant A dental implant (also known as an endosseous implant or fixture) is a prosthesis that interfaces with the bone of the jaw or skull to support a dental prosthesis such as a crown, bridge, denture, or facial prosthesis or to act as an orthodonti ...

specialist, church-goer and

born-again Christian Born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelicalism, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is distinctly and sepa ...

, contacted police. Colin Howell revealed that the two were murdered by their respective spouses at the time: himself and Sunday school teacher Hazel Buchanan (later, Stewart) who were in fact, lovers. Their relationship continued secretly for five years after the murders, and both later remarried. Deric Henderson's 2011 book tells the story of dentist Howell and his lover with coverage of both trials and interviews of family members among others. A publication summary reads:

A series of disasters in Howell's life – the death of his eldest son, massive losses in an investment scam and the revelation that he has been sexually assaulting female patients – lead to him declaring that he is a fraud and a godless man. He tells the elders of his Church that he and Hazel Stewart conspired together to murder their spouses nearly two decades earlier.

TV series

Henderson's account became a 2016 TV miniseries titled '' The Secret'', starring

James Nesbitt William James Nesbitt (born 15 January 1965) is an actor from Northern Ireland. From 1987, Nesbitt spent seven years performing in plays that varied from the musical '' Up on the Roof'' (1987, 1989) to the political drama ''Paddywack'' (1994) ...

, with

Genevieve O'Reilly Genevieve O'Reilly (born 6 January 1977) is an Irish actress. She is known for her work in the ''Star Wars'' franchise as Mon Mothma, having portrayed the character in ''Revenge of the Sith'', ''Rogue One'', and the Disney+ series '' Andor'', ...

as Hazel Buchanan,

Laura Pyper Laura Pyper is a Northern Irish actress, known for portraying Ella Dee in the second season of '' Hex'', Jane Fairfax in '' Emma'' and Lexine Murdoch in the video game '' Dead Space: Extraction''. She also played Lesley Howell in '' The Secret' ...

as Lesley Howell, and

Jason Watkins Jason Watkins (born 28 October 1962) is an English stage, film and television actor. He played the lead role in the two-part drama ''The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies'', for which he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor. He has also ...

as Pastor John Hansford. ''The Secret'' is written by Stuart Urban, directed by Nick Murphy, and produced by Jonathan Curling; the executive producers are

Hat Trick Productions Hat Trick Productions is an independent British production company that produces television and radio programmes, mainly specialising in comedy, based in London. History Hat Trick Productions was founded in 1986 by Rory McGrath, Jimmy Mulville ...

Mark Redhead Mark Redhead is a British producer, director, and occasional actor. He was the producer of ''Bloody Sunday'' and an executive producer of God on Trial. He has been nominated for several awards and won a BAFTA TV Award in 2000 for '' The Murder of ...

and Stuart Urban.

References

{{Reflist British non-fiction books Non-fiction crime books Works set in the 1990s