A jury has been introduced to the two friends credited with unwittingly inspiring the 'kidnapping charade' of the man accused of murdering writer Helen Bailey.

Accused Ian Stewart, 56, claims a mystery tattooed man called Nick and an accomplice named Joe kidnapped the author.

Her body was found in a cesspit under the garage of the £1.5 million home she shared with Stewart – her fiance – in Royston, Hertfordshire, together with her beloved pet dachshund Boris.

Stewart, a computer software engineer, is accused of drugging her with sleeping tablets, suffocating her and dumping her body so he could inherit her £4 million fortune and her homes, including one in Broadstairs.

He claims two mystery men kidnapped the 51-year-old author, and then tried to frame him for the crime last April.

But the prosecution says Stewart used two old friends, Joe Cippullo and Nick Cook, as inspiration for the kidnappers.

The two men were introduced to the jury at St Albans Crown Court on Monday, where Stewart was taking his fourth day on the witness stand.

Prosecutor Stuart Trimmer QC asked Stewart: “The men Joe and Nick are modelled on people you know, aren’t they?

“When you made up this tale, were they part of the images you made up?”

Stewart said he had known Joe for more than 10 years but neither man had crossed his mind for months.

He added: “Well Nick is Nick, nothing like the Joe I described, and Nick is nothing like the image I described.”

Mr Trimmer said: “Well they are both here so we can have a look, can’t we?”

The two men were ushered into the court and stood in front of the packed public gallery.
Mr Trimmer asked: “So these people are known well to you?”

Stewart said: “They were good friends.”

He claimed ‘Joe and Nick’ kidnapped Helen because of a dispute with her late husband John Sinfield.

But Mr Trimmer accused Stewart of “coming up with a story”, and told him: “You had to deal with the fact that her body was in your house in your cesspit.

“You had to deal with the fact that Boris was in your house in your cesspit, and the pillow slip and the dog’s toy and the bin bags were in your house in your cesspit.”

Stewart said someone could have framed him, but Mr Trimmer asked why.

The prosecutor added: “This is all a fragment of your imagination, isn’t it?”

Stewart said: “I wish it was.”

The court heard £12,000 was put into the couple’s joint Santander account after Helen disappeared.

Stewart claimed he “didn’t notice” the money going in.

"You had to deal with the fact that her body was in your house in your cesspit. You had to deal with the fact that Boris was in your house in your cesspit..." - Prosecutor Stuart Trimmer QC, to Stewart

The court also heard that by the time Stewart made a 101 call about Helen, he had her phone in his possession and was sending it text messages.

The prosecution claims the texts were intended to “leave a trail” showing Helen had left for time and space and Stewart wanted her back.

Last week, the jury heard Stewart claim he kept calling her phone just to hear her voice on the answer machine.

Stewart also claimed a mystery tattooed man called Nick kidnapped the author with an accomplice called Joe.

He said he spoke to Helen on the phone on Friday April 15, the day she was reported missing, as he was with Nick in the house.

During his third day on the witness stand at St Albans Crown Court, Stewart said: “I said hello. Helen says ‘I love you, sorry about everything’. And I said, ‘it’s not your fault’.”

He continued: “She said, ‘I need my phone. It’s on my desk. Give it to them and do what they say’.”

Stewart told the court that Nick then took the phone off him.

Defence barrister Simon Russell-Flint QC said: “This is Friday 15th. She’s alive, you are speaking with her and obviously not in the cess pit?”

Stewart replied “no”.

He said he couldn’t find the phone.

Stewart said: “Nick asked if anyone asked for Helen and I said Helen’s brother, John Bailey, had as well as some friends.”

When asked what Nick’s reaction was, Stewart said: “He was basically furious and he hit me.

“He hit me in the side and I ended up on all fours on the ground trying to get my breath.”

Stewart said he was told he “needed” to find the phone and go to Broadstairs, where the couple had a holiday cottage, the next day with or without the phone.

Stewart said he later found the phone in Helen’s study down the side of a chair, it was switched off and he thought it had no power.

He said he travelled to Broadstairs the following day and looked in the cottage, where the “wardrobe was emptier than it should have been”.

Stewart told the jury he “automatically” put both his and Helen’s phones on charge in the cottage and he fell asleep.

The court was previously told Helen’s phone was picked up on the router at the cottage after she was reported missing and Stewart denied to police that he knew where it was.

He said: “I got up, picked the phones up, turned Helen’s on just without thinking.

“And I realised almost instantly I had been told not to use it and I turned it off.”

Stewart said he went to meet Nick and asked to see Helen but Nick said he couldn’t yet, and wanted him to drive to Margate and meet him there.

He said they met there the same day, on Saturday April 16, and Nick took Helen’s phone.

Stewart told the jury: “I said, ‘Can I speak to Helen now? Is she here? Where is she?’

“He said, ‘No, we still need a few days to sort out this problem’.”

Stewart said he believed Helen had been reunited with her phone and tried contacting her in case she could hear his messages. Through tears and broken speech, he said: “I rang her phone regularly just to hear her voice on the answer machine.”

Stewart, a father-of-two, is charged with murder, three counts of perverting the course of justice, preventing a lawful burial, and fraud.

He denies all the charges and the trial continues.