A dentist has pleaded guilty to the murders of his wife and his ex-lover's husband who were first thought to have died in a suicide pact in Northern Ireland almost 20 years ago.
Dr Colin Howell, 51, from Castlerock, Co Derry, who denied the two charges since his arrest last year, changed his plea when he appeared in the dock at Belfast Crown Court.
He admitted murdering his wife and mother-of-four Lesley, 31, and Constable Trevor Buchanan, 32, whose bodies were discovered in a car filled with carbon monoxide fumes in May 1991.
It was believed at the time that the pair had taken their own lives because of their depression over an affair between Howell and the police officer's wife.
But detectives re-opened the investigation in January last year when they interviewed Howell about the deaths.
His former lover, mother-of-two Hazel Stewart, 47, from Ballystrone Road, Coleraine - who later remarried - is due to stand trial next week charged with the two murders.
Howell was told in court that he would be jailed for life with his minimum term to be determined at a later hearing.
