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Jury sworn in for NI double murder trial

Hazel Stewart - Denies murder charge
Hazel Stewart - Denies murder charge

A jury has been sworn in for the trial of a Derry woman accused of a double murder almost 20 years ago.

47-year-old Hazel Stewart, from Coleraine, denies killing her husband Trevor Buchanan and Lesley Howell in the seaside town of Castlerock in Derry in May 1991.

The bodies of 32-year-old Mr Buchanan, an RUC Constable, and Mrs Howell, a mother-of-four were discovered in a car.

At the time, police believed they died by suicide. The case was reopened in 2009.

Colin Howell, the husband of Lesley Howell and a well known dentist in the North, pleaded guilty to both murders last year.

The trial before nine men and three women is expected to last four weeks at Coleraine Crown Court.