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BBC Airs Colin Howell’s Police Confession Tapes for First Time

The documentary discloses police questioning over child abuse images found on a seized computer, a claim Howell rejects.

Overview

  • Confessions of a Killer, a two-part BBC series, releases original audio from Howell’s January 2009 interviews at Coleraine PSNI Station.
  • The recordings capture Howell detailing how he staged the 1991 deaths of Lesley Howell and Trevor Buchanan to resemble a joint suicide.
  • Police seized a computer during the 2009 inquiry and found images of children; Howell denied ever accessing such material and was not prosecuted over it.
  • Howell pleaded guilty to the murders in 2010, Hazel Stewart was convicted in 2011, and both remain in prison serving life sentences.
  • Howell was also convicted in 2011 of indecent assaults on five dental patients, while his daughter has criticized the BBC’s handling of the broadcast; the BBC says it acted with care and engaged family members.