Colin Howell’s daughter criticises BBC over documentary on murderer

The daughter of double-murderer Colin Howell says it has been very distressing to hear her father’s confession to killing her mother and his lover’s husband.

It is the first time the confession tapes of the killer and sex offender have been broadcast in public, as part of a BBC documentary.

Lauren Bradford-Clarke says she requested to hear the clips in advance of broadcast, but was disappointed this was denied by the BBC.

The BBC said the production team were in touch “with immediate family members about the making of this series and invited them to contribute to it”.

“We understand the sensitivities involved and the continuing effects of what happened,” a spokesperson added.

“Our programmes explore issues of public interest and they have been made with care for those most directly impacted and in line with relevant BBC editorial guidelines.”

Coleraine dentist Howell and his former lover Hazel Stewart were convicted of the murders of their respective spouses – Lesley Howell and police officer Trevor Buchanan which took place in 1991.

Their bodies were found in a fume-filled garage.

For years it was believed the pair died in a suicide pact after discovering their spouses’ affair, but Howell walked into a police station 18 years later and confessed to the murders.

Bradford-Clarke, who is now an assistant professor in criminology, said she had struggled since being told the tapes would form part of the documentary.

She said hearing Howell’s voice had brought back feelings of “shock, horror and trauma”.

“It has been very very difficult to come to terms with,” she told BBC News NI’s Evening Extra programme.

“I think that if I had of been given an opportunity to prepare and hear them in advance at least it would have given me a slight bit of distance from it being broadcast.

“I had people contacting me this morning out of care and compassion, when I hadn’t yet had the opportunity to watch it myself.”

“It’s bad enough having to hear them at all, but it really does compound the process.

“Just being able to listen to the tapes in my own time and not have to rush home after the school run to do it because it is already out there.”

Howell and Stewart’s crimes sent shockwaves across Northern Ireland – much has been written about it and it was turned into an ITV drama.

Howell was sentenced to a minimum 21 years in prison, and Stewart to a minimum of 18 years.

In one episode of Confessions of a Killer, Howell is heard in an interview with police describing former Sunday School teacher Stewart’s role in the murders.

He said his co-accused and former lover was another one of his “unfortunate victims”.

He is also heard describing how he reached the decision to confess to the murders almost two decades later.

Elsewhere in the tapes he can be heard admitting how he had been “involved in intermittent sexual behaviours with patients” at his dental practice.

In 2025, Stewart failed in a legal bid to secure a reduction in her jail sentence for her part in the murders, claiming she had been under Howell’s coercive control at the time and that new medical evidence should be considered.

Bradford-Clarke said she was not opposed to coverage of Howell and Stewart’s crimes and was contributing to a separate documentary.

“I’ve always felt throughout this process that there has been so much focus around the perpetrators and the subsequent confessions and court proceedings,” she said.

“But there’s been an omission throughout that entire process with the mediatisation of this story and the omission for me has always been my mum and Trevor.

“My mum was just an incredible person; she was vivacious and feisty and accomplished so much. She is the reason I strive to live how I live.”

Howell was later sentenced in 2011 to five-and-a-half years in prison for indecent assaults on five female patients.

The two-part BBC documentary includes interviews with people who knew the Howells and Buchanans, as well as journalists who reported on the killings.