Standing amid the headstones with his hands in cuffs, one of Northern Ireland's most notorious killers pays his final respects to his late father.
Dentist Colin Howell – dubbed the Driller Killer – is pictured for the first time since his conviction, in a cemetery yesterday morning.
The 59-year-old is serving 21 years for the double murder of his wife and the husband of his former lover.
He was also sentenced to five-and-a-half years for sexually assaulting five female patients while they were under sedation in his surgery in Ballymoney, Co Antrim.
Howell’s father Samuel died suddenly on July 21 – eight years after seeing his evil son confess.
He was described as a “devoted husband and loving father” during his funeral at Portadown Baptist Church.
His murderer son didn’t attend but was yesterday allowed out of Maghaberry Prison to visit the grave.
Flanked by four family members and prison security, Howell took part in a short service at Kernan Cemetery and sang hymns to the accompaniment of a guitar.
He stood with a look of sadness on his face before prison security led him to a black Citroen Picasso van and took him back to jail in Co Antrim.
An onlooker said: “It was a very short, sombre service. Afterwards Colin stood over the Co Armagh grave with his head down.
“The prison authorities were reluctant to let Howell attend the funeral in case it turned into a media circus.
“Arrangements were made for a more discreet visit some weeks later.
“He confessed because he thought God was punishing him for his sins – perhaps he thought the death of his father was part of the punishment.”
Howell and his then lover Hazel Stewart, now 55, nearly got away with the perfect murder.
In 1991 his wife Lesley, 31, and Stewart’s RUC husband Trevor Buchanan, 32, were found dead in a fume-filled car in what appeared to be a suicide pact.
Police believed they killed themselves after discovering their partners were having an affair.
In fact, Howell had gassed them both before leaving Lesley on the back seat clutching pictures of her children and Trevor slumped in the front.
Stewart had helped by drugging her husband by putting tranquillisers in his tuna sandwich.
Howell had even practised on Stewart to get the dosage right – and had sex with her as she lay unconscious in his dentist’s chair.
The sadistic killer was a deeply religious man, a father of 10 and a member of his local Baptist church in Portadown, Co Armagh.
After the murders he believed God was punishing him for his sins after he lost hundreds of thousands of pounds in a get-rich-quick scheme involving stolen WW2 gold in the Philippines and the death of his son.
He confessed in 1998 to his second wife Kyle Jorgensen, who agreed to keep it quiet.
But his guilt played on his mind and, 11 years later, he told his local church elders what he had done.
At his trial Howell confessed to the murders at the seaside resort of Castlerock, Co Derry, but claimed Stewart had colluded with him.
He told how their affair started after meeting at a swimming pool where their children were having lessons. Howell claimed Stewart had an abortion after he got her pregnant.
She was convicted of murder in a later trial and told the court she was under Howell’s control and was terrified of him.
Stewart told detectives: “He was very controlling. Maybe I was easy prey and that’s how I look back on it and see that.
“He’s a very calculating person, a very clever guy.
“I’m not very bright, unfortunately, but he was a step ahead the whole time. I was scared. I thought, ‘If I say something against this he’ll kill me’.”
She was also convicted of what the prosecution called “an act of gruesome murder” and is serving a minimum of 18 years.
Stewart was given compassionate leave earlier this year to say her last goodbyes to her mother, who died in February.
Journalist Deric Henderson wrote a book on Howell – Let This Be Our Secret – which went on to be the basis of TV mini-series The Secret starring James Nesbitt as the killer.
Speaking in 2011, Mr Henderson said: “Howell had redeeming features – he did a lot of charity work – but there’s obviously a dark side to him.
“He’s narcissistic and sociopathic, someone with a massive ego who sees only his own point of view.”
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