The author was killed by her fiancé
Outspoken TV personality Janet Street-Porter caused furious backlash yesterday when she branded murdered children's author Helen Bailey "dumb".
Appearing as a panellist on Loose Women, she said that the author should have realised that her fiancé, Ian Stewart, was drugging her.
The tragic case of Helen's death swept the nation after she went missing last May, the truth only coming to light two months later that her fiancé, Ian Stewart, had drugged her over a period of time, smothered her and dumped her body in a cesspit under the house.
Stewart was convicted of her murder on Wednesday, with a jail term of 34 years - and the Loose Women had their say on the topic, with Andrea McLean calling the murder "something out of a horror film".
But Janet, who is known for her strong opinions, said: "What I find so extraordinary is that this women was highly, highly intelligent. She was very honest about her feelings, and yet she was so smart in some ways and so dumb in others."
She quickly realised what she'd said, and clarified: "Not dumb, that's a rather cruel thing to say - but naive, I think."
She went on: "It's almost as if she didn't want to believe he was capable of that, and of course now we know that for months before she died, he'd been drugging her with sleeping pills."
Turning to her own experiences, she said: "But how many of us really know the people that we're with? There was an episode in my life where I met someone and I thought they were absolutely fantastic, and then suddenyl one day they flipped, and I saw another side of them that I had no knowledge of.
"I'd had no indication that they were violent, controlling, absolutely vile and quite frightening. It made me look for a reason in myself as to why it had happened."
Viewers took to Twitter to blast the media personality, with many branding her "disgusting".
Helen's body was found in the cesspit under her house with the body of her dog, Boris. Stewart's motives for her death were to get his hands on her £3.4million estate, as she had named him main beneficiary in her will.
Helen met her murderous fiancé on a dating site for bereaved partners, after her husband of 22 years John Sinfield was tragically killed right in front of her in a boating accident whilst they were on holiday in Barbados.
Stewart's wife passed away suddenly in 2010, and his conviction has brought her death back to authorities, but he has not been found to have anything to do with it.
What do you think of Janet's opinions? Is she entitled to them or should she have kept them to herself on this occasion? Let us know over on Facebook and Twitter.
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