A woman has spoken of the harrowing moment she learned her mother had been murdered by her own father, 18 years after the death was initially believed to be a suicide. Lauren Howell was just four years old when her mother, Lesley, died in May 1991 alongside Trevor Buchanan, in what police at the time thought was a double suicide.
In 2009, Lauren's father, Colin Howell, confessed to the killings, revealing he had carried them out with his then-mistress, Hazel Buchanan, Trevor's wife. Both were later convicted and are currently serving prison sentences. Lauren has now shared her story in a new ITV documentary, 'Killer In The House', and appeared on This Morning to discuss the devastating truth.
Appearing on the programme, Lauren recalled a childhood defined by loss, saying: "My childhood was very much defined by loss and bereavement." She described precious memories of her mother, who "made lots of things magical". However, she also had a vivid memory of being told by church elders that her mother had died. For 18 years, she believed her mother had died by suicide from inhaling car fumes, leading to a lasting fear of car exhausts.
During those years, Hazel, her father's new partner, became a mother figure to Lauren. She said: "Hazel was very much a mummy-figure to me, I loved her so dearly." When the relationship ended, she grieved for Hazel as she would a mother, which made the eventual truth even harder to process.
When her father finally confessed in 2009, Lauren described the shock but also a sense that it "made sense". She said: "There's so much that I can't even articulate about it because of how shocking it was." The documentary, 'Killer In The House', airs on ITV and explores the chilling case and Lauren's journey to uncover the truth about her mother's death.
