There would be no more appropriate a place for a double killer to watch the dramatisation of his gruesome crimes than jail.
And that is what sources in Maghaberry Jail claimed the driller killer dentist Colin Howell did in 2016 when The Secret went to air.
They said with his prison chores completed, tea eaten and prayers said, the then 57-year-old self-proclaimed Christian killer settled down to watch the show on a 16” colour TV in his tidy prison cell inside high-security Maghaberry Prison in Co Antrim.
His lawyer later claimed Howell has not watched the series and today though, there is no chance he can tune in with no access to the Netflix service in jail.
The Secret, adapted from the book written by former PA journalist Deric Henderson, is a four-part series starring James Nesbitt.
And six years after it was first screened, and 31 years after the murders it is based on were committed, The Secret is back, this time on Netflix.
It follows the deadly love affair and murder pact between dentist Howell and nursery teacher Hazel Stewart, played by Dubliner Genevieve O’Reilly.
Part one was broadcast 25 years and 11 days after Howell executed the heinous double murder plan.
On the night of 18 to 19 May 1991 – his son’s second birthday – Howell gassed his wife Lesley, 31, and dumped her in the boot of his estate car.
After driving past a police patrol, he arrived at the home of his love Hazel Stewart, then called Buchanan.
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Howell gassed and throttled his love rival, police officer Trevor Buchanan, 33, with the help of his blonde lover.
He confessed on January 28, 2009 to a church pastor and implicated Stewart with every detail he could recall.
The story was played out first in court and in the press, then a book followed and now the driller killer will see himself portrayed on TV.
And sources within Maghaberry said he appeared delighted as the story pushes Howell up the notoriety stakes in the jail.
One prison officer said at the time: “ Colin Howell is a model prisoner. He’s consistently polite, always refers to the officers as sir and is very mannerly.
“But at the moment he’s loving this whole TV thing. He’s been a little edgy. He lets on to be modest but we know him, we know exactly what he’s like.
“A lot of the prisoners were planning to watch the programme but it was decided it would be better if they didn’t watch with him.
“Howell, apart from being a cold, calculating and violent killer, is also a piece of bloody work. He likes to think he’s not one of the regular criminals.
“First of all he applied to the governor to be the dentist in the jail for all the prisoners. He’s a killer and his licence to practise is gone. But he was furious when he was turned down.
“Maghaberry does have a lot of prisoners with dental problems, but Howell is not the answer.
“He was on special measures for a long time and was made an orderly in the hospital away from the main jail population for his own safety.
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“But of course he took advantage of it. He used to get in early for work about 7am and some of the officers would bring in all the elements of a good Ulster fry. Howell would cook it all up and do an extra one for himself.
“But it all stopped after a senior officer turned up unexpectedly and demanded to know why he was in work so early. He was shoved off to the main prison population pretty fast and has suffered a few spankings which calmed him down a bit.
“But in the last few weeks he’s been quite excited about the TV programme. It’s his moment of fame again I suppose.”
It is understood Hazel Stewart, now 59, had not intended to watch the programme from her cell in the women’s prison. She is serving 18 years for her part in the double murder.
A source said: “She has received a number of letters described to me as ‘goading’ from Howell telling her to repent, accept her guilt and seek forgiveness from God.
“He has apparently told her she’s in jail because he put her there, because he’s a Godly man who confessed to his wrong doing and hers.
“ Jimmy Nesbitt who plays him in the TV programme has said in interviews that Colin Howell thinks God is made in his image.
“Well I know this man and I think he might have hit the nail on the head there."
While Howell appears to revel in his notoriety and Stewart continues to claim her innocence under his evil influence, they are the most talked about prisoners in Northern Ireland at the moment.
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