However, in a Court of Appeal ruling on Friday, Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice and four other judges said Stewart was “not one of the rare cases” where a life sentence should be imposed and reduced his sentence to life with a minimum term of 35 years.
In sentencing, they said: “However serious the first murder, it could not – considered in isolation from the later second murder – be regarded as a crime of extremely high seriousness.
“There is no suggestion that at the time he committed the first murder, Stewart was already planning that it would be the first in a series.”
However, they accepted that it was legitimate to adjust the minimum term to 35 years to “achieve a fair sentence for the first murder and ensure that the overall sentence is proportionate to Stewart’s crime as a whole”.
Stewart’s wife has not had an epileptic seizure in 18 years and takes daily medication. Consultant neurologist Dr Christopher Derry estimated her risk of a fatal epileptic seizure was about one in 100,000.
During the 999 call, Stewart was instructed to perform CPR on his wife and said he was doing so, but paramedic Spencer North, who attended the scene, said “there did not appear to be any effective CPR”.
Professor Safa Al Sarraj, a consultant neuropathologist who examined preserved parts of Ms Stewart’s brain, said there was evidence she had suffered from a lack of oxygen before her death, which prosecutors said was the result of “prolonged restriction”. such as choking or holding the neck.
Former police officer Wayne Couzens has lost his appeal to reduce his life sentence for the rape and murder of Sarah Everard, meaning he will die in prison.
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