Police bid to stop Howell house sale

Officials from the Serious Organised Crime Agency want the High Court in Belfast to freeze Colin Howell's home at 48 Glebe Road in Castlerock.

The application before the Queen's Bench Division was made under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 as part of civil recovery proceedings.

The house went on the market in March last year with an asking price of 575,000.

The property is set in seven acres of land, has beautiful sea views, and also has access to a lake.

Last June, the lake was searched by PSNI divers as part of the investigation into the murders of Constable Trevor Buchanan and Howell's wife Lesley.

The property at Glebe Road had been home to Howell, his wife and ten children for a number of years.

It has floor space of around 4,200 sq feet and also includes outbuildings and extensive mature gardens.

The house was put on the market by his American wife Kyle Jorgensen Howell who left her dentist husband after he was charged with the double murders.

She has since moved back to the States with their children to start a new life without him.

It now appears that the PSNI have passed the financial enquiry into Howell's home over to the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

As part of its Civil Recovery probe, SOCA will now, through a court-appointed "Interim Receiver", want to establish how the property was bought.

It will look to see if any monies obtained from any death policy in the name of his first wife Lesley Howell were used to buy the home.