Man admits murder of woman missing for 28 years

A man has pleaded guilty to the murder of a woman who went missing 28 years ago, after telling police he disposed of her decomposed body months after he killed her.

Patricia Lashley, who was 33 at the time, was last seen near her home on Hall Street, Dudley, in September 1998.

Trevor Dunkley, 66, pleaded guilty to her murder and a separate count of preventing her lawful burial at a hearing at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday.

Dunkley's barrister Balbir Singh told Judge Michael Chambers KC that Lashley's body had never been found, and had decomposed after initially being put in the cellar.

"When he was moving about nine months to a year later, the skeleton was disposed of into the bins," Singh added.

Dunkley, of Himley Road, Dudley, showed no emotion in the dock as his barrister told the court that the charges had been brought based on a police interview.

He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced at the same court on 6 November.

Both charges covered a time period between 22 September and 28 September 1998, the court heard.

Several members of Lashley's family were present in the public gallery to see Dunkley enter his pleas.

West Midlands Police previously said Lashley, a mother of seven, moved to Dudley in the 1990s and it was understood she and Dunkley knew one another.

Her family made a fresh appeal to trace her in 2017.

Police said she had been known to have links to London, Newcastle, Wales and Scotland, and was known locally as Pat or Jade, and also used the names Vanessa and Tricia, as well as the surname Bradford.

Addressing Dunkley at the end of the short hearing, Judge Chambers ordered a pre-sentence report and remanded him in custody.

"You have had the courage to plead guilty to these matters and will get appropriate credit in due course," he told him.

"As you are aware, the sentence for murder is life imprisonment.

"I am going to order a pre-sentence report. It's in your interests to co-operate with the preparation of that report.

"In the meantime you must remain in custody."

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