Man admits murder of woman missing for 28 years
Trevor Dunkley told police he disposed of Patricia Lashley's body months after killing her in 1998, a court hears.
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 is due to be sentenced at the same court on 6 November.
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."
Speaking afterwards, Det Insp Michelle Cordell said it had been a "truly harrowing case".
She said: "Trevor Dunkley is the only living person who truly knows what happened that day."
His actions after the murder were "unspeakably cruel" she said, adding: "It is difficult for anyone to comprehend how he could live for so long, knowing what he had done and within the same location he had deposited her body."
His plan to dispose of her body was "calculated and sophisticated", Cordell said, and it had "robbed her family of the opportunity to lay her to rest" and left them not knowing if she would one day return.