'Lady in the Lake' man guilty

Retired teacher Gordon Park was tonight found guilty of murdering his wife in the "Lady in the Lake" trial.

Twenty-nine years ago, he bludgeoned his beautiful and vivacious wife Carol to death with an ice axe then dumped her body in Coniston Water in the Lake District.

He claimed she had vanished from home in Leece, near Barrow, Cumbria in 1976 to live with another man. But 21 years later, the body of the 31-year-old-mother of three, still wearing a baby-doll nightdress, was found by amateur divers. It was identified by dental records, and injuries to her hand showed how Carol Park had tried to fight her killer off.

A jury found three-times-married Park, 60, guilty after a 10-week trial at Manchester Crown Court. He faces life in jail. He was led to the cells knowing that if he had dumped the body in deeper water just a few feet further out on the lake it would never have been found.

The jury heard that the couple had been well respected teachers, but their contrasting personalities - she was dazzling and bubbly, he was controlled and reserved - led to an unhappy nine-year marriage during which both had affairs. In the two years before the murder Carol had left home to live with another man but her husband was awarded custody of their children. Unable to live without them she had returned reluctantly.

Then in July 1976 she disappeared. Park claimed he had taken the children to Blackpool and returned to find her gone. He made no attempt to try to trace her for six weeks and got on with his life, remarrying twice.

On the day the body was found Park was on holiday in France. In Preston prison awaiting trial he told fellow prisoners he had strangled his wife then hit her with several weapons including a climber's ice axe.

Fell walkers Joan and John Young told how they had been looking out atthe view over Coniston from the east side of the lake when they saw a man fitting Park's description dumping a bulky item into the lake from a rowing boat.

The court heard they had joked: "I hope that that isn't his wife."

They had even taken the trouble to check for news of any missing person. But Mrs Park was reported missing only six weeks later.

The Youngs contacted the police after Park's arrest two decades later.

Park, who had pleaded not guilty to murder, told the jury that he had loved his wife and he would never have harmed her.