Man, 66, admits murdering mother-of-seven almost 30 years ago

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy ANDY DOLAN, GENERAL REPORTER Published: 12:01 BST, 11 September 2026 | Updated: 12:05 BST, 11 September 2026

A 66-year-old man has pleaded guilty to murdering a mother of seven in 1998 after telling police he disposed of her decomposed body months after killing her. Trevor Dunkley also admitted a charge of preventing the lawful burial of Patricia Lashley, who disappeared near her home in Dudley, West Midlands, in September 1998. Appearing at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday, Dunkley, of Himley Road, Dudley, showed no emotion in the dock as his barrister, Balbir Singh, told a judge that the charges had been brought following admissions in a police interview.Asked by Judge Michael Chambers KC if the victim's body had been found, Mr Singh answered: 'No, because this is 28 years ago and the body was put into the cellar downstairs. 'It decomposed. When he was moving about nine months to a year later the skeleton was disposed of into the bins.'Asked if there was a basis of plea, Mr Singh said of the case: 'It is down to what the defendant told the police when there was no evidence in reality of what had happened.' Dunkley, appearing in the dock wearing round-rimmed glasses and a grey sweater, was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on November 6.West Midlands Police previously said Ms Lashley moved to Dudley in the mid-1990s and frequented the No Limits club and other pubs in the area. Patricia Lashley was last seen near her home on Hall Street, Dudley in September 1998 Several members of Ms Lashley's family were present in the public gallery to see Dunkley enter his pleas today.Her family made a fresh appeal to trace Ms Lashley, who would now be 61 and a grandmother, in 2017.Police had earlier said it was understood she and Dunkley knew one another.The West Midlands force said Ms Lashley was known locally as Pat or Jade, and had been known to have links to London, Newcastle, Wales and Scotland. She also used the names Vanessa and Tricia, as well as the surname Bradford.