Lake crime scene visited by jury

Gordon Park denies murdering his wife, Carol

The jury in the "Lady in the Lake" trial is to visit the place where the body was found, and the house where the murder is alleged to have taken place.

Gordon Park, 60, from Barrow, Cumbria, is accused of murdering his wife Carol, then aged 30, more than 25 years ago and dumping her body in Coniston Water.

Mr Park, who denies murder, will travel with the jury from Manchester Crown Court to the Lake District on Tuesday.

A buoy will mark the spot where the trussed up body was discovered.

The jury will then visit the Park's former family home in Leece.

'String of affairs'

Carol Park disappeared on July 1976 and her body was found by amateur divers 21 years later.

She had been bludgeoned with an ice axe.

Mr Park, a retired schoolteacher, told police he had taken the children on a day trip to Blackpool and Carol had vanished when they returned.

He said he thought his wife, who had had a string of affairs, had run off with another man, and only reported her missing six weeks after she disappeared.

He was arrested in 1997, but the case was dropped.

He was then re-arrested and charged with murder for a second time in January 2004.