Murdered woman buried in cellar

Dorothy Carre died from stab wounds

A mother-of-four was murdered and buried in a "shallow grave" under a cellar floor where she lay undiscovered for eight years, a court has heard.

Dorothy Carre, was repeatedly stabbed by her partner 54-year-old Frederick Lawlor, Manchester Crown Court heard.

The jury was told that after her death at the house they shared in Equitable Street, Rochdale, Mr Lawlor wrapped the 56-year-old in a duvet and buried her.

Mr Lawlor denies murdering Mrs Carre between March 10 and June 30 1999.

Neil Flewitt QC, prosecuting, told the court that Mrs Carre, a divorcee, met Mr Lawlor in 1993 and that by 1995 she had lost contact with her family.

She was last seen alive by her GP on March 11, 1999, when she told her doctor she had split from her partner because he was violent towards her.

Skeleton found

By 2001 her daughter Lynn Edwards reported her missing, but only "limited" inquiries were made by police, Mr Flewitt told the court.

In January 2006, she again reported her mother as a missing person and a police investigation led officers to Mr Lawlor and the house in Equitable Street.

On 12 March police inspected the property's brick-lined cellar where a human skeleton bound at the ankles and wrapped in a duvet was discovered underneath some flagstones.

A post-mortem showed the bones had at least 10 stab wounds to the vertebrae, some inflicted from behind.

The jury was told that tests of DNA from Mrs Carre's medical records and her children provided "extremely strong" scientific evidence that the human remains were hers and Mr Lawlor was arrested a week later.

Mr Lawlor told police he and Mrs Carre had lived together in Bolton but she had moved to Ireland in 1999, the court heard.

Violent history

He claimed that although he had worked as a taxi driver in Rochdale, he had never lived at Equitable Street.

However, council tax and housing benefit claim forms linked him to the address, along with eye witnesses who maintain he lived there, Mr Flewitt told the court.

Another "damning" piece of evidence was his fingerprint found on a car wheel police took from the cellar.

The court heard that Mr Lawlor had a history of violence towards Mrs Carre and other women.

The jury was told that Mrs Carre went to the house of a woman she knew in the early hours of one morning in 1995 covered in blood after the defendant had "battered" her.

The court also heard that in May 1981 Mr Lawlor has a conviction for punching his then partner Gail Bulloch in the face and in November 1987 he was convicted of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm after stabbing his partner Nora Roche repeatedly.

This was "strikingly similar" to the attack which had killed Dorothy Carre, Mr Flewitt said.

The trial continues.