Cellar murderer's eight-year lie

By Clare Purdy
BBC News, Manchester

Dorothy Carre was missing for eight years before her body was finally uncovered beneath the cellar of the home she once shared with her killer.

Frederick Lawlor was in prison when he was questioned

Her remains were found wrapped in a duvet under the floor of the house at Equitable Street in Rochdale in 2006.

Convicted paedophile Frederick Lawlor, 54, had stabbed her to death with what the prosecution said was "extreme force".

The jury in the murder trial only discovered he was serving an indeterminate sentence for abusing a 13-year-old girl after he was found guilty.

Lawlor had always denied killing Mrs Carre, claiming for years that she had gone to live in the Republic of Ireland.

Her family said he alienated them from her life, so he could control her.

The couple had been together for four years when Mrs Carre was last seen in 1999.

She confided to her GP that she was suffering physical abuse at Lawlor's hands, and then she disappeared.

We always hoped mum would see Fred for what he really is - a cruel manipulative bully - and return to us Lynn Edwards Dorothy Carre's daughter

Two years earlier the pair had moved from their home in Oldham, to Bacup, Lancashire, when Mrs Carre's family first reported her missing.

They had fallen out over her relationship with Lawlor and become estranged.

Police traced her to Bacup, but Mrs Carre told officers she did not want her family to know where she was.

Lynn Edwards, Mrs Carre's daughter said: "Frederick Lawlor was someone who we disapproved of, he was not who we wanted our mum to be with and there were lots of reasons for this.

"He did not treat mum with any respect and had physically and mentally abused mum during their relationship and made every effort to alienate mum from her children to allow him to have control over her."

Dorothy Carre was last seen by her GP in March 1999

Her family claimed they reported Mrs Carre missing again in 2001, but no record remains of that.

They said they were considering a claim against Greater Manchester Police about the way the 2001 report was investigated.

GMP has said it will look into the missing report if a complaint is filed.

In 2006, concerns were raised by Mrs Carre's family again and a police investigation began.

Lawlor told them Mrs Carre had moved to Ireland in 1999 and even claimed to have seen her in 2003.

He told officers she had said she had a new partner in North Wales, but was still living in Ireland.

Police then discovered that within months of the last sighting of Mrs Carre by her doctor, Lawlor moved to Bolton and met a new partner.

When the woman saw a benefits book belonging to Mrs Carre, Lawlor told her he had been her carer.

In February 2007, officers searched Equitable Street and found Mrs Carre's remains beneath uneven flagstones in the cellar.

Mrs Carre's remains were discovered earlier this year

Lawlor was questioned in prison, where he was serving a sentence for 18 sex offences against a 13-year-old girl.

He must serve a minimum 17-year term for Mrs Carre's murder.

Ms Edwards added: "Frederick Lawlor has taken my mother's life and as a result of this the four of us have lost our mother, 13 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren have lost their grandma.

"As a family we always hoped mum would see Fred for what he really is - a cruel, manipulative bully - and return to us.

"That is never going to happen. I will never see my mum again and our lives are changed forever.

"This is something that will affect and change us as people for the worse and something we will have to learn to live with when we finally come to terms with it."