The Lady in the Lake trial was a 2005 murder case in which Gordon Park (25 January 1944 – 25 January 2010) a retired teacher from Leece, near Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England, was jailed for life for the 1976 murder of his first wife, Carol Ann Park.
Carol Park went missing on 17 July 1976, and was never seen alive again by her family. In 1997, her body was discovered by divers in Coniston Water and Gordon Park was arrested on suspicion of murder. Reputedly he said "Oh dear", after being informed they had found her body. The charges were subsequently dropped, but in 2004 Park was arrested again and found guilty of his wife's murder. The trial judge sentenced him to life imprisonment and recommended that he should serve a minimum of 15 years before being considered for parole. He was held at Garth prison, Leyland, Preston. In December 2007, he lodged an appeal against his conviction which was dismissed in November 2008. On 25 January 2010, he was found hanged in his cell, and pronounced dead at the scene.
The details of the murder are unclear. Carol was killed by blunt trauma to her face by means of some instrument; it was discussed in court whether this was an ice axe, the subsequent Appeal Court ruling noted that this was inferred, rather than alleged. She was then bound with rope, using complex knots, weighed down with rocks and lead pipes and thrown overboard from a boat on Coniston Water. The body landed on an underwater ledge where it was later found by amateur divers. Had it been dropped a few metres further from the shore, it would have sunk to the much deeper bottom and probably never have been discovered.
There was a great deal of controversy surrounding the case. Park received much support from his family and friends and maintained his innocence. There was a large amount of local interest in the trial as shown by the sales of the local paper, the North-West Evening Mail. Some claimed that much of the evidence against him could be discounted and there were vigils and petitions in attempts to free Park from prison and clear his name. The case featured prominently in the book No Smoke: The Shocking Truth About British Justice which outlined seven cases the author believed to be examples of innocent people being convicted of murder.
Case history
Carol Park vanishes Prior to her disappearance, according to her friends, Carol was feeling depressed. She had talked of tracing her biological parents, as she was adopted.Lean, Sandra. Page 61. "Several of her friends and family who had seen Carol in the week prior to her disappearance had reported her as appearing to be down or depressed. She had spoken to some about tracing her real parents, as she was adopted." On 17 July 1976, she went missing. Gordon claimed that she had left home for another man, and Carol had left their home in Leece twice before. It was for this reason, Gordon claimed, that he did not report her missing for six weeks. Carol was said to time her periods away from home to coincide with the school holidays. Gordon claimed that it wasn't until she didn't return in time to take up her job as a primary school teacher in September (the start of the school term) that he realised that there was a problem. At this time, he reported her missing via his solicitor, and her family was informed.Lean, Sandra. Page 61. "It was at that point, when Carol failed to return, that he reported her missing through his solicitor, and her family were informed."
On the day she vanished, the family had been due to visit Blackpool on a day trip. However, Carol said she felt unwell and wanted to remain behind in bed. She was never seen alive again by her family. Gordon claimed he returned home to find Carol had left the house, leaving behind her wedding ring, and that there was no sign of a struggle.Lean, Sandra. Page 61.
A missing persons enquiry was launched, but nothing came of it.Lean, Sandra. Page 62. This missing persons report was subsequently lost, and it was implied by some that it was because both Gordon and a senior police commander (who, by the time the article was published, had died) involved in the case were freemasons. This was rebutted by Sandra Lean, who, in No Smoke, claimed that Gordon had never been a freemason.Lean, Sandra. Page 73. At the time, police told Gordon that, should a body be found, he would be the main suspect.
Discovery of body and post mortem results On 13 August 1997, amateur divers discovered Carol Park's body, clad only in a nightdress, 75 feet down at the bottom of Coniston Water. She was nicknamed "the Lady in the Lake" by detectives after the 1943 detective novel by Raymond Chandler, The Lady in the Lake. The body had been wrapped in a pinafore dress, a canvas rucksack and plastic bags, tied with several knots, and weighed down with lead piping. Her eyes had been covered by plasters. It was later reported that the body had landed on an underwater ledge, and had it been thrown into the water a few metres farther from the land, it would probably never have been found.
Details of Carol's death were revealed in the post mortem. There were severe injuries to the skull, and it was said that her face had been smashed by multiple blows. It was erroneously described through the media that the court had agreed that the murder weapon had been an ice axe - something which the later Appeal Court hearing corrected. The body was found to be in a foetal position, which suggested that the body had been dealt with within a few hours of death, before rigor mortis could settle in.
It has since been said that the investigators failed to acknowledge that rigor mortis passes in a 24‑ to 48‑hour time period, and that the body could feasibly have been trussed once rigor mortis had passed. Many unusual knots were used to tie the body, and the same knots were said to be used in Gordon Park's house and boat. This was one of the key pieces of evidence used against Gordon in the trial.
Gordon Park is arrested, but charges are dropped At the time of the discovery of the body, Gordon and his third wife, Jenny, were on a cycling holiday in France. They heard news of the discovery of the body, and are said to have seen footage of the police searching their house. On 24 August, they arrived home, and Gordon was arrested on suspicion of murder at 8.00am the next morning. He was charged with the murder of Carol Park, and remanded in Preston prison. However, after two weeks, his solicitors managed to persuade the court to grant him bail. On 6 January 1998, the charges against Gordon were dropped due to lack of evidence. The Crown Prosecution Service released a statement saying- After a conference with leading counsel and the police, a decision was taken, in agreement with all parties, that there was insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction.
Reportedly he told another inmate that "she deserved it" as he had discovered his wife being unfaithful.
After the charges were dropped, Gordon said that he wished to "try to put all this, including the events of 21 years ago, behind me and try to return to my everyday life". However, the fact that the charges were dropped angered Carol's brother, Ivor Price, who said that he was disgusted by the way that Carol was portrayed in the proceedings, and talked of how Carol was not "someone who [was] cheap or had a string of lovers."
Gordon Park's second arrest and trial Gordon was again arrested on 13 January 2004. Police said at the time that the murder file had never been closed, and that the arrest followed new leads. These new leads were later reported to be a confession by Michael Wainwright, who claimed to have been a cellmate of Gordon's during his short prison stay in 1997. The police then revisited the site where the body was discovered, and found a piece of Westmorland green slate, a stone that matched the rocks that made up the wall of the family's bungalow. The case was brought to trial at Manchester Crown Court, and lasted ten weeks.
There was no single piece of evidence that pointed to Gordon indisputably, but the prosecution argued that when the evidence was placed together, it could only point at Park, and not a "mysterious stranger or secret lover". Primarily, the case for the prosecution rested on circumstantial evidence, with the jury being asked to consider knots, rocks used to weight down the body and the ice axe, all linking Gordon Park to the crime. However, the statements of Michael Wainwright, and another of Gordon's cellmates, who had learning difficulties, were also used as evidence by the prosecution. He was sentenced to be jailed for life, and told that he must serve at least 15 years. The judge said that he had taken into account the "terrible concealment" of the body.
Park claimed he and his wife had an open marriage.
The prosecution case suggested that Gordon had first put his hands around Carol's neck to strangle her, but that she had struggled. He then grabbed his ice axe, and brought it down with what was described as "considerable" force on Carol's face, and smashed the front right-hand side of her face, splitting open her head and smashing her teeth. He then did this again – the attack was described as consisting of "two big heavy, crushing blows" by pathologist Dr. Edmund Tapp. Tapp's statements consistently discounted the use of the ice axe itself, although suggested that a similar heavy weapon with both blunt and sharp sides could have been used. After this, Gordon dumped his wife's body in the lake, and went back to his day-to-day life. During the trial, the prosecution speculated that Gordon had "drugged his wife, possibly on or around the 17 July, tied her up and stored her body in a chest freezer before dumping it in Coniston Water".
Gordon Park's appeal On 6 December 2007, it was reported that Clarion Solicitors, representing Gordon Park, said that they would launch an appeal. In a public statement, they said:
The appeal is based upon fresh evidence that was not available at the original trial, it is hoped the conviction will be quashed and a retrial ordered... Upon his conviction, Mr Park's family and friends launched a campaign to clear his name, claiming there was no single piece of evidence that pointed indisputably to him.
Representing Park in the appeal was solicitor Rob Rode and Simon Bourne-Arton QC. They did not initially reveal what the new evidence was, only that it was not available at the original trial" and that it was "very strong and significant". Cumbria Constabulary released a statement saying:
Detectives from Cumbria Constabulary carried out a full and thorough investigation and the full facts of the case were presented to the CPS. The case was then tried by a jury, where Gordon Park was found guilty of the murder of Carol Park in 1976.
In October, campaigners in support of Park said "We have in our possession, a signed, witnessed, statement, made this week, by one of the main prosecution witnesses, stating, ‘police officers did put words in my mouth regarding Gordon Park’ and ‘the police told me what to say in court.’" Pastor George Harrison, acting as a spokesperson for the campaigners, also claimed that the appeals process was flawed and "rendered virtually impossible" due to costs.