Trevor Dunkley has been jailed for life for the 1998 murder of Patricia Lashley, a 33-year-old mother of seven whose disappearance remained unsolved for almost 28 years.
Dunkley, 66, was sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday 6 November 2026. He had admitted killing Patricia at the home they shared in Hall Street, Dudley, then concealing her body and disposing of her remains. It was his unexpected confession during a renewed missing-person inquiry in July that finally established what had happened to her.
Judge Michael Chambers KC imposed a minimum term of 130 months, equivalent to 10 years and 10 months, with 120 days already spent on remand taken into account. That is the minimum period associated with his life sentence, not an automatic release date. He also received a concurrent two-year sentence for preventing a lawful burial.
What we know
Patricia, who was originally from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, moved to Dudley in the mid-1990s. She was also known as Pat, Jade, Vanessa and Tricia and used the surname Bradford. Police said she met Dunkley in Dudley while pregnant and subsequently moved into his flat.
In September 1998, Dunkley assaulted her as she lay in bed. He later told detectives he had returned from a night shift, lost his temper and repeatedly struck her with his fists. He described a “red mist” descending. This account of precisely how the attack began is his own; the killing itself is established by his guilty plea.
Dunkley took Patricia’s nine-month-old son to social services and falsely said the boy’s mother had left and abandoned him. The baby was later adopted. Patricia’s six other children were also left with the belief that she had walked away from them.
Dunkley told police he returned to the flat, later realised Patricia was dead, covered her body and eventually moved it into the cellar. Around nine months to a year later, he disposed of her skeletal remains in household rubbish over several weeks. Police say the remains have never been recovered, even after excavation of the cellar.
A disappearance investigated for decades
Patricia’s sister reported her missing in June 1999. Over the following years, West Midlands Police pursued repeated appeals and examined records and accounts from people who had known her, hoping she might have started another life elsewhere. Dunkley had maintained that she had simply left.
On 7 July 2026, officers revisiting the missing-person investigation spoke to Dunkley. He said: “I killed her. I’m sorry.” He later told detectives he thought they were “onto him”, although police said the reason for his decision to confess remained unclear.
He was charged in July and pleaded guilty at Wolverhampton Crown Court on 11 September to murder and preventing a lawful and decent burial. His sentencing followed on 6 November.
Why the judge treated the deception as especially serious
At the sentencing hearing, Judge Chambers said Dunkley’s lie had caused Patricia’s baby son to be brought up believing his mother had abandoned him, as had his siblings. The judge called that a “grossly aggravating factor”.
The court accepted that Dunkley had expressed genuine remorse and had no previous convictions. However, the judge said the passage of 28 years was the consequence of the false account Dunkley had maintained. Three of Patricia’s children attended the sentencing hearing, according to court reporting.
Patricia’s son Suleyman Mehmet subsequently questioned the length of the minimum term. The judge said he had to apply the sentencing law relevant to a murder committed in 1998, rather than later rules.
What we do not know
There is no recovered body or independent reconstruction of the final confrontation. Dunkley alleged that Patricia had previously been violent towards him, but West Midlands Police said this could not be corroborated. It should not be treated as an established account of their relationship or as an explanation for her murder.
Police also cannot establish why Dunkley chose to admit the killing at that particular point, beyond his statement that he believed officers were closing in. Patricia’s family may never be able to hold a funeral for her because her remains have not been found.
What police have said
Detective Inspector Michelle Cordell, who led the investigation, said officers had spent years pursuing the possibility that Patricia was still alive, while Dunkley knew the truth. She described the concealment of Patricia’s remains as a deliberate act that denied her relatives the chance to lay her to rest.
The case has now moved from a decades-old missing-person inquiry to a murder conviction, but the death of Patricia Lashley continues to affect her children and relatives. The conviction establishes who killed her; it cannot restore the years in which they were told she had simply gone away.
Video report
The following video was supplied to Fish 4 News in connection with the sentencing. Its contents are supplementary to the police and court records cited below.
Sources
- West Midlands Police: sentencing statement, 6 November 2026
- West Midlands Police: guilty plea and investigation details, 11 September 2026
- West Midlands Police: charging announcement, 9 July 2026
- PA Media court report via The Standard, 6 November 2026
- Express & Star: response from Patricia’s children, 6 November 2026
