‘Lady in the lake’ killer Gordon Park found dead in prison cell on birthday

The "lady in the lake" killer Gordon Park was found dead in his cell this morning on his 66th birthday.

Park, jailed in 2005 for killing his wife more than 30 years ago, was found dead at Garth Prison, Lancashire.

Park was jailed for life after he was found guilty of killing his wife Carol in July 1976. The case had been one of Britain's longest unsolved murders.

He bludgeoned the mother-of-three to death with an ice axe then dumped her body in Coniston Water in the Lake District where it went undiscovered for 21 years. Her body was found in August 1997, trussed up and weighted down at the bottom of the lake — not far from the Park family home near Barrow-in-Furness.

Park, a retired school teacher, was first arrested and charged with murder soon after the discovery of the body but the charges were dropped in January 1998 due to lack of evidence.

However, the charges were reinstated in 2004 and Park was jailed for life the following year. The court heard how Carol had a string of affairs and the couple engaged in wife-swapping.

She disappeared on 17 July, 1976, with Park claiming she had "gone off"' with another lover. Park maintained his innocence and a "Free Gordon" campaign was launched. He was serving a minimum 15-year sentence in Garth Prison in Ulnes Walton near Leyland.

A Prison Service spokesman said: "HMP Garth prisoner Gordon Park was found unconscious in his cell at 8am. Staff and paramedics attended but Mr Park was pronounced dead at 9.40am.

"As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will conduct an investigation."