A brickie accused of hiding his wife’s remains und

A brickie accused of hiding his wife’s remains under a hospital has been joined in court by two old colleagues who worked with him on the site 20 years ago.

Patrick Folan, 46, told friends his wife Michelle had walked out on him back in 1981 and never returned.

But her skeleton was unearthed by workmen demolishing a hospital building 18 years after her husband helped construct it, jurors at the Old Bailey heard.

Builder Beresford Dorsett, who helped erect part of the Royal Northern Hospital in north London two decades ago, told the court Folan had been part of the construction team.

Police officers showed the witness a photograph of Folan and asked if he knew the man, the court heard.

‘I immediately recognised the face,’ Mr Dorsett said.

‘I just knew I had seen him before.

I think he worked on a few jobs and I’m sure the man worked on the site of the Royal Northern Hospital between 1980 and 1982.

‘

Paul Greatorex, who ran the building firm, also recognised the face in the picture as a brickies labourer.

‘I remember he was a quiet Irishman.

I don’t think he mixed with others.

I remember his first name as Pat,’ he said.

‘He lived five minutes from our office – I couldn’t give the name of the street but I know where it is.

‘I picked him up for work once.

It was an old house, on a quiet street.

‘

It is claimed Folan garotted his wife and concealed her in concrete as the new building was being erected in 1981.

Her remains were dug up by workmen two decades later as they demolished part of a hospital wing in Upper Holloway which her husband helped build.

He had told pals how he last saw the 24-year-old mother of their two children alive just before he used the toilet at their local north London pub.

She had secretly filed for divorce but the papers, which were due to arrive at the family home on the day she disappeared, have never been traced, said prosecuting QC William Boyce.

‘You have to consider, was that the trigger that caused the killing,’ he told jurors.

‘She had been buried in the site almost immediately after she had been murdered by her husband in October 1981,’ said Mr Boyce.

‘The defendant was successful in concealing her burial for so long and it was only the fact that the site was being redeveloped and by chance someone noticed the remains that he is before the court today.

‘

Folan denies murder between October 15 and October 31, 1981.

He is expected to take the stand tomorrow.

(Thurs)

The trial continues.

ends