A violent husband throttled his wife 20 years ago

A violent husband throttled his wife 20 years ago and helped construct a building over her shallow grave, the Old Bailey heard.

Patrick Folan, 46, told pals Michelle Folan, 24, had walked out on him after she disappeared in 1981.

But it is claimed Folan garotted the mother-of-two and concealed her in concrete.

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

Folan allegedly disposed of her corpse just days before a new building was erected back in 1981.

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.

Michelle’s remains were unearthed when grounds at Royal Northern Hospital in Tollington Way, Upper Holloway were excavated in June last year, the court heard.

‘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.

‘

Her skeleton was found fully clothed in jeans, jumper, trainers and socks and she was identified by dental records and her gold diamond clustered engagement ring.

Her head had been shrouded with a plastic bag and a rope tied around her neck with a stick used as a fulcrum to suffocate her, jurors heard.

‘Whoever concealed her in the shallow grave knew it would be covered by a concrete floor,’ said the prosecutor.

‘This defendant worked as a full-time brickies labourer – his work was extremely significant in this case.

‘He worked on the site where she was buried and at the time she was buried.

‘

The couple, both with Irish connections, had married two years earlier and soon shared a home at [22] Bovington Close, Archway, north London.

The pair had a stormy relationship and jealous Folan was seen to beat his wife on several occasions, the court heard.

Part-time cleaner Michelle confided in a pal who kept a diary of her beatings, the court heard.

‘He seemed to stop the violence when told by others, but on the night she was murdered there was no one to say stop, said Mr Boyce.

The court heard she visited her solicitor just two days before she disappeared.

A copy of the draft was posted to her and was due to arrive at the matrimonial home on Friday, October 16, 1981 – the last day she was seen alive.

‘Whenever this defendant was asked about his wife’s disappearance in the years 1981, 85, 99 and the year 2000, he never raised the topic of divorce,’ said the prosecutor.

The couple were seen drinking that evening in the Crown pub in Upper Holloway, north London.

‘The defendant told police officers he went to the toilet and when he came out she had gone and that was the last he saw of her,’ jurors heard.

After her disappearance, Folan remained at the family home where he brought up their children Martin and Nicola then aged three and 16 months.

Despite a huge police operation her whereabouts remained a mystery for 18 years until workmen unearthed her body on June 2, 1999.

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

The trial continues.

ends