Killer hid wife's body in oil drum for 23 years

Frederick Boyle, 58, of Melbourne, had denied murder, claiming he panicked when he found his wife Edwina dead in her bed in 1983.

But a jury at the Victoria Supreme Court in Melbourne found that Boyle murdered her before concealing her remains.

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The couple had emigrated from Peterstone-super-Ely, in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales in 1972 and Edwina is thought to have died on October 6, 1983.

Boyle had told his children that their mother had run off with another man.

The body was discovered by his son-in-law during a clean-up of the family home in October 2006.

Mrs Boyle's sister Rose Speakman, who lives in Cardiff, said she had known Boyle well before the couple emigrated in 1972, and it had taken her years to believe Boyle had killed her.

Mrs Speakman, 58, said: "The last thing he said to her before they went to Australia was 'don't worry, I'll look after you'.

"Edwina and I were very close and he promised he would look after her and nothing would happen to her.

"He idolised her and she idolised him. That was the last time I saw her." Mrs Speakman said she was "shaking like a leaf" when she was told the verdict.

"I was getting worried yesterday because the jury was taking so long and we were all thinking 'he can't get away with it'.

"It's pretty obvious now, but I was very surprised he could have done that to her.

"It got to the stage when I didn't think they would ever find her body and it was a shock when they did. It took years for me to accept he had done it."

She added: "I just hope he spends the rest of his life in prison. She was 30 when he took her life away and the children were just eight and 10.

"He had 20-odd years of freedom. To think he had her in the back garden all that time - even now it seems unbelievable."

Mrs Boyle's other sister Valerie Bordley, who lives in Watford, Hertfordshire, reported her sister missing in 1994 and travelled to Australia from the UK four times to investigate the case.

She said: "Justice has now been done - I just feel so sorry for my nieces.

"They have lived their lives all these years thinking their mother had deserted them and now with this verdict, it is probably going to devastate them - I have extremely mixed emotions."

The Boyles' eldest daughter, Careesa, 35, sobbed into the arms of her partner as her father looked across the court room and whispered some consoling words to her as the verdict was announced.

After the verdict Careesa and her sister Sharon, 32, walked past reporters without commenting.

During cross-examination by crown prosecutor Gavin Silbert, Boyle said he did not report his wife's death, fearing he would be charged with her murder because he was having an affair with another woman.

Boyle said during the trial that he made up the story about his wife leaving him for a truck driver, and hid her body in a drum for 23 years.

His secret was uncovered by his son-in-law during a clean-up of the family home in October 2006 when he opened the drum and found a hessian bag and women's clothing.

Two weeks later he found that same hessian bag inside a wheelie bin in the garage of the house and discovered Mrs Boyle's decomposed remains inside.

Ms Bordley said the 23-year-long nightmare had taken its toll on her but she had kept fighting to solve the mystery of her sister's disappearance.

She had hired private investigators as well as consulting clairvoyants to find out what had happened to Edwina.

"It's taken a big toll but when you believe in something you just have to keep fighting - I needed to know what happened to my sister," Ms Bordley said.

"I kept on to the police constantly - I've been to psychics and everything."

Boyle will be sentenced in a fortnight.