Who killed Evelyn Lund?

THE husband of a woman whose body was found in a French lake has revealed that their relationship had turned violent before her death.

Robert Lund, 51, still lives in the converted farmhouse he bought with his wife Evelyn, near Realmont, southern France, before her disappearance four years ago.

In an exclusive interview with the Lancashire Evening Telegraph he admitted he slapped his wife, their relationship had deteriorated to violence and she had begged him for a divorce.

But he has always stressed he had nothing to do with her death, even though police believe he is the prime suspect and have twice taken him in for questioning.

Evelyn, formerly of Winter Hill, Darwen, and whose parents Roisin and Fred Wilkinson live in of Cotswold Avenue, Rawtenstall, fled the farm in slippers and the clothes on her back on December 29, 1999, after the couple had a row.

Her body was discovered 22 months later on the back seat of her Toyota Landcruiser in a lake some 20 minutes drive from their home. Police still don't know how she died.

The couple had used money from the sale of Evelyn's house and a pension from her first husband, who was from Burnley, to buy their dream home.

Robert said: "I am easy to live with - just come day go day. Conflict just isn't me.

"I raised my voice to her. When she tried to hit me I would say if you try that again I will slap you. I decided I was not going to be a punch bag so I threatened to hit her and it worked. I slapped her.

"One time she came at me with a 12-inch carving knife and I had to put up my hands to stop her.

"She had bruises on her body from falling over but not from me. I didn't kill her.

"She said to me over and over that she wanted a divorce and at one point we put the house on the market.

"She was unhappy with me. But then she would say she did not want a divorce because then I would get half her money. Our relationship had broken down. I was unhappy. Evelyn missed her family. She phoned them all the time and was desperate to see them more.

"She couldn't get into the French way of life. Her idea of learning French was the same as stopping smoking: 'I will do it when I am ready'. Her attitude disappointed me.

"We were both from different social circumstances and had different types of friends but together we were all right. I know I wouldn't be here today without her. I could never have afforded a big house.

"By the Christmas she disappeared she had started drinking. I had stopped drinking as I saw it as a major problem and all hell would break lose. It wasn't that I was being pious but it was fear.

"I never asked her not to drink I just used to ask: 'why do you do that?' And she would just say 'don't tell me what to do'. It was clear she didn't like me very much at that time.

"I would never use the word hate but she was grinding me down.

"When she drank she would lash out at me, but she was so obvious in what she did it became tedious.

"I would take her insults with a pinch of salt. I knew she would ring everyone up and complain about me. She wanted someone to moan at.

"She had not done anything with the animals for months. She got to the point where she didn't care about them at all. I don't think she ever rode her horse in France but at the same time she would say she would rather have them killed than have anyone else look after them."

When Robert first met Evelyn - who still has relatives in Blackburn and Darwen - at a party in Darwen, about 13 years ago he was living in a local council house and working for the local authority as a tree protection officer.

It was months after her first husband of 22 years, Arthur Taylor - a building society manager from Burnley - had died of cancer. His ashes are at Burnley cemetery.

"Romance grew out of friendship and I was like a school kid - besotted with her. After a couple of months I moved in. We have always had a lot in common from meals out to agricultural shows and we clicked right away."

The couple worked on a dream to move away for retirement. They first looked at Spain and Scotland where she had some friends, then had the idea of France.

Robert recalled: "She loved going out to the markets and being with friends. She was a phenomenally good cook who especially liked cooking game. She would often be very calm and loving.

"I found a gold bracelet when we were on holiday at Disney in America, and I melted it down in to two wedding rings. I told her they had to be heavy so they would last forever."