A WIDOWER whose wife was found dead in a French lake more than a year after she disappeared said today: "It's about time police treated her death as an accident."

Robert Lund also called on the authorities to release his wife's body so he could arrange her funeral.

It is five months since the body of Evelyn Lund was fished from a lake 15 minutes from a farmhouse, in Raysaac, in the south-west of France, which she shared with husband.

Her body was found in the back of her red Toyota Landcruiser after water levels in the lake dropped dramatically.

Evelyn, formerly of Winter Hill, Darwen, went missing in December 1999, after a trip to a friend's house, sparking a murder investigation. Mr Lund did not report his wife's disappearance for two days and later admitted he was treated as the prime suspect. He was arrested and had his home searched although he was released the next day.

French investigators have still not determined what killed the 53-year-old and have been carrying out tests to see if she was dead before entering the water.

But so far they have drawn a blank, leading to calls from Mr Lund for French police to admit it was an accident.

He said he still feels as though the authorities are trying to pin the death on him.

Mr Lund, a former tree officer for Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "It is still a case of being guilty until proven innocent. I think, 100 per cent, it was an accident. To my knowledge Evelyn had never been down the road leading to the lake where she was found. I have never been down there, before or since, but I know the road leads straight into the lake.

"There were no barriers and there is no grass verges. It was a misty night and coupled with fact she didn't know where she was going, I believe it was an accident."

Mr Lund, who married Evelyn in 1994 after the death of her first husband Arthur from cancer in 1991, appealed to the French authorities to release his wife's body so he can arrange a funeral. He said the stress of the whole situation is making him ill. The stonemason said he has not worked since the end of January.

Mr Lund said: "The French police have come to a full stop and are doing nothing. I have tried to speak to them but they will have no involvement with me. I don't know when they will release the body, I haven't even got the death certificate so I can't arrange the funeral.

"I want to go forward with my life. I know Evelyn is not coming back and I accept that but I cannot go anywhere with my life. I am stuck."

A spokesman for the French prosecutor said Evelyn's body would not be released until all investigations are complete, but hinted that could be sooner rather than later.

A spokesman said: "No developments on this case have been made at this stage. The police investigation is still concentrating on DNA samples. A result maybe available in a couple of weeks."

One of Evelyn's three daughters by her first marriage, Patricia Taylor, of Franklin Road, Witton, Blackburn, said she had complete faith in the French legal system.

She said: "They won't release mum until they get the tests results, which I understand. Hopefully we will know more then."