Gordon Park looked utterly bewildered as justice finally caught up with him 28 years after he murdered his wife.

The 61-year-old retired teacher appeared confused and could barely stand as he was taken down to the cells after the jury foreman pronounced the guilty verdict to Manchester Crown Court.

Having listened to eight weeks' of evidence, it took them seven hours to decide that Park was a liar who had carried a dark secret for more than three decades.

Despite his denials they believed the prosecution case that he had battered his 30-year-old unfaithful wife to death with an ice axe in 1976 before dumping her body in Coniston Water where it lay undiscovered until 1997.

Park's third wife Jenny sobbed as Mr Justice McCombe told her husband he would serve at least 15 years of his life sentence because of the brutality of the murder and the "terrible concealment of the body which led to so much suffering being inflicted on so many people".

Only hours earlier, Park, of Norland Avenue, Barrow, had been arranging to talk to the local press.

"He does not believe they can convict him on the evidence they have," Mrs Park said as the couple waited for the verdict, passing the time with crossword puzzles.

But the jury did convict and outside the court, as the distraught Park family exited via a backdoor, Carol Park's brother Ivor Price stood on the front steps to tell waiting reporters of his relief.

"Today is about one thing, justice for Carol and peace for my mother who died from a broken heart. Her last words to me were find Carol' and we did."

Mr Price, who fainted on hearing the guilty verdict, branded Park a "habitual liar" adding: "To say he is a human being is to say the wrong thing. I just think he is a very evil character."

Park's conviction is a major coup for Cumbria Police which has spent the last seven years painstakingly piecing together evidence to explain a murder 21 years after the event. The investigation has generated 400 statements, 1,200 police actions and a massive 800 exhibits.

Detective Sergeant Doug Marshall, who has been on the case since 1997, said: "Early alarm bells were ringing particularly when we found out Park hadn't reported his wife missing for six weeks and only then through a solicitor."

He was charged with murder in 1997 but the case was dropped due to insufficient evidence. He was re-arrested in January 2004 after ex-convicts from Preston Prison claimed Park had confessed while on remand.

DI Geoff Huddlestone said police believed Park sedated his wife with anti-depressant Triptisol. Then he smashed her face in with an axe before binding her body into a foetal position with an impressive array of sailor's knots. Her body was then wrapped in bin liners, shoved into a makeshift bag stitched from Carol's pinafore dress and a rucksack.

Police think Park then bundled her into the family freezer, putting plasters over her eyes to cover her lifeless stare, while he worked out where to dump the body.

After Carol's death, Park turned to Buddhism, attending teachings at Ulverston's Manjushri Meditiation Centre, in what police feel was an attempt to deal with his guilty conscience.

Yet Park has always claimed that he was on a trip to Blackpool with the couple's three children when Carol disappeared', although many people have suspected him over the years.

"There were times when Carol wouldn't dare get in the car with him," said friend Anne Walker. "There was a certain amount of fear there."

But exactly how the young mother met her untimely end remains a mystery which rests with the killer.

"Whether Park did it during a fit of temper or a cold calculated murder we can't be sure," said DCI Keith Churchman. "Hopefully one day he will tell us so the family and friends can know what happened to her."