Fred Lawlor

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Fred Lawlor is a convicted child abuser and murderer.

He was initially sentenced, on April 6, 2006, to a minimum of 15 years in prison^[1] for the abuse of a teenage girl. As well as sexually abusing her himself, he had forced her to have sex with approximately 50 men in a two-year period.^[1] He had filmed many of these sexual acts, some of which had taken place in public places, such as at beaches at Pensarn and Llanddulas.^[1] He had continued these activities even while under police investigation.^[1] The judge, Merfyn Hughes QC described the crimes as "among the most evil and unpleasant this court has ever come into contact with."^[1]

In an effort to arrest other men who were shown, by the video footage taken by Lawlor, to have had forced sex with the girl, the case was featured on the BBC programme Crimewatch in April 2006.

It was later discovered that he had murdered his girlfriend, Dorothy Carre, in 1999^[2], stabbing her to death^[2]^[3] and burying her body in the cellar of his house in Equitable Street, Rochdale^[3], where it remained undiscovered until March 2007, even though Carre's family had reported her missing three times.^[2] For this offence, Manchester Crown Court sentenced him to a minimum of 17 years in prison,^[2]^[4] which he was to serve concurrent to his prison sentence for child abuse.^[2]

Dorothy Carre's family were critical of the police, suggesting that if they had conducted a more thorough search when they had previously reported her missing, Lawlor would not have been able to commit his sexual offences.^[3]