Carol Wardell (née Heslop) was a 39-year-old building society manager from Meriden in the West Midlands of England.
On the morning of Monday 12 September 1994 her body was discovered by a passing motorist on a grass verge on Weddington Road (the A444) in the Nuneaton and Warwickshire countryside.
Gordon Wardell told police that he had returned home on Sunday night to find a man wearing a clown's mask, holding his wife at knife-point on the living room sofa.
Carol's husband Gordon Wardell appeared at the press conference in a wheelchair, wearing sunglasses and visibly shaken.
He described how he had returned home to find a man wearing a clown's mask and a dark blue boiler suit threatening his wife at knife-point.
During the press conference, questions were put to Gordon Wardell regarding a previous conviction he had for grievous bodily harm.
Police hoped that the reconstruction, which was covered by local and national media, might jog someones memory so that they might come forward with new information.
Wardell had previously been convicted of a serious sexual assault and grievous bodily harm in the 1970s for which he had spent time in prison.
[9] The manner under which Wardell had been found tied and gagged in his home also didn't make sense to investigating officers.
The prosecution represented by Richard Wakerley QC alleged that Wardell had killed his own wife, dumped her body and then staged an "elaborate scheme" to "deceive and divert attention" away from himself.
Ambulance crews who attended the scene, noted that Wardell did not have a raised heart rate or high blood pressure, although appeared to have bruising to his stomach.
[14] Wardell told the court that he had returned home from the pub at 10pm to find his wife being held at knife point.
In 2007, through his solicitors, Gordon Wardell made an application under Schedule 22 or the Criminal Justice Act 2003 for his minimum term, the amount of time before which he would be eligible for parole, to be reduced.
Mr Justice Teare who considered the application ruled that the minimum tariff of 18 years set by the Home Secretary would stand, less 14 months Wardell had already spent in custody awaiting trial.
[17] Carol Wardell was described by John Stewart, CEO of The Woolwich as "very well respected and highly regarded" having worked for the company for 12 years.
[18] In the days after the murder, local people left floral tributes at the front of the Woolwich branch in Nuneaton.