WHEN Evelyn Lund left her friends and family in Lancashire to move to a 400-year-old farmhouse in the picturesque south west France with her new man, she thought she’d be living the proverbial dream.
But her fresh start swiftly descended into a bitter nightmare, ending in her decomposed body being found at the bottom of a lake. Was it a tragic accident, suicide, or foul play?
Evelyn’s daughter, Patricia, and the officers who investigated tell her harrowing story in a new episode of When Missing Turns To Murder or Crime and Investigation tonight.
The mother-of-two became a wealthy widow at the age of 44 when her beloved first husband Arthur, a building society manager, died of lung cancer in 1991.
Within three years she had met and married Robert Lund, a 39-year old tree surgeon who was recently divorced.
Evelyn’s children were not happy about the relationship – they felt Robert was too happy spending their mother’s money.
“He came into my mother’s life at a vulnerable time – Robert was motivated by money,” daughter Patricia says.
“He saw the pound signs, basically.
“When he met my mum he had credit cards and mum paid them all off.
“He was very good at spending my mum’s money.”
Despite her children’s reservations, Evelyn married Robert in 1994 – just 18 months after they met.
It was the night before their wedding that Patricia first learned Robert was abusing her mum.
“I remember sitting with her and she was crying,” Patricia says.
“He actually beat her up. I remember sitting with her and asking, ‘Are you sure you’re doing the right thing?’ and she looked at me and said, ‘He’s promised he’ll never do this again.'”
Three years later Evelyn emigrated to a small expat community in Rayssac, France, with her new husband, and things began to fall apart.
Robert’s dark side took over – he was physically and emotionally abusing Evelyn.
The couple lived in a secluded farmhouse, and, hidden away and feeling increasingly isolated, Evelyn slowly began to unravel – hitting the bottle regularly in a bid to cope.
Patricia fiercely believes Robert engineered the move to France because he wanted to isolate her.
“He humiliated mum by [doing things like] making her swim naked in front of his friends,” she says.
“He also started emptying her account and telling her she was losing her marbles.”
Evelyn did manage to make one good friend in the village – Marianne Ramsey, 61, who regularly encouraged her to leave Robert.
Once Robert realised Evelyn, thanks to Marianne’s support, couldn’t be so easily manipulated his anger became ferocious and their rows more frequent.
Just after Christmas in 1999, Evelyn reached the end of her tether.
She went to see Marianne on December 29 and was obviously highly agitated, so her friend tried to calm her down.
They spoke about the state of Evelyn’s marriage and Marianne again told her to leave Robert, before both women had a nap.
When Marianne woke an hour and a half later, Evelyn was gone, leaving a note on kitchen paper: “Gone to feed the animals. Evelyn x.”
Marianne didn’t give it a second thought as it was typical behaviour for Evelyn, but things soon took a sinister turn.
A couple of days later Robert rang Patricia to say Evelyn had gone missing.
Furious she was only just learning of what had happened, Patricia demanded Robert reported the disappearance to the police.
French police chief Joseph de Conti answered Robert’s call.
“Evelyn went missing on December 29, Mr Lund only reported her disappearance on the 1st January,” said de Conti.
“It seemed he was more worried about his car being missing than his wife.”
While the local French police did a major search, Robert’s behaviour became increasingly suspicious.
“He was trying to get as much money as he could out of the bank account,” recalls Patricia.
Officer de Conti soon became suspicious too.
Evelyn’s handbag was still at home, meaning she had no ID or bank cards with her. His team also found her glasses, which she would have needed to drive.
With evidence of violent rows also uncovered, police ruled out the possibility of Evelyn going missing voluntarily.
French authorities swiftly arrested Robert on suspicion of murder, but because French law states that without a dead body no one can be charged with the crime, he could only be held for 36 hours. For the next 22 months the investigation continued.
“It was the not knowing,” says Patricia. “It just had a toll on us all.”
On October 13, 2001, 22 months after Evelyn went missing, came the dreaded news – Evelyn’s body had been found at the bottom of a lake 15 miles from her home.
The water in the lake had dropped by 30ft due to a drought and the roof of her red Toyota Land Cruiser had been spotted by a horse rider.
Evelyn’s body was found on the back seat of the Jeep.
Because of delays with evidence gathering and forensic tests, Robert’s case wasn’t heard in court until 2007.
French accident investigator Robert Hazan revealed some horrifying details of Evelyn’s death.
She was unconscious when the car was pushed into the lake, and it took two-and-a-half minutes for it to fully submerge.
“[There] would’ve been a moment in which the woman could have opened the door,” he said.
“This was an intentional act. Full stop. Not an accident.”
Robert claimed Evelyn’s death was an accident, suggesting she may have been drinking and lost control of her car resulting in it plunging into the lake.
The trial lasted a week and while Robert maintained his innocence, he was convicted of a crime similar to manslaughter and given a 12-year prison term.
“I don’t think it was long enough,” Patricia says.
“He should’ve been convicted of murder and had a very long time, but I’ve stopped being angry because it destroys you.”
Robert twice appealed his conviction, but was found guilty during both retrials. It means he was convicted three times in connection with the death of his wife.
During his second retrial many witnesses gave evidence about how cruel he had been to Evelyn.
Robert was released in 2013 after serving nine years of his sentence.
