More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
The sons of murder victim Sarah Wellgreen plan to visit her killer in prison to ask him directly where their mother's body is hidden.
The Daily Mail has reported Jack and Lewis Burdett have requested a prison meeting with Ben Lacomba – who was convicted of her murder last year – in an effort to find out what he did with Sarah after she went missing from her home in New Ash Green in October 2018.
"I want to look him in the eyes and say: 'Just tell us where she is, for your kids' sake and for ours,' Jack, 22, told the Mail, adding that he wants Lacomba to know of the hours he's spent with the Search for Sarah Wellgreen volunteer group, looking for his murdered mother in fields and woods; while older brother Lewis, 23, said they would not be able to find closure until they had laid their mum to rest and said goodbye.
"He might tell us, or he might sit there in silence, just as he's always done since the day she went missing, but the truth will come out one day." added Lewis.
The brothers know Lacomba could well try to avoid meeting them, but say they still hope he could break his silence.
The 39-year-old had denied killing mum-of-five Miss Wellgreen, 46, who was last seen at the home they shared in Bazes Shaw, New Ash Green, on October 9, 2018.
But a jury convicted him of her murder on October 28 last year, after a four week trial at Woolwich Crown Court heard compelling evidence that Lacomba had murdered her and disposed of her body.
While Lacomba had claimed he had stayed in bed the night Sarah disappeared, his red Vauxhall Zafira was caught on CCTV leaving New Ash Green in the early hours of the morning and driving down country lanes to an unknown location, before returning along the same route and back home two hours later.
An occupant of the house had woken that night to find Sarah and Lacomba missing, and said they had seen Lacomba return alone in the early hours.
Evidence showed he had parked his car away from neighbouring CCTV that evening, and had later turned his own CCTV off before his car left the area.
His car was then seen to be muddy for a brief period the next morning, before he got it cleaned.
He also threw his mobile phone in the River Thames after police asked to examine it, and claimed a long-handled grave-digger's shovel found in his shed belonged to his elderly mother.
The court heard that Miss Wellgreen and Lacomba had broken up in 2014 before attempting to live together again in early 2018, but that the relationship had soured again and that Sarah had been making plans to buy Lacomba out of the house.
The day before she went missing Sarah had secured a new job selling beauty products, in what was said to be a new step to financial independence.
Judge Christopher Kinch QC sentenced Lacomba to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 27 years to be served before before he can be considered for parole, and told him he had conducted a "thoroughly wicked plan, that was a plan you executed for your own selfish interest without any thought for the dreadful consequences for others".
The search for Sarah is one of the largest in Kent Police history with 1,275 areas searched, totalling over 2,782 miles, and at its height, the operation involved around 120 officers a day using police dogs, drones and the marine unit.
Meanwhile volunteers with The Search for Sarah Wellgreen Group have searched relentlessly at sites around Kent, and have created a fundraising page for the family of Sarah Wellgreen.
Click here to donate.
If the new Prisoners (Disclosure of Information About Victims) Bill - known as 'Helen's Law' in memory of Helen McCourt, murdered in 1988 - is passed in the coming weeks, Lacomba will never be released unless he reveals the location of Sarah's remains.
