Gloucestershire Police have confirmed that the body recovered from Redhill Farm, Redmarley, on Thursday afternoon has been formally identified as that of Kate Prout. The identity of the deceased was confirmed through the use of dental records.
Kate's family have spoken of their relief after Police recovered human remains in their search for her body.
On behalf of Kate’s whole family her brother, Richard Wakefield, 61, and his wife Linda, 57, who live near Stroud, spoke of their relief that the traumatic events of the last four years could finally be coming to an end.
Richard said that when police officers visited their home last Thursday to inform them that Adrian Prout, Kate’s husband, had finally confessed to her murder they felt shocked but glad that they may now be able to say goodbye:
"We never had any doubt that Adrian killed her, we knew straight away when she was gone that something was wrong. We didn’t know how long it would take to bring her back to us, if at all. We were shocked to get the news last week and at first weren’t certain it was the truth due to the lies he’d told in the past. Whilst we’re still awaiting formal identification, as a family we are pleased to hopefully be able to finally put her to rest."
"We have just been full of emotion," added Linda. "We were devastated by her death, we knew we’d never forget her but we thought this day would never come. Over the last week, and throughout, the police have been great at keeping us informed but it still came as a shock when we got yesterday’s news. It was always in the back of our mind that she might one day be found, this is what we’ve waited for and now we can say a proper goodbye at last."
When asked how they felt towards Debbie Garlick, Prout’s fiancée and to whom he confessed, Richard said:"She is now in a similar position to us. She had originally been behind Adrian but now she’s going to have to face the truth, and something she didn’t expect at all."
Linda added: "We’re grateful to her for doing the right thing and coming to the police so that we could get to the position we’re in today. We can now as a whole family move on. We’ll never forget Kate but at least it looks like we’ll be able to get her back so that we can say goodbye. Not knowing what happened to Kate meant we were always wondering but now we’re almost at the end of this ordeal."
"Yesterday’s news was a big relief," said Richard. "The last four years not knowing, having this over our heads, has been like a prison sentence. When we’re finally able to put her rest we can move on with our lives."
The couple also spoke of how touched they were by the support they’ve had from the Redmarley community.Linda said:
"It’s lovely to hear the support we’ve had from Redmarley. It’s good to know that they’re thinking of us and saying prayers but also that they are remembering Kate as she had been a big part of the community, doing the church flowers and that kind of thing. It’s nice that she’s in their thoughts."
The Wakefields were also eager to extend their thanks to the many people involved in the investigation from when it started in November 2007:
"You see things on the news but until you’re involved you have no idea the amount of work that the police put into it. We just want to thank everyone at Gloucestershire Police that has been involved from the very start. We can’t express how grateful we are to them and to the Crown Prosecution Service for taking the case. The police started out with so little but they were determined throughout the whole investigation, they were tenacious and stuck with it. They’ve all be first class. It was a good investigation throughout and we now have the good and right result. There’s light at the end of the tunnel for the whole family now."
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