THE family of a woman who was mutilated and murdered are appealing to her killer to end their eight-year heartache and reveal the whereabouts of her body.

Trainee travel agent Laura May Shatanawi disappeared in June 1993 after sitting an exam at Hartlepool College of Further Education, leaving behind her son Rashid.

Her body has never been found, but police believe she was hacked to death by her husband, Hassan, in his garden shed in an allotment not far from his home in Thornton Street, Hartlepool.

Although he pleaded not guilty, Shatanawi was convicted of his wife's murder and jailed for life in 1994.

Mrs Shatanawi's brother, Donald Vaughan, said the mystery of what has happened to his sister continues to cause the family heartache.

He said: "It causes us considerable distress not knowing what happened to her body. We do not know if it is one piece or where it is.

"It is quite hard to come to terms with.

"Her killer should not be set free until he tells us what he did with it."

The court case hinged on a genetic fingerprinting technique which was then so new, that scientists from around the country attended Newcastle Crown Court to take notes as the method was explained.

It played a major part in convicting Shatanawi, who hatched an elaborate plot to cover up the disappearance of his wife.

He was caught when tiny blood and hair samples were found in the shed and analysed using a method which reads genetic material with lasers and computers known as the short tandem repeat DNA test.

It is believed that Shatanawi will be released in 2009, and Mr Vaughan would like to set up a support group for people in the same situation.

He said: "It is very worrying to think this man will be free to walk the streets again, and I know I am not the only one in the same boat.

"If there are a lot of us, we stand more chance of lobbying Government and getting life to mean life.

"I don't want anyone else going through what I have."