Killed Without A Trace explores the huge task facing police forces and prosecutors across the UK as they try to get justice for families and prove a murder has happened without that vital piece of evidence – the body. The show airs Mondays at 9pm on Crime + Investigation.
Laura May Al-Shatanawi and her husband Hassan returned to Hartlepool after their 1985 wedding in Egypt. But by 1993, Laura May had mysteriously vanished. To this day, her remains have never been found, leaving her family, including her then seven-year-old son Rasheed, without closure and unable to lay her to rest.
But what happened to Laura? Hassan didn’t report his wife as missing for three weeks after her disappearance. This made her family members suspicious, later telling reporters that he had 'pulled the wool over our eyes'.
Hassan told Laura’s family and friends that she had decided to take a last-minute trip to Turkey, as she was studying tourism at the time. We’ll take a look at the events leading up to her tragic death and what happened after.
The garden shed
Hassan, who worked as a doctor, willingly talked to the reporters and the police to make it clear he had nothing to hide. He said the same thing he told Laura’s friends and family – that she was on holiday in Turkey.
Laura had been studying tourism at Hartlepool College of Further Education and had sat an exam days before her disappearance, for this reason, it seemed odd to her peers that she had just taken a trip away without telling anyone.
She also had a seven-year-old son at home, so leaving to go on holiday without her child appeared very strange to those closest to her.
Detectives delved deeper into the case and later discovered that the Jordanian doctor had rented an allotment close to his hometown in Hartlepool and wanted a new garden shed erected as soon as possible. Not long after the garden shed was constructed, witnesses local to the allotment noticed a large amount of black smoke coming from it.
It was later reported that Hassan paid workers £10 to dispose of the garden shed and burn it down.
The arrest
Although Hassan claimed he was innocent, new information came to light when the workers declined to dispose of the shed and later sold it to someone in Middlesborough. This information would prove imperative in the suspect’s conviction.
After seeing Laura’s husband in the media discussing his wife’s disappearance, the workers recognised Hassan and contacted the police to advise them of the shed and allotment. This is where detectives found the evidence they needed to convict the cold-blooded killer.
DNA was found on the floor of the shed and forensic examinations revealed it was Laura’s blood and hair. This was enough to convict Hassan of murder – he was sentenced to life in prison in October 1994.
The sentencing
After forensics discovered that Laura had been in the shed at Hassan’s allotment, police were finally able to bring her killer to justice. Sources revealed that the property developer and doctor had killed his wife as he was going to leave her for his mistress, whom he had a five-year-old son with.
The trial began in Newcastle Crown Court in 1994, and while the culprit still maintained his innocence, the jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to a minimum term of 16 years.
While in custody, court, and prison, Hassan has never revealed where he has hidden his wife’s remains. This has meant that Laura's family, including her son, have sadly never been able to lay her to rest.
Serving the minimum of his term in prison in the UK, the Home Office later deported Hassan Al-Shatanawi, leaving an array of unanswered questions.
Still a dangerous man
Despite repeated warnings that Hassan remained a threat to society, he was released from prison and deported in January 2013.
'We believed the Parole Board when they said he would stay behind bars because he was still dangerous,' Laura’s brother, Don Vaughn, told the media.
Her family is adamant that Hassan should never have been freed without first revealing where Laura’s remains are, leaving them without the answers – and the closure – they so desperately need.
