A man has pleaded guilty to the murder of a woman who went missing 28 years ago, after telling police he disposed of her decomposed body months after he killed her.

Patricia Lashley, who was 33 at the time, was last seen near her home on Hall Street, Dudley, in September 1998.

Trevor Dunkley, 66, pleaded guilty to her murder and a separate count of preventing her lawful burial at a hearing at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday.

Dunkley's barrister Balbir Singh told Judge Michael Chambers KC that Lashley's body had never been found, and had decomposed after initially being put in the cellar.

"When he was moving about nine months to a year later, the skeleton was disposed of into the bins," Singh added.

Dunkley, of Himley Road, Dudley, showed no emotion in the dock as his barrister told the court that the charges had been brought based on a police interview.

He was remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced at the same court on 6 November.