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| Catherine Gowing: Clive Sharp pleads guilty to murder | Catherine Gowing: Clive Sharp pleads guilty to murder |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A man has been warned he may never be released from prison after admitting the murder of missing Irish vet Catherine Gowing in north Wales. | |
| Clive Sharp, 46, from Bethesda, Gwynedd, pleaded guilty at a hearing at Mold Crown Court on Monday. | Clive Sharp, 46, from Bethesda, Gwynedd, pleaded guilty at a hearing at Mold Crown Court on Monday. |
| Ms Gowing, 37, from New Brighton, near Mold, Flintshire, vanished on 12 October, 2012. | |
| Judge Mr Justice Griffith-Williams adjourned sentencing to determine a minimum term for Sharp's life sentence. | |
| Sharp, originally from Sealand, Flintshire, will be sentenced on 25 February. | |
| The judge said he would not need pre-sentence or psychiatric reports and said there could only be one sentence - that of life imprisonment. | |
| He said: "There are a number of concerns about this case which lead me to the view that I should have time to reflect upon it." | |
| The judge said he appreciated the delay would add to the upset of Ms Gowing's family, but he said careful assessment was needed. | |
| He asked for a complete factual picture of the defendant's previous convictions and previous reports "where he expresses his fantasies". | |
| The judge told Sharp: "There is only one sentence I can pass on you for this offence, as you will know. | |
| "I have to work out what the minimum term you will serve is before the Parole Board consider you for release - if you are ever to be released." | |
| Ms Gowing's murder is said to have taken place between 11 October and 17 October, 2012. | |
| Sharp, dressed in a grey top and trousers, said nothing during the eight-minute hearing apart from confirming his name and pleading guilty. | |
| Members of Ms Gowing's family attended court, including her sister Emma, who sat sat feet from the killer, watching him intently for most of the hearing. | |
| Parts of Ms Gowing's body have since been found, but the remainder are believed to have been dumped in the River Dee. | |
| More than 300 people attended a funeral mass for Ms Gowing in Kinnitty, County Offaly, earlier this month. | |
| Ms Gowing was last seen alive at about 20:40 BST on Friday, 12 October, 2012, when she was spotted on CCTV leaving a supermarket in Queensferry. | |
| Her disappearance sparked North Wales Police' largest ever search operation. | |
| Her burned-out Renault Clio was found near a disused quarry near her New Brighton home a week later. | |
| Some of her remains were later found at Sealand, Flintshire, and on the banks of the River Dee near Chester. | |
| In December, North Wales Police divers searched Trap Pool, a popular angling spot at a water-filled claypit at Buckley. |