My dad murdered mam in his allotment shed

My father murdered my mother in his allotment shed – now I want him to tell me where he hid her body

  • Laura May Al  Shatanawi was murdered by husband Hassan in Hartlepool in 1993
  • Their son Rasheed is pleading with his father to reveal where her body is buried 

A man whose mother was brutally murdered by his father 30 years ago has pleaded with the killer to reveal where he dumped his 35-year-old victim’s remains. 

Laura May Al Shatanawi was murdered by her Jordanian-born husband Hassan in Hartlepool. He was jailed for life in October 1994, but has never revealed where he disposed of her remains. 

Now, his son, Rasheed Vaughan, speaking for the first time publicly about his ordeal, said: ‘I love my mam so much and I will never stop trying to find her. My mam would love to have met my son and see me grow up. We wish it wasn’t the case but we’d want nothing more than to be able to put my mam to rest.

He told Teesside Live: ‘I have a lot of fond memories from being a child of mam. I remember going on holidays with her, we went to Rhodes – me and my mam, aunty and uncle – I remember going on trips to Scarborough. I have so many lovely memories. I’ve been told she lived life to the full.’

Richard Vaughan, pictured at his mother’s graveside, is pleading with his father Hassan to reveal where he dumped her body after her murder  in June 1993

Laura Al Shatanawi, pictured, was murdered by her husband Hassan who dumped her body. Police found DNA evidence linking him to the crime in his allotment shed, though there has been no sign of her body over the past 30 years

Mr Vaughan, pictured, was aged just seven when his mother was murdered by his father

The 37-year-old father-of-one was seven when his mother vanished. Initially, Shatanawi claimed his wife – who had been studying tourism in Hartlepool – had taken a holiday to Turkey. 

READ MORE: Jordanian doctor who murdered his wife in a shed is deported 

The couple married in Egypt in 1985 and moved to England in 1985. 

Shatanawi reported his wife missing three weeks after his wife vanished. Police soon became suspicious of the and arrested Mr Vaughan’s father. 

Before murdering his wife, the killer had rented an allotment and paid a workman £10 to burn down his shed. 

The workman sold the shed onto a friend and when police made an appeal for witnesses, the workman passed on details of the shed which contained vital forensic evidence which led to Shatanawi’s conviction. 

A court heard he murdered his wife to move in with his mistress and their five-year-old son. 

Mr Vaughan said he saw his father while on remand but has never spoken to him since. 

He added: ‘Since he has been deported I am trying to locate him because if he’s going to tell anybody where my mam’s body is it would be me. I always think where could she be. We’ve never been able to give her a resting place.’

Hassan Al Shatanawi, pictured, a Jordanian doctor, was deported after serving his life sentence for murdering his wife, Laura

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