The prison confessions...

Fifteen-joints-a-day cannabis addict Michael Wainwright said Park made an exercise yard confession to him while on remand in Preston Prison in 1997. But his testimony came under heavy fire in cross-examination and he conceded that he had "memory problems" and his account was "not 100 per cent true".

Glen Banks, Park's cell mate in Preston. The 36 year old, who has severe learning difficulties, said Park told him he had "killed his missus" on a boat and "dumped her body with metal weights and bricks". Despite hours of questioning from defence barrister Andrew Edis QC, Mr Banks, who has the literacy skills of a seven-and-a-half-year-old, repeatedly insisted he was "telling the truth". The defence argued Mr Banks picked up information about the case from TV, that he fabricated the confession to please the police officers who questioned him and pointed out details of his account that did not tally with other evidence for example he claimed Park said he killed Carol by putting "white powder" in her drink.

The eye witnesses...

Scots couple John and Joan Young said they saw a man in a diving suit dump a "heavy bundle" from a boat on Coniston in 1976. Jurors took a trip to the spot where the courting couple believed they were parked at Machell's Coppice to see if they could see where Carol's body was found about a mile away. But in thick drizzle it was tricky for them to draw any conclusions.

For the defence, witness Sabine Dixon, a neighbour to the Parks' Leece bungalow Bluestones, reported seeing a "blue-grey Volkswagon Beetle" parked outside the house on the day Carol disappeared while Gordon Park claims he was in Blackpool. She said she had it "stuck in her mind" that the car was there on that fateful day, although she could not be sure.

The knots...

Trial watchers in the public gallery could be seen practising their bowlines as forensic scientist Rodger Ide gave an insight into the techniques of examining knots. He analysed hundreds of knots taken from Park's home and boat, and compared them to the seven different knots from bowlines to eye splices used to tie the body in a foetal position before putting it in a pinafore dress which had been stitched into a sack. Mr Ide concluded that Park showed "knot tying skill" as did whoever bound up the body. "There is no evidence that shows Park couldn't have tied the knots," he said, but added that it was "not possible" to say he had tied them. Park, a keen sailor, told the trial he did not use granny knots, of which there were some on the body ropes.

The rock...

Geology expert Dr Duncan Pirrie said a sandstone/siltsone rock found by the body contained a very rare and distinctive crystal structure that was also found in rocks taken from the garden wall of Bluestones. That feature was not found in any samples from Coniston. The defence challenged the significance of the match, arguing that the feature could be common around Coniston and elsewhere but since no one has done any research on it, nobody knows. In cross examination, Dr Pirrie also said he could not rule out that the stone could have been carried there by glaciers 12,000 years ago although he believed that was "highly unlikely".

The Lead Piping...

Forensic expert Philip Rideyard testified that marks on flattened lead piping found in the wrappings round Carol's body could have been made by a Stanley Steel Master claw hammer one of five hammers retrieved from Park's home. But he said this was "a long way from being conclusive". He also said two pieces of lead taken from the garage of Park's Leece home after he moved out could once have been joined to the body piece. Park countered that he thought he bought the Stanley hammer after 1976 and believed he moved everything out of his garage when he left Leece.

The motive...

The prosecution has endeavoured to show that Park was the humiliated, cuckolded husband who finally snapped. Jurors have heard that Carol left Park twice, once for nearly a year in 1975 to live with her lover David Brearley, before she returned to her husband after losing a custody battle for their three children.

"She had hurt you once too often," said Alistair Webster QC, prosecuting. "Even you had had enough."

Park replied: "Mr Webster, if you knew this girl you could have forgiven her.

"She was my wife, the mother of my children it's absurd to suggest I killed her."

At no point in seven weeks of evidence has any witness testified that Gordon Park was ever violent towards his wife.

The alibis...

Park says he was in Blackpool with the couple's children when Carol disappeared in July, 1976. His son Jeremy, who was six at the time, said he remembered the trip and recalled "feeling rejected" because he said his mother told him she would not be coming. Eldest daughter Vanessa, then eight, said she did not remember the trip.