A MISSING person inquiry was well underway when Desmond Lee was brought in for questioning by police about Christopher Pratt’s disappearance.

The Grantham man’s daughter, Rebecca, had raised the alarm after her father failed to turn up for Sunday dinner with her on August 16 and then missed work the following day.

Lee, pictured, was initially arrested on August 24 on suspicion of kidnap.

He was the only person who knew that Mr Pratt was not only missing but dead – and that his body was lying naked and decomposing on moorland at Scammonden. But he continued to deny any knowledge of his victims’s whereabouts.

Even after Mr Pratt was discovered on August 26, Lee stuck to his story. But his lies slowly started to unravel.

Det Chief Insp Mark Ridley led the investigation into Mr Pratt’s death.

He said: “Working closely with the forensic science service, we were able to build a case of insurmountable evidence against Lee.”

Among the key clues was a piece of masking tape used to wrap Mr Pratt’s body. It was an exact match with a piece discovered at Lee’s flat.

CCTV footage revealed Lee’s exact movements at the time of the murder, highlighting inconsistencies in the accounts he had provided to the victim’s family and police.

The detective said: “Lee, who did not own a vehicle, was seen using Christopher Pratt’s car.

“This was later found to contain blood stains in the boot, which had originated from Christopher.”

A call made to Argos, in which Lee posed as Mr Pratt to try to buy goods using his bank card, was also to count against him – expert voice analysis proved the caller was Lee.

By the time he went on trial, the weight of evidence was such that Lee was forced to admit he had caused Mr Pratt’s death and dumped the body.

But it was left up to the jury to see through his transparent lies and convict him of murder.

Det Chief Insp Ridley said he hoped the trial had given Mr Pratt’s family answers.

He added: “I hope the verdict will now help them to move on with their lives after what has been an extremely distressing time for them all”.