A 66-year-old man has pleaded guilty to murdering a mother of seven nearly 30 years ago.
He earlier told police that he disposed of her decomposed body months after killing her.
Trevor Dunkley also admitted a charge of preventing the lawful burial of Patricia Lashley, who disappeared near her home in Dudley, West Midlands, in September 1998.
Appearing at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday, Dunkley, of Himley Road, Dudley, showed no emotion in the dock as his barrister, Balbir Singh, told a judge that the charges had been brought based on a police interview.
Asked by Judge Michael Chambers KC if the victim’s body had been found, Mr Singh answered: “No, because this is 28 years ago and the body was put into the cellar downstairs.
“It decomposed.
“When he was moving about nine months to a year later the skeleton was disposed of into the bins.”
Asked if there was a basis of plea, Mr Singh said of the case: “It is down to what the defendant told the police when there was no evidence in reality of what had happened.”
Dunkley, appearing in the dock wearing round-rimmed glasses and a grey sweater, was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on 6 November.
Ms Lashley – known to friends as Pat or Jade – was 33 when she disappeared and was known to have links to Newcastle, London, Wales and Scotland.
She also used the names Vanessa and Tricia as well as the surname Bradford, West Midlands Police previously said.