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Harrowing images today reveal the makeshift tomb in which a killer buried his pregnant wife and hid her body for more than 20 years.

Debbie Griggs, 34, was four months when she disappeared from her home in Deal, Kent, in the middle of the night on May 5, 1999. Her husband Andrew, now 62, tried to blame postnatal depression, claiming the auxiliary nurse had walked out on him and their three young children.

But in 2019 after it emerged the controlling businessman had been having an affair with a 15-year-old girl and told friends he wished his wife was dead. He maintained his innocence in prison, but in 2022 it emerged he begged his son to dig up her corpse in a bid to get out of

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During a visit in prison, he gave him a detailed description of where Debbie’s body had been hidden after he took it when he moved and buried it in his new home in St Leonards, Dorset.

A police spokesman said: "He then asked them to dig up her remains, remove a strand of hair, take it abroad and post it back to the UK with a letter pretending to be from Debbie to prove she was still alive." Now, as Griggs was given an extra three years in prison for perverting the course of justice, images of Debbie's final resting place have been released by cops.

A spokesman said: "Acting on the information received from the family member who had visited Griggs in prison, specialist officers and staff excavated the back garden of his home in St Leonards, Dorset, in October 2022. Following the directions Griggs had provided, they dug beneath the concrete base of what had previously been a lean-to shed and discovered a barrel-shaped container wrapped in blue tarpaulin. Inside were human remains that were later confirmed as belonging to Debbie.

"Also inside the container was a pillow case and duvet, men’s and women’s clothing and the lining of a car boot. When Griggs was interviewed about the discovery, he declined to answer any questions but delivered a pre-prepared statement in which he maintained he was not responsible for Debbie’s death.

"He instead claimed he found a body inside a container in someone else’s garden that he assumed was Debbie, around two years after he had reported her missing. He said he panicked and encased the container in fibreglass before someone else buried it, and although he suspected it was beneath his garden shed he did not know for sure."

Earlier this year at Canterbury Crown Court, Griggs admitted that after he was jailed for murder he had asked one of his sons to help him dupe police into thinking she was still alive. The court heard that the convicted killer made a request from prison between November 2019 and October 2022 that his son secretly dig up the remains and remove a sample of hair from his mother's body.

In an elaborate ploy to establish his innocence, Griggs instructed his son to travel abroad and send the sample of hair and a letter professing to be from Debbie back to the UK in a bid to convince police she was alive. In the event, her body was not found by police until 2022 when, acting on "new information", officers dug up the back garden of a Dorset property that Griggs moved into in 2001.

Kent Police detectives also found evidence that proved Griggs had been responsible for disposing of Debbie’s body. The car boot liner found inside the container was an exact match of the one missing from Debbie’s Peugeot 309. The vehicle had been found a mile from the home address in Deal during the initial investigation into Debbie’s whereabouts, and was found to contain a small trace of her blood. It is believed Griggs wrapped the clothing he was wearing when he killed Debbie in the boot liner before placing them on top of her inside the container.

Griggs also told police in 1999 that on the day of Debbie’s disappearance he came home from work, had a bath and changed into a white T-shirt and grey jogging bottoms. Those clothed was found inside the container.

And old family photographs taken inside Griggs and Debbie’s bedroom were found during a search of his Dorset home in 2023. The duvet cover shown in the photo was the same as that found inside the container.

Det Chief Insp Neil Kimber said: "Debbie Griggs was a devoted mother whose love for her three children was never in doubt, and it is inconceivable that she would have ever walked out on them. Her husband Andrew has known this ever since he first reported her missing, by which point he had already brutally murdered Debbie and hidden her body. He then continued to lie and manipulate others even after her remains were eventually discovered, making up further ridiculous stories that are an insult to Debbie’s memory and to everyone who continues to mourn her loss.

"The fact he asked a family member to dig up her remains shows what a callous and selfish person he is, sparing little to no thought as to the deeply devastating effect such an act would likely have on that person. Andrew Griggs is already serving a life sentence for Debbie’s murder but our investigation into these further offences was about more than achieving another positive court outcome. It was about securing justice for Debbie and her family and friends, and ensuring the general public know exactly the lengths Griggs was willing to go to in order to escape the consequences of his disgusting actions.

"I hope Debbie’s family and friends can take some comfort from the outcome of this case, which is testament to the hard work and determination of Kent Police’s cold case detectives and everyone who has worked on this case over many years."