Lamduan Armitage: Woman identified 15 years after body found in Yorkshire Dales

Police say woman known as Lady of the Hills was originally from Thailand

Walkers found Lamduan Armitage's body in 2004 (PA)

The body of a woman discovered in a remote location in the Yorkshire Dales 15 years ago has been identified.

North Yorkshire Police said the woman was Lamduan Armitage, nee Seekanya, who was originally from north east Thailand.

Ms Armitage was married with three children and would have been 36 at the time her remains were found.

Her body was discovered by walkers on 20 September 2004, lying in a stream in a remote location on the Pennine Way between Pen-y-ghent and Horton in Ribblesdale.

She was found wearing only socks and jeans.

Detectives previously said they believed she may have been killed and transported to the stream, possibly in a 4x4 vehicle.

Ms Armitage’s cause of death has never been established and a 2007 inquest recorded an open verdict.

She was buried the same year in Horton in Ribblesdale, after villages raised money for her funeral.

The name on her gravestone is “The Lady of the Hills”, a moniker she is known by locally.

On Tuesday, detectives asked for the public’s help to build a picture of the woman’s life in Thailand and in various places she lived in the UK between 1991 and 2004, including Portsmouth in Hampshire, Rugby in Warwickshire, and Preston in Lancashire.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police said that officers believe Ms Armitage visited Thailand at some point between 2003 and 2004 but it is not known which part of the country she went to.

Earlier this year a Thai family told press in the country that the unidentified woman could be their relative.

They said she married a British man in the 1990s and moved to England but they had not heard from her since 2004.

“Police are working with the Crown Prosecution Service to obtain the legal authority to interview members of Lamduan’s family and conduct inquiries in Thailand with the cooperation and assistance of the Thai authorities, as well as conducting inquires in the UK,” the force spokesperson said.

“No matter how small or seemingly insignificant you think the information is, it could prove to be very important to help us establish details about Lamduan’s life and the circumstances surrounding her death.”

Anyone with information should call police on 01609 643 147 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111, quoting reference number 12170002439.

Additional reporting by agencies