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The Clydach Murders - Miscarriage of Justice or right person convicted?
CountryCat:
I remember these shocking Murders happening and the subsequent news coverage but over the years it had slipped from my mind. I recently was recommended a book to read by a friend as they knew about my interest in true crime and it has Piqued my interest in the case.
Mandy power and her family were beaten to death at their home in South Wales in 1999 before the house being set on fire. In a case full of twists and turns it became apparent that Mandy had a lesbian lover who was a married policewoman. Her lovers husband and his twin brother were also policemen and initially they were all arrested but eventually a local man David Morris was convicted as it became apparent he was also having an affair with Mandy. The conviction centred on the finding of his gold chain in the house despite no DNA evidence linked to Morris being found.
It’s a very interesting case, Morris has always protested his innocence and the new book does seem to cast doubt on the conviction. Fascinating to read, there’s lots online to read about the case, you can then make your own mind up!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07P6ZJR75/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/free-dai-morris-clydach-murders-17345351
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-clydach-murder-mystery-281708.html
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2845510/Who-REALLY-murdered-married-WPC-s-lesbian-lover.html
barrier:
--- Quote from: CountryCat on December 28, 2019, 10:27:36 PM ---I remember these shocking Murders happening and the subsequent news coverage but over the years it had slipped from my mind. I recently was recommended a book to read by a friend as they knew about my interest in true crime and it has Piqued my interest in the case.
Mandy power and her family were beaten to death at their home in South Wales in 1999 before the house being set on fire. In a case full of twists and turns it became apparent that Mandy had a lesbian lover who was a married policewoman. Her lovers husband and his twin brother were also policemen and initially they were all arrested but eventually a local man David Morris was convicted as it became apparent he was also having an affair with Mandy. The conviction centred on the finding of his gold chain in the house despite no DNA evidence linked to Morris being found.
It’s a very interesting case, Morris has always protested his innocence and the new book does seem to cast doubt on the conviction. Fascinating to read, there’s lots online to read about the case, you can then make your own mind up!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07P6ZJR75/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/free-dai-morris-clydach-murders-17345351
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-clydach-murder-mystery-281708.html
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2845510/Who-REALLY-murdered-married-WPC-s-lesbian-lover.html
--- End quote ---
Very interesting,thanks for bringing it up.
mrswah:
There is lots of stuff regarding this case on You Tube------I need to get around to watching some of it!
Nicholas:
According to a ‘Mr G Young’ who wrote a comment in May 2020 on Amazon re Michael O’Briens book ‘The death of justice’
here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Michael-OBrien-Death-Justice-Innocent/dp/B00NBG3MXW
Referring to O’Brien
‘He is now actively involved in the case of Dai Morris another person wrongly convicted of murders that SW serving police officers at the time were accused of. As a result of this his car has twice been vandalised but this only makes him stronger
Nicholas:
March 2013 - The monster who murdered our family'
‘THE brutal murder of a family of four rocked the close-knit Swansea Valley community of Clydach to its core.
The murders of Mandy Power, 34, daughters Katie, 10, Emily, eight, and grandmother Doris Dawson, 80, in June 1999, sparked the biggest murder hunt in modern Welsh criminal history.
It took 21 months for police to arrest builder and former scrap metal dealer David Morris. He was found guilty of the crimes, but his convictions were quashed on appeal in May 2005 and a retrial was ordered.
And seven years after firefighters discovered the bodies in the home at Kelvin Road, Morris was unanimously found guilty of their murder.
Members of the victims' family sobbed uncontrollably as the jury delivered the unanimous verdicts after almost 20 hours of deliberation at Newport Crown Court.
Morris, smartly dressed in a light grey suit, stood immobile and apparently emotionless as the verdicts were delivered.
High Court Judge Mr Justice McKinnone then gave Morris four mandatory life sentences, to run concurrently.
He told Morris that "early release provisions should not apply to you because in my judgment you should not be released early.
"Life should mean life and you should never be released."
The judge's comments followed a 15-minute summary of the case which graphically detailed the savage brutality of the murders.
The judge spoke of Morris' "sadistic motivation" in the murder of the two children Katie and Emily.
He also told Morris, "It is clear that the motivation for the murder of the three vulnerable people must have been to defeat justice."
The judge had earlier detailed how Morris had attacked Mandy Power, who is believed to have been the first of Morris' four victims.
He told Morris it would probably never be known exactly what his motivation had been for the attack, whether it was a rebuffed attempt to have sex with the mother-of-two, or to find out why his own partner had apparently been called a "slapper".
The judge said that it was not known exactly what happened during the initial attack, but it may well have been that Mrs Powers' daughters had carried the pole - which became the murder weapon - to their mother themselves so she could defend herself.
Morris then turned it on her to fatal effect and later used it on the two vulnerable children and the grandmother.
The judge outlined in graphic detail the savage injuries which each family member carried as a result of the attack.
He said that Mandy Powers' face was smashed in 10 places and she had sustained at least 10 blows.
Her daughter Emily had had her skull smashed into 20 pieces, her sister Katie had head injuries and the pole used in the attack had been pulled through her fractures. Their grandmother sustained fractures to her face.
On the steps of Newport Crown Court the family of Mandy Power raised their hands in jubilation at yesterday's verdict.
Her sister Sandra Jones said justice had been done.
"David Morris can rot in hell," said an emotional Mrs Jones.
"Nobody will ever know how much we've gone through. Hopefully we can now go forward."
But the family of Morris were still insisting that he was innocent.
His sister Debbie said, "We will fight this every step of the way. He has no chance in Wales, and he is up against the police."
Morris' father Brian added, "One thing's for sure he will never get a fair trial in Wales."
Lifelong friends of Mandy Power were pleased with the jury's verdict.
Susan Felstad, 40, of Clydach, said, "It's fantastic. The verdict has never been in any doubt in our minds."
Julie Noble, another friend of Mandy Power, said, "I'm just glad it's over for the family. They shouldn't have had to go through with it twice."
A statement read on behalf of the Power family said, "The last seven years have been a living nightmare for us and have not been helped by the poster campaigns and petitions by Morris' family claiming him to be innocent.
"Two guilty verdicts say it all. Anyone who has sat in that courtroom listening to lie after lie, and not just from Morris, will know that he's the evil monster who brutally murdered our family. Throughout this trial we have had to sit and listen to the lies about Mandy and hear her name and character being dragged through the mud. The hardest part was not being able to stand up and defend her. Our only consolation is knowing that everyone who knew the real Mandy knows what a kind, generous and loving person she was, not the uncaring, good-time party animal she was portrayed as by David Morris and his team."
People in Clydach are still concerned that David Morris was not arrested until 21 months after the murders, even though they suggested his name as a suspect within days.
Around a week after the murders at Kelvin Road, Clydach, local people were even calling the tattooed 40-year-old "Dai the Murderer".
And they had handed the 50-strong murder squad a dossier containing 20 "coincidences" which they believed should have placed Morris as the prime suspect.
The dossier pointed out how Morris had lost his distinctive gold chain, a key piece of evidence which eventually helped secure his conviction.
It also pointed to his record of violence, including an iron-bar attack on a neighbour, Karl Wassell, two years before the murders.
In a chilling echo of what was to come at Kelvin Road, Mr Wassell's home at Craigcefnparc was broken into by Morris, who smashed his head so hard with the iron bar he needed 66 stitches. Pieces from his broken skull had to be taken from his brain by surgeons at Morriston Hospital.
A Crown court trial was scheduled over the incident but witnesses did not want to testify.
The dossier given to police also referred to scratches seen on Morris' face the day after the Power killings.
But police told them, "We have our prime suspects", and spent 21 months wrongly focusing on Mandy Power's lesbian lover Alison Lewis and her husband, South Wales Police Sergeant Stephen Lewis.
Craigcefnparc councillor Ioan Richard said, "It is not a question of being right or wrong but what matters is that we were eventually proved right and we spent 21 months with a man who was effectively a mass-murderer in our midst."
Morris was given an alibi by his girlfriend Mandy Jewell and it was only by chance he came back under the police spotlight.
An off-duty policewoman in the Orange House pub in Swansea's city centre bumped into Morris's cousin, who casually mentioned that Morris had "been there" on the night of the infamous killings.
Morris was brought in for questioning and paint from his home was later found beneath bloodstains on his chain found at the murder scene.
The lesbian lover of murdered Mandy Power, who was initially arrested on suspicion of murder, yesterday described her relief that justice had finally been done.
Alison Lewis, pictured, 39, a former policewoman, was arrested a year after the Clydach killings.
But although later released, and now cleared of any involvement in the murders, she said she still feels surrounded by suspicion. Following yesterday's guilty verdicts at Newport Crown Court, she said, "David Morris is a violent thug. I hate him with every bone in my body."
But she said she was relieved that justice had been done and that he will "spend the rest of his life being punished for what he did".
She said, "It was the right verdict. David Morris has put everybody through so much. Hopefully, now Mandy's family and myself can get on with rebuilding our lives. The memory of Mandy Power will live on and will never be forgotten."
She added, "I used to feel bitter at being arrested for the murders, but I'm now fully supportive of South Wales Police and the CPS."
Former policewoman Ms Lewis and her former husband Stephen, then an acting inspector with South Wales Police, were arrested on suspicion of murder a year after the bodies of Ms Power and her family were discovered.
Stephen's brother Stuart Lewis, a police inspector, was also arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.
All three were questioned for four days before being released without charge. Both Ms Lewis and her ex-husband strenuously denied playing any part in the deaths.
In a press conference following the retrial, police detective Chris Coutts said the arrest of Alison, Stephen and Stuart Lewis had been a "false trail".
But yesterday Ms Lewis said she still felt surrounded by suspicion. She said, "I think it is because I was arrested.
"I went from being Mandy Power's gay lover, to being a suspect, to being arrested and being interviewed to being put on bail for six months. I can understand people, because of the way it has been handled, perhaps having doubt over certain aspects of the case. But then I think that is just because the case has been handled badly."
Yesterday she also hit back at the announcement by Morris' family that they would fight the conviction "every step of the way".
She said, "How many juries need to find this man guilty before they believe he is a cold-blooded murderer? I am just glad justice has been done."
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/the-monster-who-murdered-family-2321705
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