Alison Lewis has spoken to a new documentary about her arrest over the deaths of Mandy Power, her mother Doris and daughters Katie and Emily. Due to your consent preferences, youre not able to view this. Either it was true, in which case it suggested something about the morality of the eventual victim, as well as her attitude toward her elderly mother; or, if untrue, it suggested that Morris thought that it would have no effect on peoples view of him because, around here, everyone behaved like this. David Morris was convicted of murdering Mandy Power, her daughters Katie and Emily, and Mandy's mother Doris Dawson, David Morris was convicted twice of the family murders, Doris Dawson was found murdered in her bed, The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. Monday, 14 February, 2005. That is never going to happen. There was not enough evidence to connect them to the crime and the Lewises were never charged. Apart from the brutality of the killings, which hardly needs emphasizing (shown a video of the crime scene, one juror fainted, and felt unable to go on; later in the trial, another juror suffered a heart attack and also could not continue), the whole episode was disturbingly unedifying. Why would Morris have done this? "It's torn the community apart. David Morris, 42, received four life sentences in 2002 for battering to death Mandy Power, her daughters Katie and Emily and her mother, Doris . Alison was also known to be expert in handling the kind of blunt instruments used in some forms of martial arts. However, she now believes this could have been the killer returning back to set fire to the house after murdering the family. David Morris dead: Clydach killer who murdered three generations of In July 2021 the Crown Prosecution Service said no information had been provided by the potential new witnesses to undermine the conviction. But the judges ignored this evidence in their charges to the jury, giving credence to her alibi: that she was in bed with her husband, Stephen, at the time of the murders. We have already shared the findings from Operation Dolomite with the Criminal Cases Review Commission to complete the due process and demonstrate transparency. He also seems to have rented a room elsewhere as another alternative. Twenty years on, the Clydach killings remain horrificand contested. Murder On 13 Reasons Why. "The police and the family of Mandy Power 100% think David Morris is guilty and would like this to go away. @luciabinding. In particular, those who lost three generations of the same family and have had to revisit those painful memories time and time again over the last two decades. The former Welsh women's rugby international, and ex-policewoman, had been arrested over the brutal killings of three generations of the same family - and a "baying, screaming" crowd was waiting for her. He had spent the rest of his life maintaining his innocence and appealing his conviction. VideoThe secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure, LGBT troops take love for Eurovision to front line, Why an Indian comedian is challenging fake news rules. Stuart Lewis was the first senior policeman on the scene after firefighters had brought the blaze at 9 Kelvin Road under control and it became clear that four people had been killed before it was set. Fresh doubts have been cast on the conviction of the man jailed for the horrific Clydach murders in 1999. Can you imagine anybody saying I am the monster that did this? They claimed the original investigation was flawed. A preliminary hearing in her case was set for April 23, 2018. Firefighters found the bodies of Ms Power and the girls laid out on the landing when they came to tackle the blaze. What accounts for this collapse? Campaigners had spent years calling for his release, casting doubt on the integrity of the original investigation. This was therefore to be their model. The tight-knit community of Clydach is still divided over who beat the family to death with a metal pole before setting their home on fire in the early hours, despite the conviction of Morris. pic.twitter.com/P6G7hzHBLo. A BBC Wales Investigates programme in 2020 spoke to two potential new witnesses and South Wales Police announced a review of elements of the case in January 2021. 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This included the Newsagent Three of 1987, where three men were wrongfully convicted and spent 11 years in prison for the murder of a newsagent, and five Black men wrongfully convicted for the murder of a woman in 1988. During this first trial, he explained his lies about the chain not by a desire to avoid a murder conviction, but to conceal his affair with Power from his sexual partner, Mandy Jewell, a divorce with a young child, with whom he had lived for four years. It's not good enough. A. man convicted of murdering three generations of the same family more than 20 years ago has died in prison, it has been confirmed. The man convicted of the Clydach murders in the Swansea Valley died of natural causes in prison, a coroner has concluded. Katie and Emily Power, who were murdered alongside their mother and grandmother in Clydach in 1999, Police Inspector Stuart Lewis has broken his 22-year-silence. Are you interested in supporting the magazine? Clydach murders: My hubby & I were wrongly accused of killing my He remained to continue drinking. 2023 BBC. But he was in his late thirties, had not been in trouble for some years, and appeared to earn his living as a laborer. Police have now said an examination of a sock, widely believed to have been used by Morris during the killings, identified the presence of a mixed Y-STR profile that links him or a male relative on his paternal side to the crime scene. Murder in the Valleys is a four part true crime series. I completely understand it but what I didnt understand is why it was always put onto us.. She said she loved Mandy. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. It would be intriguing to know what proportion of Britains serious housing shortage results from the increasingly kaleidoscopic, and constantly fracturing, nature of relationships in our society.). In October 2021, after a new independent investigation into the murders was launched, the police ruled the bloodied sock contained 'a scientific link' with Morris. At the least, his guilt was not proved beyond reasonable doubt, and Morris lays bare a story of police corruption and incompetence, lawyerly dishonesty, and judicial unfairnessliberally assisted by local prejudice and a willingness to lie that is, as the outdated saying goes, un-British. The murderer either had a key, or was let in, to the house, suggesting that he was well-known at least to Mandy Power, who, it turned out, was well-known to many locals. David Morris killed three generations of the same family in the village of Clydach in 1999. It took the jury less than a day to find 27-year-old Desmon Paul Rhea guilty o f shooting and killing . I am puzzled why people cant see Morris for what he is. Morris contends that, although tried twice, Dai Morris, the man convicted for the murders in 2006, is innocent. It was around midnight on Saturday . Clydach murders police officer breaks 22-year silence Morris was convicted of murder at Swansea Crown Court in 2002 - but this ruling was overturned on appeal due to a conflict of interest by a defence solicitor. It would not reflect well on him. Mandy Power, 34, her daughters Katie, 10, and Emily, eight, and her mother Doris Dawson, 80, were found bludgeoned to death and their house set on fire in 1999. The South Wales Police have a reputation, not for making the punishment fit the crime, but for making the evidence fit the suspectin this case, perhaps without even believing the suspect guilty. There was no sign of forced entry to the house, which led detectives to believe it was someone the family knew. The David Morris' death news has been confirmed by a Prison Service spokesman, saying, "HMP Long Lartin prisoner . He described the sex in some detail. There is an extensive and extremely interesting literature on this subject, which obsessed Welsh writers for much of the twentieth century. Clydach murders: Sock links David Morris to scene, say police so when it happened it was like an atom bomb for the whole community . The family had been bludgeoned to death with a pole in an "orgy of savagery", prosecutors said, before their house was set on fire in June 1999. The South Wales Police were under intense public pressure to find the culprit, or culprits. However, in a 2021 review, DNA on a blood-stained sock confirmed Morris or at least a close family member on his paternal side was at the scene of the crime. However, this ruling was later overturned on appeal due to a conflict of interest by a defence solicitor. The negative impact on myself and my family over the last 22 years has been severe and long lasting. 666 ratings57 reviews. He was taken in by police 18 months after the murders, when it was reported the gold chain found at the scene was his. The intruder also murdered Mandys daughters Katie, 10, and Emily, eight. Just as alarming was the lack of probity of Morriss first lawyer, who imposed a condition on the barrister representing the client in court that he was not to adduce evidence that could implicate or cast suspicion on any of the Lewises. He paid for his dishonesty because the court of appeal not only declared the first trial unfair but also made him pay the costs of it from his own pocket, which ruined him. But the police were clearly reluctant to pin the blame on their ownnamely, one or both Lewis twins, or Alison, a former police officer. The main chapel in the little city of Brecon is now a pharmacy, caring for the bodies instead of the souls of the local people. He told the TV documentary: I have no doubt at all that David Morris is the killer. Stuart, also a policeman, happened to be the first senior officer on the scene of the Powers murders. I still know a number of people in the Clydach area and it is very much believed that the convicted man is innocent. "Morris was convicted unanimously by a jury on the strength of the prosecution case and independent reviews by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) have not identified any new evidence. Whoever was responsible sought to destroy the evidence by trying to burn the house down, but firemen extinguished the blaze before total destruction ensued. At first, he denied that the chain was his, though he acknowledged the lie a few days before his first trial, three years later. Hania Aguilar murder: Timeline, what we know about the case | Raleigh I loved being with her and everything about her made me happy.. His twin brother Stuart, who was a police officer too, was arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. "They completely believe he didn't do it and they'll say it's not a question of blind faith," Phillips says of Morris's family. Did this woman die because her genitals were cut? Murder In The Valleys follows the ensuing year of re-examination. City Journal is a publication of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research (MI), a leading free-market think tank. Another possible motive was that Power threatened to expose him to his girlfriend Jewell, supposedly a close friend of hers. Ms Power and her daughters were battered repeatedly with a fibreglass pole, which the children used to play with, and Ms Power's body was sexually assaulted. The Clydach murders investigation was the largest and most complex homicide probe ever undertaken by a Welsh police force. Even more astonishingly, at neither trial was he called as a witness to explain his behavior. "The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has been informed.". In June 1999, three generations of one family were brutally killed in a quiet suburban street in the small village of Clydach, South Wales. Dorris was killed in her bed, while Amanda (better known as Mandy) and her daughters were killed on the landing. A gold chain that he wore turned up at the murder sitein effect, the only evidence against him, other than his bad character and reputation for violence. Mrs Dawson was killed as she lay in her bed, and the killer lay waiting for the others to return home. A scientific link between Morris and a sock, widely accepted as being used by the offender . "Everyone wants to be an armchair detective but they don't know the facts.". It is tragic that all involved in this high profile investigation were let down by a litany of mistakes and unprofessionalism. This government pension, granted because she supposedly could not work again for the police for psychological reasons, raised questions of fraud, for Alison was no shrinking violet. Mrs Dawson, who was 80, was killed as she lay helpless in her bed, and the killer laid in wait for the others to return home. In 2007, his whole-life sentence which means no possibility for parole was quashed with a minimum 32-year sentence put in its place. (PA IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES). Forensic review agreed for 1999 murders evidence, Fresh doubts over Clydach murders conviction, Police speak to 'new witnesses' after murder doc, Russia launches missile attacks on Ukraine, MasterChef Australia host Jock Zonfrillo dies, Air strikes pound Sudan capital as truce extended. After her trauma, she went on to play womens rugby, a rough sport that the feminist lobby wants us to believe, or pretend to believe, is as good as the mens version; several times, she was selected to play for the Welsh international team. David killed Mandy as she lay in her bed, and then waited for the others to return home. Now for the first time in 22 years, Stuart Lewis has spoken about the ordeal that has ruined his life, as The Mirror reports. Because he refuses to admit his guilt, he remains subjected to the prison regime with the least comforts and privilegesand he will remain so until he acknowledges his guilt. Former Inspector Stuart Lewis was held in a cell for four days, interviewed 26 times and suspended for four years after being arrested in connection with one of the worst crimes in British legal history. Mandy Power, her daughters Katie and Emily and her mother Doris Dawson, were . Morris, 38 at the time of his arrest, lived in the nearby town of Craig Cefn Parc, about a mile away from the Powers' home. David 'Dai' Morris was . BBC News. The evidence against the Lewises was more compelling, though not probative. After a legal battle, Alison received custody of the children. Murder in the Valleys is a new true crime series looking at the horrifying Clydach murders. A forensic review of the Clydach murders has made "significant findings" linking convicted killer David Morris to the crime scene, police have said. Read about our approach to external linking. According to Lewis, they had made love three times the day before, though if the victim had showered thoroughly, as she habitually did several times a day because of the psoriasis from which she suffered, the DNA would not have been present. How has this happened, and 22 years later Im still sat here, defending myself, telling people that Im not a murderer, when all I wanted to do was love her? "Our thoughts remain with the families and those affected by this case and acknowledge the significant impact it continues to have on them," it added. Morriss family and supporters dismissed the new evidence as nonsense, and said their fight to clear his name will go on. John Morris's new book is an investigation into the Clydach murders in South Wales in 1999 in which Mandy Power, her mother and two daughters were battered to death. The drug dealer was awaiting a trial of his own, however, and it is not impossible that the police offered him a deal in exchange for his testimony. Baby taken to hospital after dog attack in Caerphilly, Wales, Princess of Wales has handbag 'stolen' by baby boy on visit to Aberfan, Prince William and Kate abseil off Brecon Beacons cliff during visit to South Wales. Now for the first time in 22 years, Stuart Lewis has spoken about the ordeal that has ruined his life. Ahead of the show's launch, here's what happened that night, as well as the arguments for and against David's conviction. In January 2021, it was decided the police should re-examine the case. 6 Feb 2022. She was also a black belt in karate, which she put into practice one day when a Welsh boxing champion objected to her same-sex canoodling in a pub. David Morris killed three generations of the same family, Mandy Power and her daughters, Emily and Katie, were murdered in their home in 1999, Doris Dawson was found murdered in her bed, A number of fires were lit in the home after the murders, Although Emily and Katie Power were murdered, an expert previously said their mother was the main target, The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. Alison and Steve were arrested on suspicion of murder, and Stuart on perverting the course of justice but all three were later cleared. Accompanied by a good mint yoghurt sauce, bhajis don't get much better than this', Co-op, Amazon, Argos and eBay urgently recalling products over safety concerns, Products have been recalled due to the possible presence of allergens, bacteria, chemical toxicity and burns. That it was present suggests, more likely than not, that Lewiss contact with the victim was more recent than she admitted. However, scientists cannot determine how or when the profile was transferred onto the sock, but claim the DNA is more likely than not to be Morris's. Morris' sister and aunt spoke with WalesOnline in September 2021 you can read the interview here. Murder in the Valleys takes a forensic look at the biggest murder investigation in Welsh history. He claimed he spent that day getting drunk watching the rugby at a local pub, where he also had a row with his girlfriend who then stormed off home. Murder in the Valleys is a new true crime series looking at the horrifying Clydach murders. Read more:The most gripping true crime documentaries to watch in the UK after Murder By The Coast on Netflix. Murder in the Valleys premieres on Sky Crime and NOW on Sunday, February 6. Mandy Power, 34, Katie, 10, Emily, eight, and Doris Dawson, 80, died at their home near Swansea in June 1999. At the time, he was a father to two daughters, and was living with his girlfriend, and didn't want to be found out as a cheater. It was also extremely earnest about educational effort. What happened was absolutely horrendous - you can't begin to understand the [Power] family's pain and suffering. Accounts made by two witnesses in a BBC documentary Beyond Reasonable Doubt? how the shadow of the horrific crime has refused to life from the village, Danniella Westbrook rushed to hospital after 'life-changing' Turkish facial surgery, The former EastEnders actress said she was in extreme pain, The key DWP benefit payments and money changes kicking in from today, The changes could make a big difference to your finances, Tourists complain Snowdon is 'too steep' and would be 'better in Cornwall', 'What are they thinking? Phillips, who has previously worked on the documentaries Barrymore: Body In The Pool and Leaving Neverland, hopes his new series will finally address "what really happened that night in the summer of 1999 in Clydach". A judge has ruled that an appeal on behalf of a man found guilty of murdering four members of the same family, should go ahead. They might have been telling the truth, of course, but if so, given the definite recollections of the other witnesses, it is hard to resist concluding that, whoever was guilty, at least one criminal conspiracy was taking place in this so-called close-knit community. Morris was convicted of the murders in 2002 - but the verdict was quashed on appeal due to a conflict of interest by a defence solicitor.
