{"id":5110,"date":"2020-08-30T11:04:12","date_gmt":"2020-08-30T10:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.jomec.co.uk\/life360\/?p=5110"},"modified":"2020-09-22T17:51:53","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T16:51:53","slug":"the-1999-clydach-murders-is-david-dai-george-morris-really-a-killer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/life360\/the-1999-clydach-murders-is-david-dai-george-morris-really-a-killer\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1999 Clydach Murders: Is David (\u201cDai\u201d) George Morris really a killer?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fifteen years after the murder of a Welsh family of four in 1999, an internal police document was disclosed which confirmed public suspicions that the real culprit was someone other than the man convicted of the crime. Was David (\u201cDai\u201d) George Morris the victim of a wrongful conviction, due to the non-disclosure?<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On June 27, 1999, a raging house fire in Clydach awakened some of those living in the small valley town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one knew how the fire started. Neighbours were eager to put it out but were unable to do so. Then, the fire services arrived, and a firefighter brought out the first occupant, the body of a young woman. Only later did anyone realise that the burning house was a murder scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A family of four living in Clydach, 34-year-old Mandy Power, her 80-year-old invalid mother Doris Dawson, and Mandy\u2019s two daughters Katie 10, and Emily 8, were brutally beaten to death by an attacker wielding a four-foot fiberglass pole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The murders shocked the entire country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took about three weeks to conclude the murder investigation at the house. The longest ever in Wales. Detective Inspector Martyn Lloyd-Evans of the South Wales Police was the senior officer in charge of the case. He told the journalists that there was no trace of evidence (DNA and\/or fingerprints) to be found at the crime scene. He claimed that the killer must have erased all traces of their presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 21 months of investigative work, the police approached David (\u201cDai\u201d) George Morris on the 20 March 2001. Morris was a 38-year old builders\u2019 labourer who was unpopular in Craig-Cefn-Parc, the village where he lived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suspect with multiple crime records<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Years earlier, during the 1980s, Morris had racked up many convictions which stayed on his record. He had stolen cars, carried out a robbery, and committed other crimes; one of which cost him five years in prison. It was also reported his first wife Wendy divorced him because he had used violence against her, though his sister Debra denied it and Wendy showed her support for his innocence publicly in 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dai Morris had enjoyed a sexual affair with one of the murder victims, attractive divorcee Mandy Power. But initially, he lied to the police denying that he had enjoyed such an affair, as, he explained later, he did not want his current girlfriend to find out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the night of the murder, he claimed that he had walked several miles from a local pub towards his parents\u2019 home in Swansea, but then he changed his mind, and returned to the home he shared with his girlfriend. This meant he had no confirmed alibi for the time of the murders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crucially, a gold necklace covered in blood was found at the crime scene at the spot where the greatest violence was belied to have taken place. Morris claimed that he had left the chain in Mandy\u2019s home when he went there on the Friday before the murders to have sexual intercourse with her. This explanation failed to convince either the judge or jury. Morris was found guilty of the murders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was really strange and horrendous,\u201d said Morris\u2019 eldest daughter Janiene, who was 21 years old at the time. She said, \u201cWe didn\u2019t expect him to be found guilty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phil Parry, presenter of the BBC panorama program who made a documentary about Morris\u2019 case said, \u201cThe police investigation we felt was flawed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • \"\"