But huge questions remain unanswered about what happened and why
The barn in Llanrwst where pensioner Huw Morgan was murdered
Pensioner Huw Watson met a grisly and violent end – repeatedly stabbed with a pitchfork and then dragged while still alive into a barn full of bales of hay which were then set ablaze.
The murder shocked the close-knit community where Mr Watson was a well-known character, but half a century after the killing the motive remains unknown and the killer remains unidentified. Mr Watson spent his working life operating heavy machinery and agricultural vehicles but by December, 1975, he was living a basic and somewhat unusual life, living in a stable block on land in Llanrwst in north Wales. Read about the ‘lone wolf killer’ who terrorised communities in rural Wales
The only “luxury” appeared to be a simple stove for heating food. But those arrangements were soon to change, and a place for the 77-year-old had been secured at a retirement home. He was due to move into his new home before Christmas. Don’t miss a court report by signing up to our crime newsletter here
Mr Watson spent the evening of December 9 in the Pen-y-Bryn on the square in Llanrwst – a pub run at the time by former Manchester City and Chester goalkeeper George Scales.
The unmarried pensioner was a regular at the inn where he would smoke his pipe, drink his pint, play dominoes and entertain fellow customers with anecdotes. As a report in the Daily Post newspaper at the time put it, his anecdotes were “of another world appealing more, perhaps, to a generation less sophisticated than the present”.
Then, at around 9.30pm, Mr Watson set off to walk the half-a-mile to his makeshift home. Given his mobility issues – the pensioner needed two sticks to walk – even that modest distance would not have been easy and would have taken some time.
That night in the bar would be the last time his friends saw him alive.
At around 11.30pm police officers driving past Llanrwst railway station spotted a nearby barn was ablaze and alerted the fire brigade. When firefighters arrived on the scene they found bales of hay in the barn were well alight. The fire was quickly tackled but firefighters then discovered the body of Mr Watson amongst the hay.
Police were notified of the discovery, and when signs of violence were seen on the body a murder investigation was launched. Read about the unsolved murder of a retired dentist and how an image of the suspected killer has gone unidentified for four decades
Within days some 40 detectives from across north Wales had been drafted in to help with the hunt for the killer or killers. Police set up an incident room in the village and began extensive door-to-door inquiries in the area to check if anyone had seen or heard anything unusual or seen suspicious activity in the area. Detectives also made media appeals for help from the public in north Wales and Merseyside.
Meanwhile, a post mortem examination of the body found some 20 stab wounds which were likely caused by a pitchfork. Some of the wounds were serious but others were superficial, suggesting that whoever inflicted them had spent some time with the victim. The cause of death was found to be asphyxiation and it was determined that Mr Watson had been alive when the fire had been started.
The murder was covered in the Daily Post newspaper(Image: Reach)
Speaking to the Daily Post newspaper at the time a friend of the victim said: “I can’t understand why anyone would want to harm him. He was just a crippled old man. He would have been knocked over if someone just ran past him. He was in considerable pain and one leg was almost useless. One could say he was a cripple.”
An examination of the crime scene showed the pensioner had been attacked in the stable where he lived before being dragged into the barn and the fire set around him. In the barn officers recovered fragments of burnt bank notes.
The murder investigation was led by North Wales Police detective chief inspector Eric Evans. He said at the time: “If the offender was a local person, we still feel sure that there must be someone who would have seen him with his clothing disarrayed or would have noticed a change in his manner, such as nervousness.”
Over the following weeks officers would speak to more than 6,000 people throughout the Conwy Valley in the search for clues, and would go on to collect a huge number of witness statements.
One line of enquiry police looked at revolved around a bearded man in his 20s, around 5ft 8ins tall, and of medium build who was seen near Llanrwst station on the night of the murder, a description which matched that of a man seen in Llandudno railway station that same evening. However, detectives were were never able to trace the male in question.
The door-to-door enquiries turned up no reports of any suspicious or unknown vehicles seen in Llanrwst on the night in question, begging the question of how the killer got to and from the scene.
Likewise, a detailed search of the barn and stables did not turn up any clues as to the identity of the killer. The search did, however, uncover a number of charred bank notes. Police also found the victim’s wallet which was found to contain £18 in cash.
In speaking to locals in the village, police picked up rumours circulating in the community that Mr Watson was sitting on a stash of cash – possibly a back-payment of pension or an insurance pay-out – though there seemed to be no evidence to support those beliefs.
Despite the best efforts of the detectives the hunt for those responsible for the killing drew a blank.
Were those burnt bank notes an indication that Mr Watson was a victim of the local money rumours and the motivation for the attack had been robbery? Why the high-degree of violence inflicted on someone who could pose no physical threat to any intruder? Was the attack carried out by somebody who knew his routine and was lying in wait for him to return? Or was Mr Watson simply in the wrong place at the wrong time? There are far more questions than answers.
The murder of Mr Watson remains unsolved.
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