Man jailed after drugs row ends in hammer attack
A MAN from North Wales has been jailed for 17 years in Australia after murdering his neighbour with a hammer after a drugs row.
Meirion Morris, 60, was a pupil at Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle, Penygroes, in the 1970s, where he was known as “Skippy” after being brought up in Australia.
A court heard he’d hit drug dealer Jade Cady with a hammer to the throat that crushed his windpipe in a drug fight that went wrong.
Morris, of New Dapto Road, Wollongong, New South Wales, was found guilty of Mr Cady’s murder after a seven-day trial.
Former school friends at Penygroes, in disbelief at what happened, remembered Morris as being “a quite popular boy”.
New South Wales Supreme Court heard that Morris was a recluse and suffered from a schizophrenia-type illness caused by drugs. He had invited 36-year-old Mr Cady over to smoke cannabis in 2014.
The two men began to argue over a recent drug deal where Cady was accused of short-changing Morris over a quantity of cannabis, according to the Illawarra Mercury newspaper.
The argument led to a fight where Morris punched Mr Cady in the stomach to try and stop him making a scene.
The two then began to wrestle on the floor when Morris picked up a hammer and hit Mr Cady with a “substantial blow” to the throat.
Morris hit his victim a total of four times, with the lethal blow coming from the blow to the throat which suffocated Mr Cady.
Justice Des Fagan told the court that he did not believe Morris intended to kill the victim and that his mental state and “chronic paranoia” had played a role in the incident.
Mr Cady’s body was found wrapped in plastic bags inside a wardrobe in Morris’ property three days later.
According to the Illawarra Mercury, Morris at the time believed all of humanity was Satanic and that the apocalypse was imminent.
Passing sentence, Justice Fagan said: “The lack of premeditation, the spontaneous single strike in the heat of a struggle... I’m satisfied his intention was only to cause grievous bodily harm and not to kill.”
Morris will be eligible to apply for parole after 12 years behind bars.