Killed mum and girls still unsolved
AS flames tore through the terraced council house, neighbours could hear their screams for help.
Trapped in an upstairs bedroom, there was nothing Diane Jones and her baby daughters Sarah-Jane and Shauna could do as the fire raged, fuelled by petrol that had been poured in through their front door.
When firefighters got to them Shauna’s tiny body was discovered on the window sill. It is thought her mother had frantically tried to throw her from the burning building in a desperate attempt to save her.
Her 13-month-old sister was on the bed, her mother’s arms stretched over her. All three were gone.
Within hours a murder hunt was launched on the Gurnos estate in Merthyr Tydfil as the neighbourhood reeled in shock at the young family’s death.
In the months that followed theories of a revenge attack would emerge, motivated by the bitter end of an illicit affair – but 23 years after the death of a family deprived of a future, the case is no closer to being solved.
The crime would lead to one of the longest trials of its time, and an even a bigger appeal to clear the names of wrongly convicted neighbours Annette Hewins and Donna Clarke.
For those left behind it has been a constant source of torment. Some have died before seeing justice done.
On October 11, 1995 the alarm was raised on Marigold Close after flames were seen coming from the front door and shed of the family home.
Residents on the estate heard 21-year-old Diane’s screams for help but were driven back by the heat and smoke.