A VICTORIAN
IN 1878, Llangibby was a sleepy little village in South Wales, situated on the main road from Newport to Usk. The farmer William Watkins lived in a small cottage in Llangibby, just by the turnpike road, with his wife, Elizabeth, and their three youngest children.
That same year an 11-year-old boy walked to the cottage planning to help Mr Watkins work on the farm.
But when he opened the front gate, he saw Elizabeth Watkins lying on the garden path, in a large pool of congealed blood.
After alerting his mother, nearby residents also found Mr Watkins dead and the three children dead in the smouldering family cottage.
The brutal Llangibby massacre is included in the latest book by author and former Cardiff University rheumatologist lecturer Jan Bondeson titled ‘Victorian Murders’.
Mr Bondeson, 56, from Sweden, details that the morning before the massacre a young Spanish sailor, who was stranded in Cardiff after the company of a Spanish ship had been paid off, arrived in Llangibby.
Yusaf Garcia, described in the book as a “short, thin man, just five feet five inches tall, with a swarthy complexion, coarse black hair and beard” arrived in the village after spending time in Usk Prison for attempted burglary.
Ann Gwatkin, of Llangibby, said that Garcia knocked on her door at seven in the morning asking for water and directions to Newport, before he set off on a route that would take him past the Watkins’ cottage.
The following day, William and Elizabeth Watkins were found laying dead in the front garden with “Sweet William flowers” over the face of Mr Watkins.
The cottage was found to be on fire and “thick smoke bellowed out when the front door was opened.”
Mr Bondeson said: “The floorboards of the children’s bedroom were burnt through, and the men [local residents] could see through to the lounge below.
“All three children were found dead, having been murdered by repeated stab wounds by a frenzied intruder, who had then set the house on fire in an attempt to hide the magnitude of his crime.”
According to records from the time, Usk Prison believed that Garcia was the prime suspect.
The description of Garcia was circulated to the Newport and Cardiff police forces, who both put their constables on high alert.
Mr Bondeson wrote: “Late in the evening, a scruffy-looking foreign tramp made his way into Newport. In very broken English, he asked for directions to the railway station, but there he was informed that the next train to Cardiff was not due until 2.30am.