‘I KNOW WHO DID IT’ – DETECTIVE IN UNSOLVED DOUBLE MURDER CASE
“I persisted... so they got in touch with the pathologist and this time they had a big meeting at headquarters – a big row ensued.
“One month later the whole tone of the inquiry changed as they were looking for where people were [later that morning].”
Over time, the retired detective has also raised questions over the cause of death given for Isaac.
While it has been suggested the pensioner had choked on his own vomit, it has been suggested the cause of death contradicts the pathologist’s findings.
He said: “The pathologist said Isaac had died not from the head wound, but from regurgitating.
“I’ve thought about this for 40 years now, and there was nothing in his stomach for him to regurgitate.
“What I think happened was when the person who committed the murder realised what he had done, he couldn’t leave Isaac Hughes alive because he knew him. He picked the cushion up and asphyxiated him. He choked, he did in a way.”
During the 18 months of the murder inquiry, an incident room was set up in a local court in Blaenavon. After a shift, officers were fed in a canteen in a nearby engineering works.
Photos taken at the time show officers gathered around a large wooden table, surrounded by stacks of nine-point questionnaires filled out by residents.
Among the lines of inquiry, an Irish family were interviewed after reports they had stayed with Isaac on the evening of Good Friday. But, after being found in London and returned to Blaenavon, the individuals and their companions were cleared from the case.
Days later, an identikit picture was released of a man who reportedly called at a house on Easter Monday night asking what street he was on – a quarter of a mile away from the murder scene.
But to no avail.
The detective said: “They went round the town, visitors – anyone that had anything to do with Blaenavon was vigorously interviewed.
“It went on, and nothing was ever resolved. We had different members of the public ringing up saying they had the bloke that did the murder, ‘I’ve got a bloke with all blood on him’, and it was just nonsense. Noone had any thoughts about it at all.”
Out of all the lines of inquiry, the detective also suggests that one line of investigation was pursued further, and more vigorously than any other – at the expense of expanding the search’s horizons.
He suggests a friend of Isaac Hughes was interviewed nearly 50 times in desperation for answers.
He said: “They made a list then of persons who could possibly have done it. All the local criminals were seen, they were well-known anyway, and they weren’t put in the frame, but Isaac Hughes had a friend who lived nearby.
“He used to look after him and take him a meal across and take errands from him. Everyone on the inquiry said it’s him, [but with] no reason.
“They kept a log of everybody that was interviewed at the police station. I counted up the entries one day and he had been interviewed almost 50 times. He didn’t have 100% mental capacity. The last time he was there, he said ‘if you f*****g tell me how I killed them, I’ll admit it’. It was as close as that to breaking him mentally, but he didn’t do it. The person who did it did the murder in a fit of jealousy.”
In spite of the efforts of everyone involved, the murder weapon responsible for the deaths of Isaac and Arthur has never been found.
After thousands of interviews, noone has ever been charged.
Now retired from the police force, the detective believes he is one of a small number of people to have kept another suspect in mind.
It is his suspicion that the person responsible may have come to the house to confront Arthur Waite over an issue involving the man’s wife at the time. He said: “It was a simple murder, made complicated because people wouldn’t sit down and talk about how it happened. We had meetings all the time, every day, but here we are in 2019 and it’s still undetected, and never will be solved because most people alive at the time – police, witnesses, even the chap who did it, I would say – are dead.
“It was the only [murder I was involved in] that went undetected. I’m not going to live forever and ever and they just... made a complete and utter hash of it. They took the wrong line.”
A spokesman for Gwent Police said: “The original investigation consisted of over 1,900 witness statements from Blaenavon residents and over 900 exhibits were taken.
“Our Major Investigation Team continue to conduct a full forensic review, using advanced forensic techniques in an effort to solve this double murder that took place back in April 1972.
“The investigation remains open and we will continue to explore any new leads and forensic advances. Over the years, lots of information has been provided by members of the public and we continue to appeal for information from anyone who could help with information about this incident – the smallest detail could help with the breakthrough we need.
“If you can help, please call 101 or you can send a direct message to our Facebook or Twitter social media pages. Crimestoppers is also available for anyone who would like to report information anonymously by calling 0800 555111.”