Fateful marriage

When the time drew near for him to fly home, Arminda was obviously saddened.

She confessed she was in love and didn’t want John to leave. That’s when he came up with his perfect solution. They would marry and settle down back in Wales. Arminda thought it was a wonderful idea.

The year of John’s fateful marriage was 1984. For a while the marriage went along smoothly, but gradually John became annoyed when local youths lingered around his young bride.

In time he grew downright angry, especially when Arminda reciprocated their flirtations. John was reluctant to admit the truth, even to himself. Arminda had married him to escape the poverty of the Philippines for a better life in Wales. Now that she was firmly ensconced, with food, clothing and shelter, she sought the company of younger men. Occasionally Arminda would stay away for a couple of days at a time. Such behaviour rarely makes for a harmonious marriage. John usually referred to his wife as “that slut.”

In February 1991, a neighbour of the Perrys walked into the local police station and reported Arminda missing. She hadn’t seen her friend for two weeks, which was most unusual. They normally spoke to each other almost every day.

The village police called on John to verify Arminda was indeed missing. They found it a bit unusual he had not notified authorities himself. John greeted the police amicably enough. He hadn’t reported his wife missing because he felt she had just taken off with a man, as she had in the past. This time she was staying away longer than usual.

John explained he had made a terrible mistake marrying Arminda and bringing her to Wales. She had been a prostitute and couldn’t, or didn’t want to, break away from her old habits. As a result, John had instituted divorce proceedings, even though his erstwhile true love was holding him up for 15,000 pounds. John told the police he would be happy to have her out of his life at any cost. He would make out just fine living alone with his cat, Katie.

As a matter of routine, the police asked John if it would be permissible to look around the house. They might find something of his wife’s which would give them a clue as to her whereabouts.

The officers left the living room area and opened a door leading to the kitchen. There was a decided odour in the untidy kitchen, but then again John had been “batching” it for two weeks. A bloody knife was visible on the kitchen table. On the floor around the table were several bloodstains. In fact, the more the officers gazed at the messy kitchen, the more blood spots they discovered.

Suddenly Katie scurried across the room, coming to an abrupt stop beside two large plastic bags containing a quantity of chopped meat.

Katie made threatening moves, attempting to get at the contents of the two bags. One of the officers brushed Katie aside. The large cat retreated under the table.

On a counter near the sink, in plain view, was a blood- stained hacksaw and screwdriver. Beside the tools was a medical encyclopedia, open at a page featuring the human skeleton, titled The Skeletal System.

It was time to seriously question John Perry. He explained the meat in the plastic bags had been in his freezer. He had taken it out a few days earlier, but had not eaten the meat.

Now it was a bit ripe and he planned on throwing it out. The answer didn’t sit well with the officers. They didn’t have to speak to each other. Each knew what the other was thinking. They called for assistance.

Within minutes the house was teeming with detectives. John’s garage was opened.

Inside, officers found two large wine fermenting bins. One officer looked inside and recoiled in horror. The bins contained what appeared to be meat. Some of the meat had been burned, other pieces cooked, and still other portions were raw. The bin also contained human organs.

The police officers turned to John Perry. John knew the jig was up.

He stammered, “All right, I killed her, but I didn’t mean it. I lost my temper. She was standing right here, taunting me about her boyfriends and I just lost my head. I put my hands around her throat and before I knew what had happened, she was dead. I didn’t mean to do it.”

John went on, “I was in a panic. I didn’t know what to do. I thought that if I disposed of her body and said that she had gone away with a boyfriend, everything would be all right. Nobody would suspect anything.”

John’s house was meticulously searched. Detectives found the utensils he had used to cook portions of his wife’s body. Body parts were also found in the trunk of his car. In studying the body, pathologists found certain