The schoolboy murdered in a World War Two pillbox...
AT 14 years old, “happygo-lucky” Andrew Bonnick loved the sea.
Growing up in a former farm cottage in the Vale of Glamorgan, the teenager’s days would often be spent collecting driftwood on the beach near his home in the village of Gileston.
However, that same coastline was also where he would spend his last moments, after being brutally attacked one Saturday afternoon. He was found badly injured in a military pillbox – a concrete guard post dating back to World War II.
It was a crime which shocked the rural communities around the Bonnick family to its core, and one where a motive was never truly established.
On December 29, 1960, Andrew had asked his father if he could go with him to collect his weekly wages at the nearby Leys electricity power station. Afterwards, the teenager suggested the pair could go for a “scrounge on the beach”.
At the time, father-offour Albert Edward Bonnick turned him down, and suggested the day after would be better instead.
Not put off by his father’s decision, the pupil at Llantwit Major Secondary Modern School went out to the beach on his own.
According to Andrew’s mother Aline, the first indication that something was wrong came when 20-year-old Malcolm Williams arrived at her door.
Williams, from Llwynypia, Rhondda, was described as “deathly white”, breathless and with a streak of blood on his white cheek as he told the mother he had found her son badly injured.
Together, the pair ran from the cart track leading from the secluded home to the stretch of coastline 400 yards away, where Andrew was lying.
However, it was the boy’s father who first came across the teenager’s injured body. The pillbox, covered in driftwood, barbed wire and rubbish, was stained inside with what was described as a “substantial quantity of blood”.
Recalling the horrific scene, Mr Bonnick told reporters at the time: “The injuries were so severe that I could recognise my son only by his clothing.”
With the help of neighbour Raymond Thomas, of Gileston Farm, Mr and Mrs Bonnick were able to move Andrew by tractor across the fields to the road where an ambulance could take him to hospital.
He was rushed to St Athan RAF Hospital a mile away. Unfortunately, despite the efforts of surgeons, the Bonnick family’s only son died after an emergency brain operation.
On New Year’s Day 1961, a murder investigation into the death of Andrew Bonnick was launched.
As the investigation continued detectives set up a temporary centre high in the administration block of Leys Power Station, giving a bird’s eye view of the pillbox and Andrew’s home.
On January 3, 1961, barely five days after the teenager’s death, police charged with his murder the same man who had brought Andrew’s mother to the pillbox.
During a five-minute hearing, Malcolm Keith Williams was hauled in front of the court charged with the murder of Andrew Bonnick. A slight figure wearing a dark grey suit, the 20-year-old described himself as single and living with his parents.
Three months later, on March 27, the details of Williams’ actions came to light for the first time as his trial began.
According to Roderick Bowen, QC, forensic scientists found wool fibres under the fingernails of the dead teenager similar to that of the duffle coat Williams was wearing.Andrew’s injuries, it was said, appeared to have been inflicted by a heavy piece of wood.
Opening the case, Mr Bowen told the jury: “There could be no doubt that [Andrew’s injures] were sustained during the course of a brutal and sustained attack.
“It is the submission of the prosecution that there can be no doubt that the person who carried out that brutal attack and inflicted these frightful injuries was Williams.”
Although no evidence was given about Williams’ motive for the attack, the prosecution suggested the 14 year old could have rejected “advances of a homosexual nature” made by the defendant. When he was discovered, Andrew’s clothes were described as “disarranged”.
Addressing the jury, Mr Bowen said: “You will hear evidence relating to the clothing of the boy when he was found unconscious.
“You may come to the conclusion that the attack on the boy arose by reason of the fact that a person made advances to him of a homosexual nature and that he was attacked because he repulsed those advances.”
During the two-day trial, it was heard that on the day of the murder Williams had attended his job in Leys Power Station in the morning before leaving for the Stratford Cafe at around 1pm. While there, he asked a 13-yearold girl what time she was going to the beach before she became wary and left.
Later that night, Williams returned to the same cafe and asked a staff member if there was anywhere he could wash.
Despite entering a not guilty plea, the defence offered no evidence during the trial.
During an earlier police interview, Williams said he visited the beach on the day of the murder before returning to work.
He claimed to have returned to the beach later that day to collect some driftwood from the pillbox when he discovered the teenager’s body.
When he spoke to police he was wearing the same clothes from the day of the attack, and had “not attempted” to wash the blood away.
On March 28, 1961, one day after the trial’s opening, the jury retired to consider the case. After retuning a guilty verdict, Williams was given a life sentence for the murder of 14-year-old Andrew Bonnick.
During his sentencing, Mr Justice Ashworth Williams described the attack as a “truly terrible” crime.
In total, Williams’ trial and sentencing lasted only four days. Andrew’s family, however, were left to cope with the consequences of a crime too brutal to imagine.