Murderers given terms for brutal Lengthy jail killings
TAKING the life of another person is as serious as it can get when it comes to crime.
Killers found guilty of the offence automatically receive life imprisonment with a minimum tariff which often lasts decades.
There have been a number of shocking and horrific cases heard in courts in Wales this year. Victims range from a schoolgirl strangled by a family friend to the 17-year-old boy chased and stabbed to death by a group of cold-blooded killers.
Here is the South West Wales list of murderers who have been jailed in Wales in 2021.
Tom Carney
Ex-ospreys youth player Tom Carney savagely murdered pensioner David Phillips by repeatedly stamping on his head.
The “relentless and merciless” killing was motivated by “anger, revenge, and spite”, and the attack on Valentine’s Day 2019 in the Cimla area of Neath left the 67-yearold with catastrophic injuries to his head and chest.
Carney, 29, had gone to Mr Phillips’ flat in Lime Grove to perform sexual favours in exchange for alcohol.
During his sentencing at Swansea Crown Court Judge Paul Thomas QC told Carney he had been “effectively prostituting yourself ” for drink. But he said after getting his “reward” in the form of a bottle of vodka Carney felt “great self-disgust” which turned to “rage against
Mr Phillips”.
That led to the defendant kicking his way back into the flat and launching a “savage, relentless, and merciless attack” upon his victim.
The defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 15 years and 10 days.
Dale Morgan
Son Dale Morgan bludgeoned his mother Judith Rhead with a hammer and kept her body at home for months.
The 43-year-old told neighbours his mother was self-isolating in hospital but her body was later found at her home in Market Street, Pembroke Dock, on February 20.
The killer had moved in with Mrs Rhead at the beginning of December 2020 and repeatedly struck her to the head with a hammer in a “sustained and brutal attack”.
It’s not certain when she was killed but the victim was last seen alive by a witness on the afternoon of December 11.
Morgan continued to tell a series of lies to neighbours and friends during January about Mrs Rhead’s whereabouts but their suspicions began to be aroused as nobody had seen her.
On January 24 those concerns were reported to police and an officer rang her house. Morgan answered the phone and “in effect fobbed him off”. On February 20 the concerns were again reported to the police and on this occasion officers went to Mrs Rhead’s house. There was no answer when they knocked at the door but when they looked
through the window of her bedroom they saw her body.
Officers forced entry to the property and they found the victim kneeling on the floor with her right arm on her bed. There was a plastic bag over her head which was secured with an electrical cable.
The court heard there was blood on the bed and a bloody hammer on the floor nearby.
A subsequent post-mortem examination identified 14 lacerations to the head. The cause of death was blunt force trauma.
Morgan was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 21 years and six months at Swansea Crown Court for murdering the woman that had doted on him and given him everything.
Jonathan Campbell
Helen Bannister was subjected to a brutal assault by her partner Jonathan Campbell at the home they shared before he simply booked a hotel room and left.
After beating the woman into a state of unconsciousness at their home in Mayhill, Swansea, on December 1, 2020, Campbell stripped Ms Bannister and put her in the bath to wash the blood away rather than immediately calling for help.
He then left the dying woman on the settee in the house, wrote a note apologising for what he had done, packed his bags, and walked to the corner shop to buy alcohol.
The defendant did eventually call 999 saying his partner was “outers” on the sofa and requesting an ambulance. Ms Bannister was subsequently airlifted to hospital but the mum-of-two could not be saved.
Sending the 37-year-old to prison a judge at Swansea Crown Court told him he had carried out a “drunken, ferocious, sustained, and merciless assault” on his partner of five years. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 18 years for the murder.
Following the case Ms Bannister’s daughters revealed how they had warned her that Campbell would put her “in a body bag”.
Ashley Keegan
Drunk teenager Ashley Keegan repeatedly stabbed loving father John Bell in the back following an altercation in Cardigan.
Mr Bell, who had never met his killer, was stabbed seven times with a large knife on July 20, one of which punctured the 37-year-old’s lung.
The victim was found a short time later slumped against a wall in a pool of his own blood as Keegan went on the run and was tracked down to a nearby nature reserve.
Swansea Crown Court heard 22-yearold Keegan has a long history of violent offending and the sentencing judge said it was clear he would pose a danger to the public for the foreseeable future.
The court heard Keegan punched Mr Bell a number of times but the older man did not react, simply walking away down a hill.
The defendant shouted: “I don’t want to see you here again” to which Mr Bell replied by telling him to calm down.
“With that the defendant picked up a large kitchen knife and went after Mr Bell. When he caught up with his victim he repeatedly stabbed the man in the back.
Keegan then went back home and said: “I stabbed him.”
The defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 20 years for the murder.