MURDER PROBE SPARKS SHOCK
Police arrest man after death at holiday park
GROVE Holiday Park is usually a place where caravan owners and tourists come to enjoy a weekend of peace just a stone’s throw from the pristine shores of Pendine Sands.
But since Friday morning, the atmosphere has been significantly different.
The sudden death of 54-year-old Simon Peter Clark, himself of Pendine, has seen police seal off the caravan park as they investigate his suspected murder.
A 48-year-old man has been arrested.
Dyfed-Powys Police officers were guarding the gates with a mobile police station, and were taking a written record of names of all those entering and leaving the site.
Inside are people who have been at the holiday park for generations, and who admit they have been left in shock by the events of the weekend, something unlike anything they’ve experienced during their time here.
Eunice Bull, of Tredegar, who has visited the holiday park for the past two decades, said: “It’s been a real shock. We found out when we saw paramedics, a police van and an ambulance coming down the lane.
“Myself and my husband have been here for 20 years and have never seen anything like this before.
“On Saturday the place was on lockdown, but it has been quite reassuring having the police here.
“All we know is it happened down on the lower levels.
“You just don’t expect something like this to happen near you. It is very tragic.”
Roger Whale, who has visited the holiday camp for the past two and a half years with his wife, Kay, from their home in Bridgend, said the incident came as a surprise to them.
He said: “We pulled up and we saw the police and it took us by surprise when they told us the news. We didn’t know anything until we got here. I just thought ‘wow’.
“You don’t expect something like that to happen. We’ve never seen any problems here at all to my knowledge in the past.”
Lorraine Howard and her husband David, of Tonypandy, have been at the site for the past four years.
Mrs Howard said: “It was a shock, we were en route when we heard the news and it did put us off from coming initially.
“It is a lovely site and everybody is really nice down here normally, everybody is so friendly.
“It is good the police have been around. I slept last night.”
Another couple from Llanelli , who preferred not to be named, have been at the holiday camp for the past 29 years and said: “We heard it on the news on the way down, it was a shock.
“When we arrived the police asked if we had heard and that was it. It was good to see them here.
“It’s such a nice little site and it didn’t put us off coming.”
Police were called to the caravan park at around 10am on Friday, where a man was pronounced dead.
Officers said an incident room has been set up in Carmarthen with a dedicated team of investigators working on the investigation.
House-to-house inquiries were also being carried out to try to establish the circumstances of the death.
Dyfed-Powys Police are appealing for information from anyone staying at the caravan park, who might have seen or heard anything out of the ordinary between 5pm on Thursday, September 27, and 10am on Friday, September 28, to come forward.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Jones said: “Any piece of information, however small you think it might be, could be critical in piecing together the circumstances which led to this man’s death.
“Please call 101 if you think you can help.”
In a statement yesterday, Mr Clark’s family said: “We are absolutely devastated at the loss of our wonderful father, grandfather, son, brother, friend and partner.
“Please allow us to grieve this terrible loss in private.”