Man arrested 30 years after murder of couple

An 86-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the murders of a couple at their farmhouse more than 30 years ago.

Harry and Megan Tooze were both found dead with shotgun wounds in a cow shed at their Ty Ar y Waun rural home in Llanharry, Rhondda Cynon Taf, on 26 July 1993.

South Wales Police undertook a forensic review of the cold case in 2023 and detectives have now made an arrest for the murders of Harry, 64, and Megan, 67.

The man was arrested on suspicion of murder on Wednesday and is in custody.

Senior investigating officer Det Supt Mark Lewis said: “While this arrest is clearly a significant development in the investigation, our enquiries are very much ongoing.

“This case has affected many people over the years and our aim is to find the answers to the unanswered questions which remain about their deaths over 30 years on.

“Even with this passage of time I appeal to anyone who has any information about the murders to come forward and speak to police.”

Retired fruit wholesaler Harry and his wife Megan left their farm on the morning of Monday 26 July 1993 and drove their Land Rover to Tesco in nearby Talbot Green to do their weekly food shop, stopping to collect their pensions on the way home.

They were seen arriving back home at 11:00 GMT.

At about 13:30, two gun shots were heard by neighbours, but this was not considered unusual on a farm.

The couple’s daughter Cheryl raised the alarm when her regular daily call to her parents went unanswered that evening.

She rang their neighbour Owen Hopkins, but he said there was no sign of them at their home and suggested they call the police.

Officers went to the farm and found the couple’s bodies in a cow shed.

Both had been shot in the back of the head from a distance of about 3ft (0.9m), then covered in carpet and hidden under hay bales, detectives said.

Investigators believed Harry and Megan had not been killed in the cow shed. Their bodies were thought to have been moved there after the killings, likely carried.

Their daughter’s boyfriend Jonathan Jones was found guilty of their murders and sentenced to life in prison in 1995, but was later freed on appeal.

Mr Jones, who was a self-employed recruitment consultant, had told police he had taken the day off work on the day the Toozes were killed.

He said he had gone to Orpington, Greater London, to look for office space to rent, but police could not find anybody who had seen him that day.

His partial thumbprint was also on a cup and saucer that had been found in the couple’s living room.

He was arrested that December, five months after the murders.

Cheryl Tooze stood by him, moving in with his family in Caerphilly after his arrest.

A year after his conviction, Mr Jones was released on appeal. Three appeal court judges took five minutes to reach their decision.

The original trial judge was criticised and it emerged police had failed to seal the crime scene properly.