shortly afterwards – probably just before
9.15 p.m., the time Phoebe Jones had
given.
It seemed almost beyond doubt that
the killer was already in the basement,
hiding in the shadows, when she went
down to bar the door. Presumably, he
had crept in after dark while the door
was still open.
Local housewife Diana Bowen told the
police that she had passed the shop at
10.15 p.m. and heard “a scream, a thud,
and the sound of hurrying footsteps.”
Despite describing the scream as
“horrible,” she did not think to tell
anyone, and assumed someone in
the shop had fallen over or had “an
accident.” How she felt afterwards about
her apathy can only be imagined as
Thomas’s cry clearly marked the actual
time of the murder.
The killer must have waited in the
shop for over an hour after having done
his bloody work because Phoebe Jones
did not see the basement door open at
11.25 p.m. when she went to investigate
why the lights were still on. By that time,
Thomas was dead behind the counter,
and not visible from the street.
Before he died, he had taken out both
till rolls and put them in a registered
envelope ready to be posted on Monday.
The grocery till was open, with some
coins nearby.
Police chief Evans believed it was at
this point that Thomas may have heard a
noise in the basement or sensed someone
in the building. Turning towards the
back of the shop, he would have seen his
murderer at the top of the stairs, coming
up from the basement.
Brandishing the broom, the killer
lunged towards Thomas, beating him
about the head so ferociously that the
shaft broke. Then he pulled out a knife,
cut his throat, and carefully undid the
dying man’s buttons before stabbing him
in the stomach.
Luck had been with the killer as
Morgan Jefferys and his son passed the
basement door of the shop at 10.30 p.m.
went to a concert and arrived home at
11 o’clock. I noticed the lights on at the
store. It was not unusual for the deceased
to be late at the shop as he conducted all
his correspondence there.
“When called next morning by Mr.
Jefferys I went to the shop and ran up the
stairs leading to the front door. The main
door to the safe was open, and insurance
cards and small tins of money were
thrown on the floor. Two inside doors of
the safe were half open.”
Till receipts showed the shop takings
for Friday and Saturday were just over
£126. The killer had taken these, but
left behind almost five pounds in coins,
which Thomas retained as change. This,
in itself, was strange.
It looked as if the killer did not know
that Thomas banked his takings on
Friday and Tuesday mornings. If he did,
he might have waited till Monday night
when he would have been able to steal far
more. So did this rule out a local culprit?
Thomas’s brother John, a stationmaster
at Black Pill in Swansea, told the press
he had no doubt that robbery was the
motive and that his brother had been
watched.
“This was no maniac who inflicted
those injuries,” said John Thomas.
“This was a man who wanted to make
absolutely sure my brother was dead, as
he feared being recognised.”
Two days after the killing, a knife was
found in a brook close to the shop, and
chief constable Evans believed it was oneon their way back from the pub, and
again at midnight when they put the milk
round ponies to bed. Neither heard any
sound, but noticed the lights were still on.
Jefferys’ elder son had also returned
from his shift down the mine at around
10.30 p.m., noticed that the basement
door was shut, and heard nothing
unusual.
In a statement to the police, Phoebe
Jones said: “When I left the shop
everything was all right. Afterwards IClockwise from above left: The
spot behind the counter (marked
with an X) where the victim’s body
was found; the shop’s open safe;
the basement door where it was
believed the killer gained entry;
Thomas Thomas (standing) in a
family photograph with his brother
John and sister