A teenager has been found guilty of murdering a young woman as she walked her dog along a bridle path. Adrian Jones, 17, beat Kelly Hyde, 24, from Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, around the head with a barbell. Jones did not know his victim and police said they still did not know his motive. He sobbed in the dock as the verdict was read out.
I should think he did. His previous evidence gave the impression that he never really thought anything could happen to him. I'd wondered if there was a backstory. Turns out that although only 16, he already had a conviction for stealing a car and using it to chase cattle round a field until he hit and killed one. Once he'd have gone to Borstal for that - and Kelly Hyde would still be with us. Her poor mum and dad.
Is that a face stud under his lip or a particularly nasty spot ?
"police said they still did not know his motive"
The things that go round a teenage male's head are not always the nicest thoughts in the world. If you smoke skunk alone I wouldn't think they'd improve. I doubt the internet has improved things either - too much dark stuff out there.
However, all is not lost for her killer. I would be amazed if he's still inside in ten years. And while he is he'll have all the dope and barbells he wants. It was a majority verdict, btw - which would not so long ago have meant a not guilty verdict. Of course there's no saying there would have been the same outcome then.
UPDATE - 11 years before release (12 and he's already been on remand for one). The good people of South Wales think it's nowhere near enough. More background - he also had a previous conviction for dishonesty. And I wonder where Mr Jones' father is ?
The court heard that Jones had been living at Mill Terrace with his mother and younger brother and sister for about six months before the murder. Also living there last September was his mother's boyfriend.Hmm.
Because of his age, neither the judge nor barristers wore robes or wigs during the trial - and his mother was allowed to sit in the dock with him.
Remember Kylee Dibble ? The good-time girl from Barton Hill who let the wrong chap into her flat some three years back? She was beaten to death, her piggy-bank broken into and the flat set alight. The jury couldn't agree a verdict in the trial of Nicky Robinson, a 23-year old from the same estate, who in evidence admitted that he'd been there the morning she died. There'll be a retrial.
