News

Swansea Crown Court continues to consider if Lily Sullivan’s murder was sexually motivated

Published

2 years ago

August 23, 2022

THE MAN who murdered an 18-year-old on a night out and left her body in a reservoir confessed to his girlfriend “I’ve strangled somebody”, a court has heard.

Lewis Haines killed Lily Sullivan after meeting her at Out nightclub, formerly known as Paddles nightclub, in Pembroke, south-west Wales, on December 16 last year.

The 31-year-old admits murdering Ms Sullivan, but denies it was sexually motivated.

A trial of facts is being held at Swansea Crown Court to determine whether there was a sexual element to the killing before Haines can be sentenced.

Police investigate at the crime scene (Image M Cavaney/Herald)

He could face a life sentence with a minimum term of 30 years if Judge Paul Thomas finds the killing was sexual, compared with a minimum term of 15 years if he does not.

The court heard how Ms Sullivan was discovered face down in Mill Pond, a two-mile long fresh water reservoir near the town.

She had been strangled and was no longer wearing the cream lace crop top she had been pictured in that night.

Just hours before, she had been seen partying with friends in the club where she had met Haines through their mutual friend Charlene Jones.

Sealed off: The area where Lily died (Image M Cavaney)

In a statement read to the court, Ms Jones said: “I could tell he was trying to chat Lily up. He was buying her drinks and standing close to her.
“He was being very flirtatious with her. I think he wanted to have sex with her.”

After the club closed, Ms Jones said she saw Haines and Ms Sullivan walk away down the street together and shouted: “You’ve got a girlfriend and a baby at home. She’s only 18.”

CCTV footage shows Haines and Ms Sullivan ended up in Morgans Way, an alleyway leading to Mill Pond.

William Hughes QC, prosecuting, said “a substantial part of the incident” must have taken place there because it was the location where Ms Sullivan’s phone and Haines’ baseball cap were later found.

Two people living nearby the alleyway said they heard a man and woman arguing in the early hours of the morning, with one witness saying she heard a woman scream.

During this time, Ms Sullivan’s mother Anna – who was supposed to pick her daughter and friend Lara Wood up at 2am – was becoming concerned.

She eventually spoke to Ms Wood who told her she was no longer with Ms Sullivan.

After dozens of calls and text messages to her daughter, Ms Sullivan answered the phone and told her mother she would meet her at a nearby garage, but she never arrived.

She last spoke to her daughter just before 3am when Ms Sullivan answered the phone again and said she was just “minutes away”.

Lily was enjoying a drink in a Pembroke nightclub hours before she died, according to friends. (Image: Facebook)

The phone call was cut off mid-sentence.

Sometime later Ms Sullivan’s mother said she saw a man walking casually past her car swinging his arms before his behaviour changed and he began wringing his hands, shaking his head and running across the road.

Mr Hughes told the court on Monday: “While she’d not seen him before, her description of the man is similar to Lewis Haines.
“The prosecution believe the person Anna Sullivan saw was her daughter’s killer.”

Haines arrived home at 3.40am and told his girlfriend Maisie John: “I’ve strangled somebody. They’re in Mill Pond.”

Ms John said Haines’ jeans were damp and he had blood on his arms.

She said he was “hysterical” and repeatedly asked to be taken to his mother’s house.

Admitting to her while in the car: “I think she’s dead.”

He later told his mother that Ms Sullivan had called him a rapist and hit him, and that he had strangled her, hit her and pushed her into the water.

Haines claimed to have tried to pull Ms Sullivan out of the water but said she was a “dead weight”.

Ms Sullivan was declared dead at 6.02am despite paramedics’ attempts to revive her.

A post-mortem examination revealed she had bruising to her face and had been strangled, but there was no evidence she had been sexually assaulted.

Central to understanding whether the crime was sexually motivated or not is when Ms Sullivan’s top was removed, the court was told.

The prosecution believe the bralette was removed while Ms Sullivan was on land.

Defence barrister John Hipkin QC said when the item arrived at the laboratory, it was noted as being “slightly damp”.

Crime scene investigator for Dyfed-Powys Police Alexander Morgan confirmed the top was dry when he recovered it, but said it was a cold day and he was wearing two pairs of gloves.

Haines, a father-of-one, of Flemish Court, Lamphey, previously denied murdering Ms Sullivan but pleaded guilty a week before his trial was due to begin.

On Tuesday (Aug 23) the court heard that on the white top Lily was wearing that was found by the Millpond, Mr Hipkins QC said there is absolutely no evidence to suggest it was forcibly removed.

It was explained that the area the top was located is an unlikely area for any sexual misconduct to have taken place.

Mr Hipkins QC said that the defendant did get into the water to try get Lily out, and the cutting off of the phone call at 2.47am does not assist the court in identifying whether any sexual misconduct was committed during the murder.

Prosecuting solicitor William Hughes QC summed up the prosecution’s case by saying there are several different strands in the case which suggest Haines was sexually motivated.

He highlighted two witness statements that had formed the views Haines had shown sexual interest in Lily on the night, and that he was warned off Lily more than once, including that he had a child and reminding him of the age difference between the pair.
Mr Hughes QC said that up to a point Lily was also prepared to have a degree of intermate contact, and in addition, Haines had admitted kissing Lily in the nightclub. Haines also accepts he kissed Lily down the lane.

In CCTV footage between 1.25am and 1.55am in Main Street there is a doorway to which Lily and Haines ‘absconded’ and it is not unreasonable to say there was some form of intimacy happening at that point.

Prosecution highlighted the evidence of Dyfed-Powys crime scene investigator Alex Morgan who found Lily’s jacket and Haines’ jacket in the alleyway, which were all dry. Prosecution argued that these clothes must have been removed in that location and that it was indicative some sexual activity increased in intensity at that point.

Mr Hughes QC said the actions to leave OUT nightclub, formally Paddles, towards the Millpond, were sexually motivated.

Judge Paul Thomas QC: “Two adults have been drinking, go off together down a dark secluded lane, they spend some time in a doorway together and they spend a long period of time down the alleyway.”

THE CASE CONTINUES

Business

Largest Welsh port appoints communications and marketing director

Published

8 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Tom Sinclair

THE Port of Milford Haven has announced that Anna Malloy has been appointed as its first Communications and Marketing Director.

Anna is appointed to the Senior Management Team and this new role will be pivotal to the delivery of the Port’s long-term growth and diversification agenda and in ensuring that its obligations to coastal communities, future generations and to nature are honoured.

Tom Sawyer, CEO of the Port of Milford Haven, congratulated Anna and said: “Anna has a key role to play in our future and it’s doubly lovely to see ‘port-grown-talent’ flourish and for colleagues to progress up through our organisation.”

Anna will lead across the public affairs, marketing, sustainability, media relations, and community relations activities. She will therefore play a central role in the development of new and existing partnerships, including the Celtic Freeport, the Milford Haven Energy Cluster and the Celtic Collection; sitting alongside the delivery of major projects like Milford Waterfront and the Pembroke Dock Renewables Terminal.

“This is such an exciting opportunity. I am proud to be joining the Senior Management Team and look forward to delivering our ambitious strategy,” commented Anna Malloy, Communications and Marketing Director.

She added: “The Port of Milford Haven is playing a key role in the transition of South-West Wales’ economy to a decarbonised future. A beautiful place, with great people, that I am privileged to call my home.”

Community

First deadlines met following enforcement action at landfill site

Published

10 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Tom Sinclair

THE first set of deadlines for the completion of actions to tackle the ongoing odour issues at Withyhedge Landfill in Pembrokeshire have been met, one week on following the issuing of further enforcement action by Natural Resources Wales (NRW).

NRW issued site operator Resources Management UK Ltd (RML) with a further Regulation 36 Enforcement Notice on Thursday 18 April.

This outlined a series of actions to be completed by specified deadlines to address the ongoing odour and landfill gas emission issues at the site.

During the latest site inspection which took place yesterday (Thursday 25 April), NRW was able to confirm that three actions have been completed – two ahead of the imposed deadlines.

The operator has installed 24 pin wells, which have been driven into the waste in the lower section of the cell identified as causing the odour issues (Cell 8). These have also been connected to the landfill gas extraction system.

Capping material has been placed over the same area of the cell and welded to the basal liner to encapsulate gas in this area, allowing for extraction by the pin wells and four horizontal gas wells, which were previously installed.

While progress is being made, NRW officers detected strong landfill gas odours during an offsite assessment on Wednesday (24 April) in Poyston Cross and Crundale. Weather conditions this week appear to have led to a wider spread of landfill gas to surrounding areas, not solely linked to wind direction.

NRW odour assessments follow a set route around the landfill, with designated survey spots, identified to enable consistency of assessment and reporting. This is essential to ensure the regulatory and enforcement responses where there is offsite odour attributed to the landfill is robust.

The remaining Regulation 36 Notice actions will require significant effort by RML to ensure they are completed on time and NRW continues to closely monitor progress.

Clare Pillman, Chief Executive of NRW, met with representatives from NRW’s South West Industry Regulation Team and Pembrokeshire County Council during a visit to Pembrokeshire on Thursday 25 April.

Clare Pillman, Chief Executive, Natural Resources Wales, said: “While visiting the area surrounding Withyhedge Landfill with our regulatory team and partners from Pembrokeshire County Council this week, I was able to see and hear for myself just what people living and working in these communities have had to endure as a result of the odour issues from the site.

“What they have been experiencing is unacceptable and our officers have been working tirelessly alongside colleagues at Pembrokeshire County Council to ensure the operator gets this under control as quickly as possible. While it was clear that a lot of work has been done on site, there is still more to do to ensure they address all the actions set out in the enforcement notice.

“We want to make sure that happens, and are exploring every option together with Pembrokeshire County Council to ensure the operator works quickly to resolve the issues which are clearly affecting the quality of life of people in these communities.”

Huwel Manley, Head of South West Operations, said: “While we are reassured that action is being carried out by the operators at Withyhedge Landfill with a sense of urgency, we are continuing our regulatory presence on site to ensure the operator’s focus remains on tackling the issues that will address the continuing odour issues being experienced by surrounding communities.

“We will be closely monitoring progress over the coming days and weeks to ensure the operator complies with all the actions set out in Notice by 14 May. If they are not met, we will pursue additional enforcement action where appropriate.”

NRW requests that instances of odour from the landfill continue to be reported via this dedicated form: https://bit.ly/reportasmellwithyhedge or by calling 0300 065 3000.

Please report odours at the time of them being experienced, rather than historically. Reporting odours in a timely manner will help guide the work of partners more effectively, particularly in the further development of air quality monitoring.

These photos taken on 16 April and 25 April show the progress of capping works on cell 8. Pin wells are visible in both images. These have been connected to the landfill gas extraction system and are extracting gas from the waste mass.

Community

Milford Haven’s war memorial is 100 years old today

Published

10 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Tom Sinclair

THE Milford Haven War Memorial, a significant landmark commemorating the fallen heroes of World Wars and subsequent conflicts, marks its 100th anniversary today.

The memorial, which was inaugurated on April 26, 1924 by the Venerable the Archdeacon of St Davids, remains a poignant symbol of sacrifice and hope for peace.

Constructed from 1923 to 1924, the memorial consists of a striking assembly of pink granite and white marble statues that were sculpted in Italy.

Representing the Army, Navy, and Air Force, these life-size statues stand on an unpolished three-step plinth below a main pedestal. A soldier faces west and a sailor east, with an airman atop the central column, surveying the skies.

The names and inscriptions of the fallen are carved into the polished granite shaft, meticulously supervised by surveyor J.P. Morgan with contractor E. Jones of Llanybydder.

Located on Hamolton Terrace with views over the Milford Haven waterway, the memorial is a freestanding structure in an external, roadside setting. It features a serviceman/woman sculpture in marble and Portland stone, set on a concrete base surrounded by railings. Inscribed plaques honour those who served in the First and Second World Wars, the Korean War, and the conflict in Iraq from 2003 to 2009.

The memorial lists the names of 239 men who perished in the First World War on its polished grey granite faces. The Second World War claimed 157 lives from this community, whose names are recorded on bronze plaques around the base. Notably, the memorial also honours one serviceman who fell during the Korean War and another who was killed in Iraq in 2007.

The Milford Haven War Memorial stands not only as a historical monument but also as an enduring reminder of the costs of war and the community’s ongoing commitment to peace.

As the town reflects on a century of remembrance, the hope remains that future generations will continue to cherish and learn from the lessons of the past.