Sandra Phillips

Nadolig Llawen, a Blwydden Newydd Dda, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. This episode is a little shorter than usual due to the holiday season. It's a local case from South Wales in the 1980’s that doesn't receive a lot of coverage but tells a tragic story that shouldn't be forgotten. Thank you for listening.

In the mid 1980’s - long before the internet, Netflix and On Demand TV - VHS video was the undisputed king of home entertainment. Most shopping areas would have a few video rental shops where you could go and pick up your favourite new release over the weekend; that's presuming they weren't all out on loan already. The majority of towns also had the odd adult video store dotted here and there, where pornographic magazines and other such paraphernalia were also sold. These are often referred to in the UK as a “Sex shop”, although the words “Private Shop” are most commonly displayed on the shop front signage. From the 1980’s right through to 2019, one such establishment was located at 3 Dillwyn Street, in Swansea, South Wales and stood in the shadow of the old Grand Theatre. In 1985 the Private Shop was managed by 38 year old mother-of-four, Sandra Phillips. Sandra was good at organising the shop and dealing with customers, though she had been reluctant to take the job in the first place. With high mortgage rates, Thatcher's Britain was not an easy place to make a living for many working class people, and financial pressures meant Sandra didn't feel she had much choice. Sandra’s husband Peter worked as a manager of the Co-op supermarket in nearby Oxford Street, only 270m away. Close enough to go out and see each other on breaks.

Just after lunch on Friday the 14th June 1985, area manager Anthony Williams called at the Private Shop unannounced to go over some business details with Sandra. To his surprise he found the door locked, which was very strange for that time of day. He had his own key and opened up and went inside. As he entered the shop he was immediately hit by the smell of petrol and as he looked around the room, in the dim light, he made out the body of Sandra lying in a pool of blood. On the wall behind her body was the clear outline of a bloody hand.

Police arrived at the scene and went to the nearby supermarket to inform Peter of his wife’s death. Peter in turn went to collect the children from school and explain to them what had happened. The shock and sorrow must have been immense for the family. 

Sandra had been raped, bludgeoned around the head several times and then strangled. The time of death was given as approximately 11.00am.  After the attack the assailant doused the shop in petrol though it was not set alight. The petrol was not from the shop, so its presence indicates a degree of premeditation if the killer brought it with him. There is the possibility that after he had killed Sandra he left the shop and retrieved the petrol from somewhere, like his vehicle. The reason why the petrol was not set alight is unknown. Perhaps the killer could not find anything to act as an ignition or maybe he was disturbed by something and fled the scene.

Whatever the reason, he then left the premises, locking the door on his way out, and presumably, taking the keys with him. The old style rotary telephone that was fixed to a wall in the shop had been ripped from its mount and was missing. It is believed this was the weapon used to strike Sandra on the head. Neither the phone nor the keys to the shop have ever been found. 

Only hours after the attack a large group of people, including members of the public and journalists, gathered outside the shop, as news of the murder had travelled fast within the community. Two brothers, with the second name of Darvell, Wayne, aged 22, and Paul, 20, were among the crowd of onlookers. They were originally from Neath, about 16km from Swansea, but neither of them had a permanent address.The pair were unemployed and spent most of the day wandering the streets of Swansea City centre, they were often seen drinking cider from a can. They would spend the night at various homeless shelters and hostels across the town. Both Wayne and Paul had had run-ins with the police in the past, and their faces were known to local officers but these were mostly concerning petty offenses. Their presence at the scene was noticed straight away and police brought them in to be questioned immediately.

Obviously the brothers were interviewed separately to try to catch them out if they attempted to lie. It wasn't long into his police interview that Wayne began to make a string of confessions to his involvement in the murder of Sandra. He said that he had been present when the murder took place and pointed the finger of blame at his brother Paul. Paul completely denied any involvement and said there was no truth in his brother's accusation, but Wayne had convinced detectives of what he was saying. Other evidence slowly began to emerge against the brothers as eye witnesses put them both near the shop at the time of the murder, carrying a container that looked like it may have been filled with petrol. 

Police hoped to confirm the brothers’ guilt with forensic testing. DNA technology was still in its infancy and it was another year before it was first used to convict someone in a criminal case but a plethora of other tests were carried out. Despite the thorough tests, no blood splatter, fibres, fingerprints or petrol traces could be found on either brother's clothing or body. Witnesses had proven that the brothers had been wearing the same clothes before and after the time of the murder. With this in mind it was surprising that the police chose to charge both brothers with murder. 

The trail started in the late spring of 1986 and after 8 weeks both men were sentenced to life in prison on June 19th. They were found guilty on 10-2 majority verdicts. Paul was given a term of at least 20 years and Wayne 15. Their convictions were exclusively based on eyewitness evidence and Wayne’s own admissions of guilt.

Many people were understandably alarmed at the lack of forensic evidence against the brothers, coupled with the fact that it was largely the confession of Wayne himself which had sealed the brothers convictions. The brothers' legal team appealed the convictions in 1987 but they were rejected. Then two and half years after the Darvells had been sentenced, the BBC aired an episode of the investigative TV series “Rough Justice” about the case. Rough Justice was a staple of the BBC current affairs output from 1982 until 2007 with each episode focusing on a case concerning a potential miscarriage of justice. The show had tremendous success and played a prominent role in the release of 18 people who had been wrongly convicted involving 13 separate cases.

The episode that focused on the murder of Sandra Phillips and the story of Wayne and Paul Darvell was entitled “A Convenient Confession” and first aired on the 25th January 1989, presented by David Jessel. Its impact was both powerful and immediate, gaining a lot of public attention and press coverage. The documentary highlighted the lack of forensic evidence and that both of the brothers had learning difficulties and Wayne in particular had limited intellectual ability. 

Wayne had indeed confessed to the crime, but as soon as he had seen a solicitor he had retracted the confession. Most alarmingly, the 6 month investigation by the BBC discovered that Wayne had a history of confessing to things he hadn't done ever since childhood. These ranged from small things like spilling paint right through to robbery. He had even previously confessed to the murder of a dentist from Swansea. A teacher from a special school that Wayne had attended as a youngster gave testimony to support Wayne’s history of lying and confessing to a whole host of things he hadn't done.

The TV programme gave details of several things Wayne had said in connection with Sandra’s death which proved he was not present at the murder. He told police he could take them to where he and had hidden the murder weapon but no weapon was ever found. Wayne also showed police a charity box he said he had stolen from the premises following the murder but it turned out to be from another shop. He also confessed to taking a St Christopher necklace from around Sandra’s neck but she had never owned or worn such a necklace. 

By the end of 1989, under pressure from the new evidence aired in the BBC documentary, then Home Secretary Kenneth Baker asked Keith Portlock, the Assistant Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police, to reexamine the evidence, as the safety of the convictions was now a major concern. The review in turn led to a two day trial at the court of appeal in June 1992. The evidence that there had been a miscarriage of justice was so overwhelming that the Crown Prosecution Service did not contest the case.

During proceedings the court heard that a bloody palm print found on a payphone support board behind the body did not match either brother; knowledge of this was suppressed by police during the original trial. The defence were only told that tests on the handprint were insufficient to determine who it belonged to and not that eight separate experts had stated that it definitely didn't belong to either Wayne or Paul Darvell. A senior officer, Chief Superintendent Don Carsley, ordered forensic work to stop on the print, implying that the police understood further work on the print could clear the brothers. In a deeply suspicious act, photographs and negatives of the palm print were destroyed after the trial in 1986. 

A witness who had said he had sold Wayne a container of petrol on the day of the murder now admitted he was not sure of the exact day. The court heard the  container the brothers were said to have been seen with on the day of the murder was much more likely to have been a bottle of cider. 

The court also heard how Wayne would confess to anything he was asked about as he wanted to help people whenever he could. He was particularly enamoured by the uniforms of police officers and would salute them if he passed them in the street. A support worker from a Hostel for the homeless said that Wayne enjoyed the act of being arrested as he got to ride in a police car. This fascination, together with Wayne's limited intelligence was exploited by detectives and they pressured Wayne into a confession, as he was willing to say anything to be liked by them. Answers had been suggested to Wayne by interviewing detectives and records had been altered to hide the fact that this had occurred.

Police notebooks detailing the interviews were filled in months after the conversations had taken place. One notebook belonging to Detective Constable Michael Collins contained notes from the interviews, but the book itself hadn't even been issued to him until months later, proving falsification. A 153 page document that should have contained a collection of all the notes of the interviews with Wayne and Paul as they were recorded, instead proved to have been doctored by officers. Electrostatic Detection Apparatus showed that 18 pages of the statement had been changed several times.

Perhaps most chillingly, QC Maurice Kay, acting on behalf of Wayne, told the court how a police officer discovered an earring said to belong to Sandra Phillips  in the car that had taken Wayne to the police station. This was almost certainly planted there by police. Two police officers had provided statements that put the brothers near the shop at the time of the murder; these were proved to be false as the officers in question were working on another case 15km away. The court was left with little doubt that some in the police had acted in an extremely underhand manner and had given into the temptation to fabricate evidence because they knew the case against the brothers was weak.

On Tuesday 14th July 1992 Wayne and Paul Darvell walked out of court free men. Interviewed by journalists within minutes of their release, they said they held no grudges and just wanted to get home to have a shepherd's pie and a lager shandy. Two of Wayne and Paul's biggest supporters were their older brothers Robert and Derek. They had stood by them throughout. Their fight for justice had been a long one, but on the steps of the High Court they were able to embrace their younger siblings. After such a harrowing  ordeal that had lasted seven years both men looked physically shattered. In particular Paul had lost a lot of weight during his incarceration and all his hair had fallen out due to stress. For the emotional and psychological pain they had endured, being wrongly accused and convicted of murder, they each received £80,000 pounds in compensation. Whilst no amount of money would repay their lost years it could be argued this amount was barely satisfactory. 

Later that summer an apology was made to the brothers by the Lord Chief Justice Taylor on behalf of the court and the public for the ordeal they had suffered. He also spoke of his worrying concern about the conduct by some in the police during the investigation. In his eyes the blame was firmly at their feet rather than those of the original trial judge or jury. Not only had the actions of the police led to the wrongful imprisonment of innocent people, but the real killer or killers had been able to get away with murder. 

Due to the revelations in the appeal court, three murder squad detectives from the South Wales force were prosecuted for perverting the course of justice. Inspector Jeff Jones (52), and Constable Michael Lawrence Collins (45) were both accused of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by falsifying note books. Their colleague, Detective Chief Inspector Alun Jones Thomas (48), was charged with a similar offence. Their trial took place in June 1994 and all three men were cleared of criminal wrongdoing. Their defence team were able to successfully argue that while mistakes had been made, these had been down to human error rather than a deliberate criminal act. 

In 2002 Albert Kirby, the former head of Merseyside CID, a respected police officer and well known as the person who had overseen the hunt for the killers of Jamie Bulger, was given the responsibility of reviewing the case. He had a working theory that the culprit may not have worked alone and at the beginning of his review said he wanted to compile a psychological profile of the killer to compare to existing suspects. This profile has not been released to the public. As part of his review he went to the Private Shop on Dillwyn Street and posed as a member of the public. He was surprised how busy it was in the middle of the day with many customers coming and going from the shop. Whoever committed the murder could have been disturbed at any time and took that risk regardless. 

Kirby recommended that attempts should be made to trace over 200 men who had been members of the adult video club at the Private Shop at the time of the murder. Some were interviewed in 1985 during the original investigation but many men who were regulars at the shop felt embarrassed about coming forward. Their testimony needed to be heard as it could prove key in solving the case. Kirby spoke to the press about one potential suspect, said to be a man who had been jailed a couple of years after Sandra’s murder for a violent robbery and sexual attack on a another woman in Swansea. Some reports say the woman was killed and the man sentenced for manslaughter. The man had since passed away in prison of TB during the 1990’s. Kirby was hopeful of comparing DNA evidence at the scene to remaining members of the dead man's family. He didn't elaborate what that evidence was.

Albert Kirby’s review led to a full re-investigation of the murder in 2004 which was led by Detective Superintendent Simon Clarke. This began with Sandra’s story being featured on an episode of BBCs Crimewatch. One of Sandra’s children, Elizabeth Grace, now 34 who had only been a young teenager at the time of her mothers murder, made an appeal for people to come forward with tips. She said that finding the culprit would not bring her mum back but she wanted the person to know how much hurt he had caused not just for her but for her children too. It was a wound that cut through the generations.

Even before the programme aired news of the re-investigation was beginning to be picked up in the media. Police received information from a person who gave descriptions of four men seen near the shop on the day of the murder. Following the appeal on Crimewatch over 100 calls came in including one from a man who called from Portugal saying he’d been in Swansea that day and might have seen something.

One notorious potential suspect was named shortly after the media appeal. Newspaper reports said that Police were trying to pinpoint the movements of convicted child killer Robert Black. Persons Unknown detailed some of Black’s crimes in episode 7 which focused on the disappearance of April Fabb from Nofolk in 1969. Black was imprisoned in 1994 for the murder of three young girls and was subsequently found guilty of a fourth. Black died in prison in 2016, leaving many unanswered questions. Police are sure he had many more victims potentially all over the UK and Europe, as Black had worked long distance delivery jobs which allowed him to travel extensively. He would most often target children but it is believed he also had also sexually assaulted adults. The police never said in what context his name had come up in the Sandra Phillips case.

The re-investigation team hoped to make use of developments in DNA technology, and plans were made to remove a wooden wall that had been erected in the shop following the murder. It was hoped that traces of the killer's DNA could still be on the brick wall behind it. Another lead was presented when it was found that three men mentioned in police notes as being in the vicinity on day of the murder were never properly followed up. With numerous potential avenues to explore, hopes were high amongst the police and the Phillips and Darvell families that answers would at last be found.

The reinvestigation went on for 5 years, but in 2009 cold case detectives announced that all lines of enquiry, including those available through forensics had hit a dead end. The re-investigation was closing and Sandra Phillips’s murder remained unsolved. This decision was made as there was no prospect of anyone being charged in connection with Sandra’s murder.  The South Wales police apologised to the Phillips family for the way the original investigation was carried out. They added that lessons had been learnt since the mid 1980’s and investigative procedures and methods had greatly improved.

Sadly Paul Darvell died in March 2005 shortly after the reinvestigation started. His horrendous experience and time in prison had a hugely detrimental effect on his health. He passed away at home in Neath of natural causes.  Police said there were no suspicious circumstances. I believe Wayne is still alive, and in 2009 was still living rough on the streets of South Wales. Apparently he rarely used the money he received in compensation. His whereabouts now are unknown. The shop in Dilwyn Street where the murder took place remained in business until 2019. In December that year a private property group applied for planning permission to renovate the building turn it into residential flats.

Wayne and Paul Darvell are people who were on the margins of society and were completely railroaded by a system in which they had no voice. Their lives were ruined by people who exploited this fact and in so doing allowed a killer to escape justice. Sandra Phillips and her family were badly let down and continue to suffer the consequences.

Detective Albert Kirby who led the review in 2002 is confident that the unnamed Swansea man who died in prison is the likely culprit. For whatever reason DNA evidence does not seem to have been able to help in the case. Sandra was sexually assualted but police have never said whether any semen was found at the crime scene. Though the wooden wall was removed in 2005, Police have never confirmed whether any DNA was found on the wall behind it. If they did find anything it obviously has not been able to identify anyone.

This story appears in local press every few years and the South Wales police always make the point that they have an expertise in cold cases and they were one of the first forces to set up a cold case review team in 1999.  They say this case is not closed and that if new information comes to their attention it will be investigated.