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EDITIONS
Friday, 28 June, 2002, 14:44 GMT 15:44 UK
Family talk of 'living hell'
Mandy Power's sister Sandra Jones
Sister Sandra Jones pictures children running away
Relatives of Power family have waited three long years for the culmination of the Clydach murders trial.

On the day that the trial of the man accused of the gruesome killings came to an end, they have spoken exclusively to BBC Wales's Week In, Week Out programme.

Mandy Power's sister Julie Evans
Sister Julie Evans: Ruined lives

Their sister Mandy Power, 34, their invalid mother Doris Dawson, 80, and nieces Katie, 10, and eight-year-old Emily were bludgeoned to death on 27 June 1999, in their home in Clydach in the Swansea Valley.

"They suffered, they must have been so frightened and you picture them - when you go to bed at night, you think and picture them running from room to room, petrified, they must have suffered terribly," said Mandy Power's sister Sandra Jones.

"It's like a living hell for us, we will always suffer. We will always.

"We will never see our loved ones again. It's ruined our lives. Nothing will ever be the same."

The bodies were found in their burned out home in Kelvin Road, Clydach. Each had their skulls crushed by a metal bar - Mandy Power alone had 38 injuries on her body.

Much of the detail of the trial was too gruesome to report. Added to that, relatives had to endure the intimate details of Mandy Power's tangled and confused love life being made public.

Mrs Power was divorced from her daughters' father Michael, a baker, and had gone to live with her 80-year-old mother.

Mandy Power's brother Robert Dawson
Brother Robert defends Mrs Power's reputation

After having had a series of affairs, she embarked on a lesbian relationship with former police officer Alison Lewis.

She was said to have been madly in love with Mrs Lewis - who was still married - but had had sex with Morris a handful of times.

"They can print what they like, but that wasn't Mandy," her brother Robert Dawson said.

"They never knew her. That's one of the hardest parts of it. The press can print what they like."

The investigation by South Wales Police was the largest in the force's history.

Millions were spent as detectives tried to piece together exactly what horrors had unfolded inside the semi-detached house in Kelvin Road that night.

But even before the trial, questions were raised about the handling of the case.


You wake up every morning - the first thing you think of. You go to bed at night - the last thing you think of. It's constantly with your, constantly in your head, the way they died

Sister Julie Evans

David Morris was eventually charged 21 months after the murders.

It was an agonising period for both the family and community of Clydach, but what is known now is that crucial evidence which helped secure his conviction was passed to detectives within days.

Critics have said a lot of people could have been spared unnecessary suffering and anguish.

This view is backed up by a Mike Randerson, a neighbour of David Morris'.

'Suffer'

"It was frustrating and it was annoying because most of us were pretty well convinced that it was Dai Morris and yet they just didn't seem to have any interest at all," he said.

Despite the right outcome for the family, they say David Morris will never suffer as he had made others suffer.

"He's ruined our lives. He's taken so much from us," said sister Julie Evans.

"It's not just the family - it's affected the family terrible - but it's affected a lot of people outside the family.

"It's not just four lives he's taken. He's ruined a lot of other lives.

"You wake up every morning, the first thing you think of... you go to bed at night - the last thing you think of. It's constantly with you, constantly in your head - the way they died.

"We are constantly talking about them, constantly looking at their pictures, the videos, we don't want to forget them, we don't want other people to forget them."

A special programme on the Clydach murders is broadcast on BBC One Wales at 2055 BST on Friday.

Click here to watch the programme live online or on demand


In DepthIN DEPTH
Full coverage of death Clydach caseClydach trial
Full coverage of family massacre
See also:

28 Jun 02 | Wales
Links to more Wales stories are at the foot of the page.


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