For more than three decades, the quiet Welsh village of Llanharry has lived with the shadow of a double murder that shocked the nation and left a family—and an entire community—searching for answers. Now, in a dramatic turn, South Wales Police have arrested an 86-year-old man in connection with the 1993 killings of Harry and Megan Tooze, a retired couple whose deaths remain one of Wales’ most notorious unsolved crimes.
The story begins on the morning of July 26, 1993. Harry, 64, and Megan, 67, left their isolated Ty Ar y Waun farmhouse and drove their Land Rover to Tesco in nearby Talbot Green for their weekly grocery run. On the way home, they stopped in Llanharry to collect their pensions—a routine that, tragically, would be their last. According to BBC News, the couple were seen returning home at 11:00am. Neighbors later recalled hearing two gunshots at around 1:30pm, but dismissed the noise as nothing out of the ordinary for a rural farm.
It was only later that alarm bells began to ring. The couple’s daughter, Cheryl, who called her parents daily, grew concerned when they failed to answer the phone that evening. She reached out to a neighbor, Owen Hopkins, who checked the property but found no sign of them. At his suggestion, Cheryl contacted the police. Officers arrived at the farm to a grim discovery: Harry and Megan’s bodies, both killed by shotgun wounds to the back of the head from about three feet away, were found in a cowshed adjoining the farmhouse. Their bodies had been covered with carpet and hidden under hay bales, according to Detective Superintendent Mark Lewis, the current lead investigator.
From the start, the case was marked by confusion and controversy. Investigators quickly determined that the Toozes had not been killed in the cowshed, but had likely been murdered elsewhere on the property before being moved and concealed. The crime scene itself became a point of contention; as reported by BBC Wales, police were later criticized for failing to properly seal the area, a mistake that would have far-reaching consequences.
In December 1993, five months after the murders, police arrested Jonathan Jones, the boyfriend of Cheryl Tooze. Jones, a self-employed recruitment consultant, claimed he had spent the day in Orpington, Greater London, looking for office space, but investigators could not find anyone who had seen him. His partial thumbprint was discovered on a cup and saucer in the Toozes’ living room. These pieces of circumstantial evidence led to his conviction in 1995, and he was sentenced to life in prison.
The case, however, was far from closed. Cheryl Tooze stood firmly by Jones throughout his ordeal, even moving in with his family in Caerphilly after his arrest. A year after his conviction, the Court of Appeal reviewed the case and, in a decision reached in just five minutes, overturned the verdict. The original trial judge was criticized, and it emerged that police procedural errors—including the failure to secure the crime scene—had undermined the prosecution. Jones was released, and he and Cheryl later married and had a son. Over the years, the couple campaigned tirelessly to clear Jones’s name, offering a £25,000 reward for information and calling for the case to be reopened.
Despite several police reviews over the years, the case remained unsolved. But in 2023, on the 30th anniversary of the murders, South Wales Police announced Operation Vega—a new forensic review led by Detective Superintendent Mark Lewis and guided by renowned forensic scientist Professor Angela Gallop. Gallop, who has worked on high-profile cases such as the Stephen Lawrence and Lynette White murders, oversaw a comprehensive re-examination of all retained evidence using advanced DNA techniques that were unavailable in the early 1990s.
For two and a half years, the Operation Vega team meticulously reanalyzed every exhibit from the original investigation, searching for even the tiniest trace of new evidence. According to ITV News, the goal was clear: to find the answers to questions that had haunted the Tooze family, and the wider community, for more than 30 years.
That persistence may finally be paying off. On December 17, 2025, South Wales Police arrested an 86-year-old man on suspicion of murder. The man, whose identity has not been released, was taken into custody early in the morning and is currently being questioned by detectives. The arrest is being treated as a significant development, but authorities caution that the investigation is far from over.
“While this arrest is clearly a significant development in the investigation, our enquiries are very much ongoing,” said Detective Superintendent Mark Lewis in a statement carried by the Glamorgan Star and other outlets. “This case has affected many people over the years and our aim is to find the answers to the unanswered questions which remain about their deaths over 30 years on. Even with this passage of time I appeal to anyone who has any information about the murders to come forward and speak to police.”
The news of the arrest has sent ripples through Llanharry and beyond. Many locals had long believed the case would never be solved, and the announcement has reopened old wounds for a community that has never forgotten the tragedy. The Toozes’ farmhouse, once a symbol of rural tranquility, became infamous overnight—its legacy intertwined with a miscarriage of justice and years of unanswered questions.
Operation Vega’s forensic review is considered one of the most thorough in Welsh criminal history, drawing on advances in DNA analysis and crime scene technology. Professor Angela Gallop’s involvement underscores the seriousness with which police are treating the renewed investigation. As reported by the Glamorgan Star, the review has focused on every item from the original crime scene, searching for clues that might finally bring closure.
For the Tooze family, and for Cheryl and Jonathan Jones in particular, the latest developments are bittersweet. The couple have not commented publicly on the arrest, but their decades-long campaign for justice demonstrates the enduring impact of the case. For the local community, the hope is that, at last, the truth will emerge from the shadows that have lingered for so long.
Anyone with information about the deaths of Harry and Megan Tooze is urged to contact South Wales Police, quoting occurrence number 2300016841. Information can also be provided anonymously to Crimestoppers.
As the investigation continues, the Tooze case stands as a stark reminder of both the fallibility and the persistence of justice. The path to answers has been long and winding, but with new forensic tools and renewed determination, the hope is that the final chapter may soon be written.
