Man strangled son's girlfriend to death then went and bought a custard slice

A man has been convicted of murdering his son's girlfriend after she was found face-down in her home having been strangled. Richard Jones admitted killing 30-year-old mum-of-two Sophie Evans who was found dead on July 5 last year at her home in Bigyn Road, Llanelli, but denied murder.

Jones, 50, said he killed Ms Evans believed she and her boyfriend – his son Jamie Davies – were scamming him. Swansea Crown Court heard that she was found lying face-down with injuries to the head, face, neck, trunk, arms and legs which forensic pathologist Dr Edward John Williams told the court were "entirely in keeping with forceful and sustained pressure to the neck during assault".

When he opened the trial prosecutor Michael Jones KC said: “What we know is in that house the defendant physically and repeatedly attacked Ms Evans before strangling her to death." She was wearing only a bath towel when police found her on the kitchen floor, he added. In a notepad found in the defendant's vehicle following Ms Evans’ death was a note reading: “I got scammed and rinsed by my own son so I dealt with it myself. Had no other choice.”

A consultant psychiatrist, Dilum Jayawickrama, told the court Jones had a history of mental health issues and had previously suffered drug-induced psychosis when he started to “hear voices” after taking cocaine. He had also told a GP he had "felt suicidal". He told a doctor he thought his son and Ms Evans were stealing his identity to defraud him.

The defence case was that Jones, of Y Rhodfa, Burry Port, was in a state of significant emotional distress when he carried out the killing and was suffering from a psychiatric delusion of which anger and violence were among the symptoms. Jones, who now faces life imprisonment,