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In November 2001, the tranquil village of Llanfairpwll on Anglesey was shaken by a brutal crime when 91-year-old Mabel Leyshon was found murdered in her own home. On that fateful Saturday evening, Mabel was sitting comfortably in her preferred armchair, watching television with the volume raised high to compensate for her hearing difficulties. Unbeknownst to her, a teenager quietly broke into her house through a back window, setting in motion a chilling event that would haunt the community for years to come.
Mabel had lived independently for decades in a bungalow overlooking the Menai Strait since her husband passed away in the 1960s. She was well-known in her close-knit village, where neighbors trusted one another implicitly, often leaving doors unlocked. The peacefulness of Llanfairpwll was irrevocably changed by the attack. Seventeen-year-old Mathew Hardman, an art student and Mabel’s former paperboy, struck the elderly woman 22 times with a knife. Following the stabbing, he moved her body and placed two pokers arranged in a cross near her feet. In a disturbing act described as a “macabre ritual,” Hardman removed Mabel’s heart and drank her blood from a saucepan.
The murder was discovered the next day when a meals-on-wheels volunteer visited Mabel’s home. John Clayton, a retired detective involved in the case, recalled that the scene resembled a shrine and that forensic analysis revealed lip marks on the rim of the saucepan, suggesting someone had indeed drunk the victim’s blood. Police treated every household in the village as potential suspects and conducted thorough interviews, underscoring the widespread fear and uncertainty that gripped the community. Detective Sergeant Iestyn Davies, who lived in Llanfairpwll, described the case as one of the most horrific he encountered during his 30 years in law enforcement, noting the lasting impact on local residents’ sense of security.
Hardman’s fascination with vampires emerged during the investigation, revealing a dark obsession that influenced the crime. In the months leading up to the murder, he had even attempted to convince a German exchange student to bite him, hoping to gain immortality by becoming a vampire. Evidence presented in court included DNA matches linking him to the crime scene, as well as footprints matching his shoes found at Mabel’s home. Jurors found him guilty of murder, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 12 years. The brutal killing left a lasting impression on the village and its residents, many of whom struggled to comprehend the violence inflicted by someone they considered part of their close community. Ben Roberts, who was just 10 years old at the time, reflected on how the murder deeply affected his childhood fears and the atmosphere of the village, emphasizing the profound and enduring trauma left by the case
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