Bio

Thomas Ronald Lewis Harries was born in Wales in either 1928 or 1929. He was commonly known as Ronnie Harries and was associated with the Cadno area of Carmarthenshire. Public records describe Harries as a young farm worker connected to John and Phoebe Harries, an older farming couple in rural Carmarthenshire. Sources differ slightly on whether they were his uncle and aunt or adoptive relatives, but all accounts agree that he was closely connected to them and had access to their farm.

By 1953, Harries was about 24 or 25 years old. He was living and working in the farming community around Pendine, Llangynin, and St Clears. Contemporary accounts suggest that money was a major issue in the case. Investigators later discovered that a cheque connected to John Harries had been altered from a small amount to a much larger amount, creating evidence of financial fraud.

Murder Story

On October 16, 1953, John and Phoebe Harries disappeared from their farm in rural Carmarthenshire, Wales. John Harries was known locally as a careful and hardworking farmer, so neighbors quickly became suspicious when they noticed that the cows had not been milked. When asked about the couple’s absence, Thomas Ronald Lewis Harries told people that John and Phoebe had gone to London for a holiday and had left him in charge of the farm. Local police were not satisfied with his explanation.

The investigation intensified after detectives discovered financial evidence involving a cheque. A cheque made out to Harries had reportedly been altered from £9 to £909, suggesting a motive connected to theft or financial gain. Because the farm was large and difficult to search by hand, detectives used an unusual tactic. They tied thin cotton threads across gateways and gaps in hedges around the property. They then created noise and pressure around Harries, hoping he would become nervous and check the place where he had hidden the bodies.

The plan worked. Harries went to check the burial site and broke one of the threads. When detectives checked the threads at dawn, they found the broken line and followed the clue. They soon discovered the buried bodies of John and Phoebe Harries. Harries was arrested on November 16, 1953, and charged with both murders.

He was tried at Carmarthen Assizes in March 1954. The prosecution case was built largely on circumstantial evidence, including the altered cheque, his false story about the couple’s supposed holiday, and the discovery of the bodies after the police trap. On March 11, 1954, Harries was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. He was executed by hanging at Swansea Prison on April 28, 1954. He was 25 years old.

Thomas Ronald Lewis Harries became one of the last people executed in Wales before capital punishment for murder was abolished in the United Kingdom.