John "Jack" Armstrong (Unsolved Murder)

It was Friday, 5th October 1979. A little after 1:00 pm, 58-year-old taxi driver Jack Armstrong was dispatched to pick up "Mr Williams" from outside the Fairwater Hotel pub in the west of Cardiff. 45 minutes later, the cab company radioed Jack but received no reply. At 6:00 that evening, Jack's taxi was found abandoned almost thirty miles away in a county lane on the outskirts of Bridgend. There was no sign of Jack, but the interior of the vehicle was covered in blood. Two days later, Jack's battered body was discovered 7 miles away on a desolate common. A forensic review announced in 2026 hopes to finally bring the killer to justice. 

Sources for the episode can be found here

South Wales Police Public Portal

Transcript

John “Jack” Armstrong

Just after 1.00pm on Friday October 5th 1979 Cardiff-based private hire taxi firm “Castle Cabs” received a telephone call from a would-be customer. The caller identified himself as “Mr Williams” and said he needed to be picked up from outside a pub named the Fairwater Hotel on St Fagans Road. “Castle Cabs” swiftly dispatched 58 year old driver John Armstrong, known as “Jack” by friends and colleagues, to take the job. At 1.30pm Jack radioed the “Castle Cabs” office on Westgate Street, using his call sign “Castle 10” to say that he had picked up his fare. The customer wanted to be taken to Cowbridge, in the Vale of Glamorgan, a journey west along the A48, taking approximately 30 minutes.

Forty five minutes later the “Castle Cabs” manager attempted to radio Jack but got no reply. Repeated attempts to contact Jack over the next four hours or so went unheeded and his whereabouts were unknown.

Around 6.00 that evening Jack's taxi, a metallic bronze colored Colt Sigma 1600cc, Registration RNY 119R, was found abandoned in Treoes Lane close to Coychurch, Bridgend. This location is around a 40 minute drive from the area in west Cardiff where Jack had picked up his customer. There was no sign of Jack and no indication of where he might be. Witnesses said the taxi had been parked neatly on the side of the lane since about 2.15pm. Ominously, the inside of the veihcle was spattered with blood. The passenger side seat was particularly badly stained and there was a lot of blood in the passenger footwell. With this discovery came deep concern for Jack's safety. Within an hour and a half of the taxi being located the hunt for the missing cab driver was underway.

The following day 200 police officers went out looking for Jack Armstrong near the place the taxi was found and along the A48 road from Cardiff. On Sunday they were joined by 100 volunteers from the community and a further 200 police officers. A helicopter was used to cover the stretch of land from Cardiff to Bridgend from the air. 

At five past two on Monday afternoon, the search ended as many feared it would. A member of the public found the body of Jack Armstrong amongst tall ferns and thick bracken on a bleak common, on the outskirts of Cowbridge, known as Stalling Down. The spot was yards from a road that crossed the open ground and 600 yards from the main A48 road to Cardiff. The remote location was 7 miles from where the taxi had been abandoned. 

Jack had been murdered and had died as the result of three heavy blows to the head; two to the back of the head and one to the right side of the jaw. The injuries were extensive and Jack would not have taken very long to die. 

John Joseph Armstrong, “Jack”, was born in Penrith, Cumbria in September 1921. He had at least one sister. During his twenties, like his father before him, he worked as a lorry driver. Jack lived with his parents in Raiselands Croft until the late 1940s or early 1950s when he married and moved to Cardiff in South Wales. At some point Jack's wife passed away and he remarried a woman named Evelyn in 1970. In 1977 Jack stopped driving trucks and became a taxi driver.

At the time of his death Jack was living in Wern Goch, Llanedeyrn, in the east of Cardiff. Jack had a daughter Jean, who was living with him, a son Geoffrey, who lived locally, and another daughter who lived in London. He also had four step-children. Just four weeks before he was murdered, Jack had given up night shifts so he could spend more time with his wife and family. He was murdered 9 days before his 9th wedding anniversary. 

Jack's daughter Jean shared some memories of her father in the 2022 S4C/BBC Welsh language documentary “Llofruddiaeth Jack Armstrong”. She described him as a quiet, hardworking family man. She remembered fondly how Jack always wore his shirt sleeves rolled up and would keep his right arm out of the window when driving his taxi. As a result that arm was always suntanned.

Jack's murder devastated his family. Daughter Jean went into shock and had to be given a sedative. Almost five decades later there are many in his extended family who still miss him and continue to be affected by the violent events of that October afternoon. 

The pathologist found that the three catastrophic head injuries had caused Jack's death, but he had some additional bruising on the face caused by being punched or slapped by hand. The murder weapon was not found near the body or during searches near the taxi. From the shape of the wounds it was theorised that the weapon was likely a large headed hammer, weighing several pounds. Two different kinds were suggested. A “lump” hammer has a short thick handle and square steel head. It is used in demolition work and for driving heavy stakes into the ground. The other possibility was a “knapping” hammer (spelt with a silent ‘k’) which has a smaller, sharper head than a lump hammer. A knapping hammer is a specialised tool used in masonry work for shaping and trimming stone.

Police asked for local metal detector enthusiasts to come forward and lend a hand in the search for the weapon. Despite a thorough search, the weapon was never found.

On Wednesday 10th October searches in the vicinity of where the taxi was found located items belonging to Jack Armstrong. His driving license and a plastic folder with personal papers were found scattered in a high hedgerow. Oddly, a piece of the car's dashboard was also found up a tree. It was speculated that the killer had hidden these items with the intention of returning to collect them at a later date.

The investigation into the murder was led by Detective Chief Superintendent Viv Brook, of South Wales Police CID and an incident room was quickly established at Bridgend police station.  Brook described the killer as callous and said the murder had been premeditated. The motive was almost certainly robbery. Jack Armstrong had been killed for his takings, which totaled just under £20. In today's money that would be around £100. 

The chief suspect was obviously the mysterious “Mr Williams" who was the last person Jack Armstrong picked up in his taxi. Williams is a very common name in Wales and it is suspected the man gave a false name. 

It was soon established that although the man had asked to be picked outside the Fairwater hotel, he had not telephoned “Castle Cabs” from inside the pub. It was also determined that he had not used a payphone. This was decades before mobile phones and, as far as I can see, police were never able to discover where the call was made from. 

The task of identifying the killer was complicated, as the case covered such a large geographical area. There were three principal sites, centred around west Cardiff, Stalling Down and Coychurch. Extensive door to door inquiries were carried out in all these locations and along the route the taxi took that day.

The taxi route was plotted after piecing together eyewitness accounts. From Fairwater the taxi drove along the A48 and took the turning for the village of Aberthin. Here it carried on to Welsh St Donats before doubling back. It is believed the killer asked Jack to stop the taxi on Stalling Down, an area of open land just to the east of the town of Cowbridge, often referred to as Cowbridge Common. This is reputedly the site of a battle between a Welsh army led by Owain Glyndor and the English king Henry IV as part of the Welsh revolt of 1400-1415. It is here that the killer is believed to have struck Jack three times from behind, killing him.

After dragging Jack Armstrong's 11 stone body out of the taxi and dumping it a few yards from the road, the killer continued west to Treoes near the Waterton Industrial estate on the outskirts of Bridgend, where he abandoned the taxi. Altogether the journey from Cardiff to the taxi’s final destination covered a distance of 27 miles. Several witnesses spotted the killer driving the Colt taxi between Cowbridge and Treoes. From his knowledge of the network of narrow lanes around Treoes and the wider Bridgend area it was surmised he lived or worked locally or had done so in the past. The lane where the taxi was left had a dead end, which again suggests the man knew the area well. After leaving the taxi he would have gone through a small gate into a field and then made his way towards the A47 dual carriageway.

There were several other sightings of taxis along the route. Police were fairly confident they were not the one driven by Jack Armstrong and later by his killer. However, they could not be 100% certain until all the drivers had come forward. The additional sightings of taxis were: 10am at the Fairwater Hotel, 1.20pm performing a u-turn outside the Fairwater Hotel. 1.30pm Wangton Road, Fairwater. 1.30-1.45pm near the level crossing in St Fagans. 1.30-2pm Ystrad Owen. 2pm Traffic lights in Cowbridge. 2.10-2.30pm the road between Pendolyn and Welsh St Donats. 2-2.30pm on the road between Pencoed and Llanhari. 2.15 in Eastgate near the old cinema in Cowbridge.

Investigators were also trying to find the driver of a blue car seen along the forestry road in Ystradowen. A witness said they saw the bronze coloured taxi drive close behind this blue car and overtake it. Again it was hoped this driver may have seen the face of the person who was driving the taxi as it passed him.  

The investigation saw a lot of information come in from the public. Detective Chief Inspector Jon Gates was in charge of the operation room in Bridgend police station. He organised small teams of officers, each with a leader, with specific tasks to complete. Every day they had to return and report to DCI Gates. Each new lead was then cross referenced and handed back out to other teams by an incident room allocator. A special room was dedicated to “house to house” inquiries where every minute detail from over 10,000 interviews was recorded. In an age before computers one fastidious person was given the job of reading every piece of information to try and ensure that important details did not slip through the net. 

A free phone line for members of the public to share tips was set up between the hours of 8am and 11pm. Peoiple were asked to dial 100 and ask the operator for “Free phone 1240”. Calls were dealt with in strict confidence. Coupled with extensive door to door enquiries and appeals in the press this did yield some results.

In the first week or so of the investigation several people came forward with potential sightings of the killer. 

At 2.15pm on the afternoon of the murder a father and daughter were cycling along Treoes Lane near Coychurch when they passed a bronze colored taxi later identified as belonging to Jack Armstrong, parked on the side of the track. The door was open and a slim man, estimated to be around 28 was bent over with his upper body inside the car, cleaning the steering wheel. Unfortunately the cyclist and his daughter did not get a look at the man's face. The cleaning of the steering wheel is important as it would suggest the man had some forensic awareness; this led police to the assumption that the culprit was likely no stranger to criminal activity.

Shortly before this incident, a local man was out taking a walk with his young children along Treoes Lane when he was passed by a bronze taxi driving very carefully and slowly. The witness thought this odd as the lane went nowhere and had a blocked end. Again this witness did not see the driver's face, only the arm and shoulder of the man.

At 2.50pm a man was seen boarding the 2.33pm Bridgend National Bus N240 in Coychurch bound for Pontypridd. He was believed to have alighted at a stop before Church village. The police were keen to stress this may not be their suspect but they wanted him to come forward so they could rule him out. If he was the killer they thought he walked the 200 yards from the abandoned taxi in Treloes Lane to the bus stop in Coychuch.  

The following description was given of the suspect. He looked to be aged 28-33, about 5ft 11 to 6ft tall with a slim build. The man’s hair style drew particular attention. An early report mentioned his hair as being collar length but more detailed descriptions refer to it as a Boston cut. As far as I can tell, the “Boston cut” was popularised by American GIs when they were stationed in the UK during the war. It was described as a neat, clean army hair cut. By 1979 this was not a particularly fashionable haircut.

The hair was brown in colour and said to have been well cut. It was unusually parted on the right hand side. Apparently it is usual for men to part on the left and sweep the hair over to the right hand side.

The man was quite smartly dressed, wearing a chunky woollen cardigan and brown checked trousers. A photofit was produced of the suspect but police emphasised that it may not be an exact likeness and the killer may have tried to alter their appearance by growing a mustache or beard. Hairdressers in the local area were visited and shown the photofit to see if it jogged any memories.

One of the witnesses who saw the aforementioned man near the abandoned taxi also noticed a man in a parked gray car who appeared to be asleep. Police requested for this person to come forward as they may have seen when the taxi first arrived in Treeos Lane. This man was traced and it turned out he was a commercial traveler who was doing his books rather than sleeping. I'm unsure if he was able to provide any useful information. 

A man fitting the description of the suspect was found to have asked for a job at a building site in Fairwater on the morning of the murder. This is very close to where Jack picked up his customer. He arrived at the site at 10.15am but was told by two men that there was no work for him. 

Police were sure other people may have seen the killer after he abandoned the taxi. They were specifically trying to trace two women waiting at the bus stop in Coychurch for the Bridgend to Pencoed bus at 2.47pm. One woman was around 40 with a slight build and wore a brown coat the other was younger 28-30, well built and wearing a pale blue smock with dark edging.  

These women could be key, as police were now unsure if the killer had left Coychurch on the bus or by other means. This followed several sightings by motorists of a man matching the description of the suspect walking near the railway bridge on the Coychurch to Coity road.Further sightings believed to be of the same man placed him crossing the A47 dual carriageway near Coychurch carrying an object wrapped in a paper bag. The same man was seen later without the package running across the dual carriageway back towards the village of Coychurch. 

A motorist then came forward to say they gave a lift to a man hitch hiking on the dual carriageway at Coychurch on the afternoon of the murder. He was wearing a brown checked shirt with prominent red lines on it. The man asked for a lift to Llanharan (which is 5 miles from Coychurch) but was dropped off in Brynna which is just a mile down the road from Llanharan. Some reports say he was last seen walking in the direction of Llanharan but DCS Viv Brook told press on October 26th 1979 that he was walking towards Coychurch, which is back in the opposite direction. The motorist said the man told him he knew a short cut to Llanaran but  sightings suggest he did not take this as he was later seen in Brynna. One witness put him at a bus stop opposite the Bryncae petrol station on the Pencoed to Llanharan road.

Yet more possible sightings of this man came in. Another motorist said they picked up a hitch-hiker at 3.40pm on the afternoon of the murder near the Caesars Arms on the Church Village to Ceigiau Road. The man was wearing a biscuit colored shirt with a vertical striped pattern. The driver of the vehicle took the hitchhiker towards Ely in Cardiff via St Fagans and dropped him near Grand Avenue. This is within a couple of miles of the Fairwater hotel where the suspect was first picked up by Jack Armstrong's taxi.

Apparently this man told the driver that he lived in Treforrest, near Pontypridd. He mentioned that he had recently rowed with wife as they had to move out of their three bedroomed home because it was student accommodation. He told the taxi driver he had family in the Ely area of Cardiff. Police were keen for this man to come forward so they could rule him out. As far as I am aware he never did.

Yet another witness came forward to say they saw a man fitting the suspect description  sitting on a wall opposite the High Corner pub in Llanharan square, in Llanharan. This was timed at 3.15-3.30pm. The man was said to be wearing a red and blue checked shirt.  

As later sightings omitted the man's chunky brown cardigan, police suspected he had removed it and dumped it, along with the murder weapon, in the Coychurch area before hitching a lift. These items have never been found and it was theorised that the killer may have returned to the area at a later date to collect them. Coychurch residents were asked to think if they remembered seeing anyone unusual loitering about in the days and weeks after the murder. 

Police were sure that someone knew the movements of the killer that day and was probably cradling their own suspicions. DCS Viv Brook asked for a friend or girlfriend of the killer to come forward. Local newspaper the Glamorgan Gazette encouraged people to discuss the murder in pubs, bars and businesses and to listen out for anything that could catch the cowardly killer. In his column “Damon’s Walkabout” a local journalist simply known as “Damon” described the killer as “a cheap apology for a man”. Everyone was asked to be vigilant as the culprit could be a neighbor or colleague. 

A new sighting then came in from a person who  had seen Jack Armstrong's bronze colored taxi driving at speed near the Waterton Estate near Treoes. The witness was able to get a good look at the driver of the car and extraordinarily said they had seen the man a second time a week after the murder. He was getting into a Bridgend taxi outside the Groom and Llewellyn factory at 3pm on Friday 12th October. The police contacted the Bridgend taxi firm seen picking up this man but frustratingly the records for the day in question had been inadvertently destroyed. 

Lead investigator DCS Viv Brook told the press that there had been reluctance from some taxi drivers to come forward with information. This was believed to be because many “pirate operators” were working in the area and they were fearful of potential repercussions to their businesses. Police tried to reassure local taxi drivers that they were not interested in any illegalities but rather their sole objective was bringing the killer to justice.  

It's clear from reading press reports that many taxi drivers did help and felt a tremendous loss at the violent death of one of their colleagues. On the day of his funeral, October 19th 1979, a motorcade of taxis traveled from Jack's home in Wern Goch, Llanedeyrn, to All Saints Church in Cyncoed. A group of taxi drivers clubbed together and established a reward fund of £100 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible.

In fact a woman taxi driver came forward and said she thought Jack may have picked up the killer on two occasions about a month prior to the murder. Both times the man had been picked up in the west of Cardiff; once in Fairwater and once from Victoria Park on Cowbridge Road. These instances happened toward the end of August and then on September 8th. 

Both trips ended with the man asking to be dropped on Stalling Down, about half a mile from the main road and near the location Jack Armstrong’s body had been left. Police were unsure how this man left Stalling Down. Police suspected the man had gone to this location to meet someone. The area was known as a spot frequented by courting couples and they speculated that he may have met a woman there. An appeal was made for couples who visited the area to come forward. Deputy Chief of South Wales CID, Detective Sergeant Don Carsley, assured the public they were uninterested in the domestic affairs of individuals and only focused on catching the killer. They appealed for him to come forward so he could be eliminated from their inquiries. Police also appealed directly to the woman the man may have met to contact them. A separate photofit based on the description given by the woman taxi driver was produced.

A year after the murder the police organised a reenactment of the fateful last journey taken by Jack’s taxi. Twelve months had passed and memories were already beginning to dim. Sadly it did not lead to a breakthrough in the case.

The investigation interviewed 12,000 people and 197 suspects were looked at. Other estimates suggest up to 500 suspects were eliminated from inquiries. The police had exhausted all leads; even travelling to France to speak to a group of school children who were camping in a field close to where Jack’s taxi was found, Nevertheless, no arrests were made and the killer remained at large.

In June 1981 coroner Williams Adams ruled the death of John “Jack” Armstrong as an unlawful killing. Several years later DCS Viv Brook yet again publicly criticised the taxi drivers, saying their lack of help contributed to the failure of the investigation. Very strong words indeed.

In 2003 two retired detectives, Mike Stephens from Devon police and Doug Smith from Cleveland police, were asked to conduct a review of the case, but ultimately it proved fruitless.

Seventeen years passed without much movement in the case.

Then in December 2020 Detective chief inspector Patrick Catto of South Wales police announced that the case was going to be reviewed again. This was not a re-investigation but a thorough going over of all the case files  and evidence from the original 1979 investigation. He was at pains to point out the original 1979 investigation had been thorough, but they were hampered by the forensic limitations of the time. Blood type and finger prints were about the limit of that era’s capability. With the pace of technology it was deemed time for a forensic review of many of the exhibits still held by South Wales police. There was a good chance the killer was still alive and now they might finally catch him. Perhaps loyalties had changed, as they often do overtime, and a friend or family member may be ready to come forward. 

The review of the case was covered by the 2022 S4C/BBC documentary “Llofruddiaeth Jack Armstring”.

Altogether there were 50 boxes of evidence for the review unit to go through, including 1000 statements. There were 326 exhibits still bagged and sealed that were collected from the various locations connected with the case. This included some of Jack's clothing; a jacket, green cardigan, right shoe, shirt, trousers and a pair of socks. Other items included a grey plastic bag,various tools from the boot of the taxi, including hammers and screwdrivers, pieces of fern and bracken and even an unopened tin of Plumrose Chopped ham.

It was hoped that touch DNA from the killer may be found on one of the items That profile could then be run through the National DNA Database, and a match may be found. As mentioned, the police heavily suspected the culprit had a criminal past and likely was involved in criminal activity after the murder. 

The forensic team paid particular attention to Jack's socks, as police suspected the killer dragged Jack by his ankles when dumping the body on Stalling down. As the killer had made such an effort to clean the car of finger prints it was likely he was not wearing gloves during the committing of the crime.

The socks were tested but only incomplete DNA profiles were found, not enough to run in through the national database for comparison.

As mentioned earlier, in 1979 the pathologist report suggested Jack had been punched or slapped in the face. Adhesive tapings taken from Jack's face were also tested to see if they yielded touch DNA from the killer. Unfortunately no profiles were found.  

The results of the forensic review were very disappointing for the police and Jack's family. DCI Patrick Catto expressed that in the hunt for Jack's killer the  police would remain patient, determined and motivated.

In January 2026 it was announced that the South Wales Police Specialist Crime Review Unit was doing another review of the case. Detective Chief Inspector Mathew Davies is in charge. Exhibits are being forensically tested again with renewed hope. We await the findings.  

Sadly Jack's daughter Jean, who for so long was at the forefront in the quest for justice for her dad, has now sadly passed away. 

If you have any information about the unsolved murder of John “Jack” Armstrong you can contact the Review unit via calling 101 and quoting occurrence 2000 304 349 or the Major Incident Public Portal (MIPP). See the link in the show notes.