Peggy Goodman (Missing Person) and Myfanwy Jones (Unresolved Murder)

Peggy Goodman was 81-years-old when she vanished without trace from the Welsh-speaking town of Corwen, North Wales. The widow was last seen at a local shop shortly before Christmas 1982. Despite extensive searches in the local area and inquiries that stretched across the UK and abroad, Peggy has never been found. 

Almost exactly two years later, another woman from Corwen disappeared. 49-year-old Myfanwy Jones never arrived home after leaving her friend's house on January 4th 1985. Five months later, her decomposed body was found buried on a remote farm near Lake Bala, 15 miles from Corwen. An inquest followed, which found that Myfanwy had been murdered by person or persons unknown. 

Sources for the episode can be found here

Transcript

Peggy Goodman and Myfanwy Jones

81-year-old Peggy Goodman lived in a remote stone cottage, Tafarn-y-Pric, just outside the Welsh-speaking town of Corwen near Bala, North Wales.  The slightly larger town of Llangollen with a population of around 3000, lies 10 miles to the east along the A5. 

Peggy was born Margaret Winifred Jones on March 25th 1902, in the town of Caernarfon, 45 miles north-west of Corwen. During her late teen years, she lived near Liverpool in Lancashire and worked as a domestic servant. In 1935, Peggy married Austen Goodman, a farmer from Northumberland in the north of England. I do not believe the couple had children. 1940 saw Peggy train as a nurse, and she was presumably engaged in this profession during the war years. I'm not sure exactly when, but at some point, Peggy and Austen moved to North Wales.

Austen died in January 1980, aged 72, after an illness. After her husband's passing, Peggy continued to be active and enjoyed long-distance walking no matter what the weather, particularly in the nearby Berwyn mountains. She was incredibly fit and healthy for her age.

Peggy had a strong sense of social justice and was an enthusiastic campaigner for numerous issues, including conservation and nuclear disarmament. She was also a passionate vegetarian. Peggy was a prolific writer of letters to local and national newspapers. I came across one such letter printed in The Daily Post (Liverpool Edition) in September 1982 about her concerns over vaccines. 

Most members of the small community, which totaled 2000, knew Peggy, but while she was described as friendly, she was also seen by some as slightly distant. Peggy was viewed as a very private person.

On Sunday December 19th 1982, Peggy, who was 5ft tall, slim, with a rosy cheeked complexion and short grey hair, visited the General Stores at Clawdd Poncen, a half mile from her home. There she bought fruit, honey and shortbread biscuits from shopkeeper Mrs DM Howell. Peggy exited the shop, though it is unknown in what direction she then ventured. She was wearing a green parka-type coat, brown corduroy trousers and carrying a green rucksack. This was the last sighting of Peggy; she has never been seen or heard from again. 

Peggy did not have any relatives living nearby, but after a few days, members of the community noticed that they had not seen her out and about as they normally did. It must be said, it wasn’t unusual for Peggy to disappear for a short time without telling anyone, so perhaps this was just another instance of Peggy going on a spontaneous long-distance hike or visiting a relative in another part of the country. 

After a little while, some local people became concerned enough to call at Peggy's cottage and knock on the front door. They received no reply, and it appeared that no one was home. A close neighbour, Gwenda Phillips, was now very worried and tried to reach Peggy on the telephone, but to no avail. Interestingly, Gwenda told the Daily Post that she hadn't seen Peggy since early December. Having no relatives to contact, Peggy's solicitor was informed, and on January 6th 1983, he reported Peggy missing to North Wales police. 

As news spread through the village of Corwen that Peggy was missing, the response was one of shock. The former owner of the General Stores in Clawdd Poncen, Thomas Price, told the Daily Post of his surprise at finding out the news. He added that Peggy was well-liked in the area. Everyone was hoping the popular octogenarian would soon be found safe and well.

Police and tracker dogs searched the area surrounding Peggy's stone cottage but came up with nothing. Due to Peggy’s support of CND (a group campaigning for nuclear disarmament), inquiries were made with women peace protestors at Greenham Common, Berkshire. The women-only protest camp was set up in September 1981 in opposition to the British Government allowing US nuclear missiles to be stored at a nearby RAF base. The camp was only disbanded in 2000. No results came from the inquiries, and that potential lead fizzled out.

As I mentioned Peggy was very fit and in better shape than many people twenty years her junior. It was hypothesised that perhaps she had gone on a trip to hike a long-distance path. Only a year or so before Peggy had walked the entire 177 mile Offa's Dyke trail. This popular hiking route follows a dyke, or embankment, that the Anglo-Saxon King Offa built to separate his kingdom of Mercia from other kingdoms in what is now Wales.

Following media reports about the missing octogenarian, a woman motorist did contact the police with a possible sighting of  Peggy. The motorist saw a person loosely matching Peggy's description walking along the road between Whitford and Mostyn. This is 30 miles from where Peggy lived and in the top north east of Wales. Police were never able to trace the woman hiker to discover her identity.

A day or so later there was another reported sighting of a person that may have been Peggy near Bryn Crug, near Ty Wyn, Meirionydd. This is in the complete opposite direction from the other sighting and 44 miles south west of Corwen, near the coast. Again, this sighting was never able to be confirmed as Peggy. 

Over the first few months of the missing person investigation police touched base with friends and relatives of Peggy all over Wales, England, Scotland and Ireland. According to Head of Wrexham Divisional Police, Chief Superintendent Eifon Pritchard, the file on Peggy was becoming thicker and thicker but they had reached an impasse. They simply didn't have a clue what had happened to Peggy or where she was. Police still hoped to find her alive but as over three months had now passed since she was last seen, this was an increasingly doubtful outcome. 

Not long after this downbeat announcement a friend of Peggy’s from Llandudno, North Wales, came forward with a new lead. 78 year old Ina Roberts of Rockfield Drive, Llandudno, had first become friendly with Peggy and her late husband, Austen, in 1965. All three were enthusiastic members of the vegetarian society. Ina was a former secretary of the North Wales branch.

Austen Goodman fell ill in 1979, and Ina had visited him at the North Wales medical centre in Llandudno. During the visit, he had told Ina that the couple had friends in the small village of Kreith, near Innsbruck, Austria. He was very fond of a mountain near Kreith, and Austen and Peggy planned to visit in the summer of 1980. The trip never happened as Austen passed away in January 1980. A few days later, Peggy told Ina in a conversation that she planned on burying Austen’s ashes on the mountainside in Kreith. 

The last time Ina spoke to Peggy was over the telephone in June 1982, around 6 months before her disappearance. In the conversation, Peggy said she still hadn't managed to take her husband's ashes to Austria as she was experiencing problems selling her house. 

Ina was now wondering if Peggy had decided to go to Austria and was perhaps even living there. Ina also mentioned that Peggy’s disappearance roughly coincided with the third anniversary of Austen's death (he died on January 10th 1980). North Wales police appreciated the information and confirmed that they would follow this lead up. I do not know the extent of their inquiries in Austria, but I have no reason to believe that this potential lead wasn't checked out. Nevertheless, Peggy was not located.

In December 1983, a search took place in the rugged countryside around Corwen. It was organised to coincide with the first anniversary of Peggy going missing. It was also felt that this was a good time of year to go over old ground, as the winter landscape did not bear the dense vegetation it did during other times of the year. Police were realistic that they were probably looking for a body. On December 15th, a two-day operation involving 40 police officers and tracker dogs trained to detect human remains came to an end. Nothing of note was turned up from the operation.

Twelve months on, it was fast approaching the second anniversary of when Peggy was last seen alive. Detective Chief Inspector John Cooke, Head of Divisional CID at Wrexham, admitted that the case was extremely unusual. Over the last 24 months extensive inquiries had been carried out across the country and as far afield as Canada but investigators were no closer to solving the mystery. 

Notwithstanding the lack of leads the North Wales police said they were keeping an open mind and the case would remain open. They hoped Peggy would be found alive and well but knew the odds were against this. There were no plans to search the hills, riverbanks and farmland of Corwen this year, but police were committed to following up lines of interest if and when they arose. 

In May 1985, Peggy Goodman's case was featured on the  BBC television program Crimewatch UK. Peggy's story was briefly mentioned at the beginning of a segment that focused on the sudden disappearance of another woman from Corwen. 49 year old Myfanwy Pugh Jones, had gone missing at a similar time of year as Peggy, in January 1985. Despite both cases being shown together during the broadcast, at the time DCI John Cooke said police did not believe the cases were connected. In light of developments that arose over the next few months, the question of a possible connection was revisited.

On the afternoon of Friday January 4th, school dinner lady Myfanwy Jones went to visit her friend Sally Griffiths who lived at Clawdd Poncer, a housing estate on the outskirts of Corwen. This is just ½ mile from the General Stores where Peggy Goodman was last seen a little over two years prior.

After a pleasant time chatting, Myfanwy left her friend's bungalow to go home at 4.20pm. Myfanwy had plans to go out with her husband Emyr and friends that evening and so she needed to get herself ready. She went across the road to the bus stop but realised she had missed the bus. She popped back to Sally's bungalow and told her friend through the window that she was going to walk home. It was only 1.5 miles back to her house Bronwylfa, situated on the Crescent in the centre of Corwen. Nine out of ten times someone she knew would stop and offer her a lift, so Myfanwy banked on it only being a few minutes before she was home.  

Ten witnesses saw Myfanwy walking down the B5437. Mrs Jacequline Jones saw Myfanwy leave Sally Griffiths’s bungalow and walk down the road. She saw a blue car follow just behind her. David Harrington drove past Myfanwy as she walked down the hill. Close to the junction with Cemetery Road he noticed a parked light blue Vauxhall Viva with a man standing at the door. The man seemed to be watching Myfanwy as she walked past. Myfanwy was then seen by several people walking past the Maes y Fecan housing estate. The last sighting of Myfanwy was at 4.35pm  by a motorist driving in the opposite direction. Myfanwy had walked ½ mile from her friend's bungalow and had about another mile to go to reach home.

At 5.25pm Myfanwy's husband 50-year-old Emyr Jones arrived home to find Myfanwy was still out. This was unusual, especially as the couple had plans to go out with friends later on. While he was figuring out where his wife could be, the telephone rang. It was answered by the couple's 20 year old son, Keith. It was a call from a telephone box but after the sound of the pips, no-one was there. Both father and son wondered if it was Myfanwy calling from Clawdd Poncen? Did she need a lift home? Both men got in their cars and made separate trips to see if they could find Myfanwy. It was soon obvious that something strange had happened, as there was no sign of her anywhere. Later that evening Emyr reported his wife missing to police. 

A huge search began across the local countryside, which included 16 miles of the River Dee being dragged by police frogmen. A comprehensive search from sky and land was conducted across some very tough terrain. Severe winter weather conditions made the operation extremely difficult. No trace of Myfanway could be found. 

The town of Corwen was shocked and many locals volunteered to help with the search. Myfanwy was a popular person who was involved in many community activities. She had lived in Corwen for over 21 years and everyone knew her. It was not thought she would just up and leave the area without telling anyone. Police were very concerned for her safety. 

Reports describe Myfanwy as being happily married but husband Emyr, who was a Corwen town councillor, came under intense scrutiny by the police in the early days of the investigation. He later said he was outright asked to confess to her murder. However, he understood the police were doing their job. DCI John Cooke who was conducting the interviews soon came to the conclusion Emyr had nothing to do with his wife's disappearance. Emyr was convinced his wife had been abducted by an unknown person.

Local inquiries did turn up a few potential clues. Witnesses reported seeing a middle aged couple arguing close to a small, dark coloured van. This was parked on a little track just off Green Lane near a small bridge that crosses the River Dee. It was at a spot Myfanwy may have passed if she had taken a short cut from the B5437 to Green Lane. It was possible the woman seen here was Myfanwy but police thought this extremely doubtful.  

Another unexplained clue was the finding of a deerstalker hat on the B5437 on the way to Carrog. The location was a mile east of where Myfanwy was last seen and just past the junction for Corwen. The hat was found at 4.40pm so just 5 minutes after the last confirmed sighting of Myfanwy. 

The deerstalker was well used but in good condition. It had a herringbone pattern and an inside label that said Palatine. 

Thirdly was the man seen standing next to the light blue Vauxhall Viva. Police had not been able to identify him. He was described as a middle-aged man of around 45, with medium build, dark, collar length hair and sideburns. He was wearing a sheepskin coat.  

Another clue that wasn't revealed at the time was a story by local resident Trevor Dye. On the morning after Myfanwy went missing he had visited a council rubbish tip located on a small back road to Bryneglwys. When he arrived he saw a man with a car was already there. Trevor greeted the man with a wave from afar. The man quickly turned away, got back into his car and sped off. This was deemed to be odd and suspicious behavior.

For several months police were puzzled by these clues and pondered their significance. After the Crimewatch broadcast at the beginning of May 1985 police did finally get an answer concerning the sighting of an arguing couple near where Myfanwy was last seen. The couple, who were from Kent, England, contacted authorities and police were able to rule them out of the investigation. Following the Crimewatch programme 40 people contacted Wrexham police or the BBC studios to share information. Calls came in from all over the UK, from Deves to Doncaster but interestingly there were none from Corwen. 

DCI John Cooke felt sure that someone in the local area must have answers. They still wanted to know who was the man seen standing next to the Vauxhall Viva? And who was the owner of the deer stalker hat? Ultimately they were still completely in the dark concerning what had happened to Myfanwy on that Friday afternoon. Some of those answers were finally provided at the beginning of summer.

A little over 5 months after Myfanwy vanished her partially decomposed remains were discovered on a remote farm near Bala, 15 miles from Corwen.

At 4pm on Friday June 7th 1985, farmer Gwyn Lloyd Jones was clearing some land by the side of a track at the gable end of a silage barn, on Tyn-y-Celyn farm, Llanfor. Gwyn noticed that his dog was sniffing around something sticking out of a clump of loose earth and went to investigate. He brushed away some loose soil and saw what he thought were four fingers. He called for his father and together they uncovered a human hand. They called the police straight away.

Farmer Gwyn Lloyd Jones must have been in utter shock. He had only taken over tenancy of the farm in March that year. The previous tenant farmer had died by suicide on January 10th 1985. The 33 year old married father of one had taken his own life by swallowing a lethal dose of strychnine. His body was found on a remote track in the Berwyn mountains. He was said to have been suffering from depression. 

A home office pathologist came from Manchester to work the scene at Tyn-y-Celyn farm. Every inch of the burial site was gone over and forensic evidence was collected. The human remains were removed and dental records confirmed that it was 49 year old Myfanwy Pugh Jones. It was evident that Myfanwy’s death was not self-inflicted or an accident.

The body was in a grave that measured 5ft by 4ft by 3ft deep. It was wrapped in a large black plastic sheet which was tied with a single rope. The plastic sheet was intact apart from areas by the knees and hands, hence why the fingers were sticking out of the soil. The body was on its back with the head leaning to one side.

The hands and legs had been bound with bailing twine behind the back. A loose looped rope was around the head and a pair of tights, belonging to Myfanway, were wrapped twice around the head, almost completely covering the mouth.

Due to decomposition, home office pathologist Dr William Lawler could not definitively state the cause of death. He did not think it was strangulation, as there was no evidence of bruising to the underlying muscle of the neck or damage to the larynx. It was likely that Myfanwat was asphyxiated. The pair of tights that were wrapped around the head and obstructing the airways may have been the cause of this. Dr Lawler could say with confidence that Myfanwy had not been buried alive but he could not determine how long the body had been in the ground. He could not state whether Myfanwy had been raped. 

There were no gross injuries but rape can happen with relatively slight superficial injuries. The decomposition of the body meant he could not be certain.  That being said, he was sure the assault did have to do with sex. When Myfwanwy’s body was unearthed she was dressed in a coat, pullover, skirt, vest and bra, yet the skirt and vest were tucked up around the waist. She was not wearing knickers. 

An incident room was established at Corwen police station and the North Wales head of CID Detective Chief Superintendent Gwyn Owen took control of the investigation. Within a few days it was reported that a search for a second body was taking place at the 90 acre Tyn-y-Celyn farm. The  Police were looking for missing octogenarian Peggy Goodman who had been missing for over two years. This search was called off 24 hours later, after no other remains were unearthed. 

Myfanwy's funeral took place a couple of weeks later. The annual village summer carnival was postponed as between 300 and 400 people crammed into Bethesda Chapel, Corwen to remember the former Sunday school teacher. Reverend Hareth Hughes led the service and memories were shared about Myfanwy's servant heart. She loved her local community and was secretary of the local Bible Society and Christian festival at Corwen. She was also a member of TOC H, an international christian charitable movement. A plethora of floral tributes were left to honour Myfanywy.

Now I‘m sure you will have already worked out that the previous tenant farmer of Tyn-y Celyn farm became a person of interest for the North Wales police. Although he is long deceased I am not going to name him and I will refer to him as Farmer X. His name was widely published back in the 1980s but modern reporting emits his name for the sake of family members. 

Initial inquiries brought up no connection between Farmer X and Myfanwy Jones other than the fact her body had been found on land that he had lived and worked on. Merioneth coroner Donald Jones adjourned the inquest into Myfanwy's death shortly after it was opened in order to allow the police to further investigate possible links. Police said at the time that they were not looking for any other individuals but that the identity of the person responsible for Myfanwy’s death had not been established. Police were also at pains to state that for now there was nothing to link the death of Myfanwy Jones to missing person, Peggy Goodman.

Material collected at the burial site was sent to home office labs in Chorley and London for forensic testing. It was made clear to the public that it would be sometime before the inquest could be concluded

The inquest eventually resumed in Bala on September 10th 1985. Evidence was heard concerning the burial site and body itself, all of which I have already covered. When summing up proceedings coroner Ivor Jones made it clear that from the evidence it was obvious that Myfanway had been murdered or unlawfully killed. The coroner said there were three suspects. 

The first was Myfanwy’s husband, Emyr Jones, but the coroner stated that after an intense period of police interviews police were convinced of Emyr’s innocence. Besides, Emyr had a rock solid alibi. He had been with colleagues in the local MANWEB shop where he was manager all afternoon. (MANWEB is a regional electricity power supply operator.) 

The second suspect was the younger brother of famer X. He lived in Llangor and must have had access to the land at Tyn-y-Celyn farm. The coroner stated there was no evidence the brother was in the Corwen area when Myfanwy went missing. 

The final suspect was Farmer X. The corner said there was strong circumstantial evidence that pointed to him being the person responsible for Myfanwy’s death. I will now summarise this circumstantial evidence.

Farmer X was known to own and wear a Deerstalker hat similar to the type found on the Corwen to Carrog road on the day Myfanwy disappeared. The location was just a mile up the road from where she was last seen. Apparently, hair strands were found in the hat but I cannot find out whether or not they were forensically linked to Farmer X.

Farmer X owned a blue Ford Escort. A blue car was seen driving close to Myfanwy as she walked along the road. If you remember a Vauxhall Viva was spotted parked in the vicinity with a man standing next to it. Having looked at images, Ford Escorts from the late 1970s and Vauxhall Vivas were not dissimilar in appearance. 

The court heard that Farmer X and his wife regularly bought and read the  Daily Post newspaper. The same day the newspaper first published details about the finding of the deerstalker hat, Farmer X killed himself. 

The morning after Myfanwy went missing Farmer X told a local petrol pump attendant he was in Corwen to collect some animal feed. Records showed that he had never placed an order or collected animal feed on that day. 

A friend of Farmer X from Llangwm said he was surprised to see Farmer X out and about in his blue Ford Escort early in the morning in the Corwen area. As a note, the date this incident happened had been cut from the newspaper report. I think it was the morning after Myfanwy's disappearance. Two other witnesses also saw him in Corwen at this time.

While Coroner Donald Jones explained this was strong circumstantial evidence, he added that there was no direct evidence linking Farmer X to Myfanwy’s death. It was pointed out that while similar twine was found on Tyn-y-Celyn farm to that used to bind Myfanwy, this was very common material and was not seen as significant. Forensic tests conducted by Home Office pathologist Frank Gore did find human and dog blood stains in Farmer X’s vehicle but they were not connected to Myfanwy. Tests on Myfanwy's clothes showed no transfer of fibres, which one would expect if she had been in Farmer X’s car. 

The inquest jury of six men and three women took less than twenty minutes to decide Myfanwy Jones had been murdered by a person or persons unknown. The jury expressed their wish to publicly exonerate Myfanwy’s husband Emyr, her son Keith and the brother of Farmer X.

No evidence has ever been produced that has connected Peggy Goodman to Myfanwy Jones. I do not know if they knew each other. No evidence has ever tied Farmer X to Peggy's missing person case. 

Following the inquest ruling, Emyr Jones announced that he would be taking legal action against the estate of Farmer X. He was frustrated that the inquest jury had failed to name someone as the killer of Myfanwy. Emyr’s solicitor said if Farmer X was alive he would have been charged with the murder but it wasn't for him to say if he was guilty of the crime. 

Emyrs also expressed concern regarding the police handling of the investigation. He argued it was only the tenacity of the media and newspapers that had led to the focus on the deerstalker hat. The Daily Post reported on September 12th 1985 that the police had gone to Ty Celyn farm twice in January 1985 looking for Farmer X’s deerstalker hat. I assume someone must have tipped them off that Farmer X wore one. He must have claimed that he had lost somewhere on his property. They were unable to find it. During the search for the hat they did not come across the body of Myfanwy. In response, police argued they were not looking for a body at the time. 

In the aforementioned Daily Post article from September 12th Emyr revealed that during the Missing person part of the investigation police believed it was possible that Myfanwy had killed herself. Emyr was frustrated by the amount of time and effort given to this theory and felt it was at the expense of investigating other scenarios, including that his wife had been abducted. 

Ultimately Emyr dropped the legal case against the estate of Farmer X and did not pursue any legal action against North Wales police. He did continue a claim with the Criminal Injuries Board. I do not know the outcome of this matter. Emyr and his son Keith tried to look forward and carry on with life as best they could without Myfanwy. 

In terms of Peggy’s case, next to no new information was forthcoming. Following the airing of the Crimewatch programme in May 1985 one caller said they had traveled with Peggy on a train from Cornwall. The caller had even taken video footage of Peggy on the train. This sighting did prove to be of Peggy but the incident took place in 1981, long before she went missing.   

It is relatively unknown and rarely commented on in modern times. Back in the summer of 1990 it was briefly mentioned in relation to the disappearance of Trevaline Evans. I covered this case back on June 14, 2021. The 52 year old grandmother vanished on June 16th 1990 from the town of Llangollen. This is just ten miles from Corwen. No evidence has been produced to connect the cases of Peggy Goodman and Trevaline Evans. 

Peggy’s case is also sometimes mentioned alongside the 1984 murder of 78 year old Hilda Murrel in Shropshire, England. This is just across the border from North Wales. Like Peggy, Hilda was a staunch activist and  involved in the nuclear disarmament movement. 37-year-old Andrew George was convicted of Hilda's murder through DNA evidence in 2005. He was just 16 at the time of the murder. However, there are many unanswered questions about the case and theories suggesting British Intelligence involvement. For more details on this case there is the S4C documentary Pwy laddodd Hilda Murrell? (Who Killed Hilda Murrell?) (english subtitles are available), and the book “A Thorn in their Side: The Hilda Murrel Murder”, written by Hilda's nephew Robert Green who himself worked for naval intelligence. Again no evidence has come to light that connects Peggy Goodman to Hilda Murrell's murder. 

Peggy Goodman has been missing since December 1982. She was 81 at the time so she would now be deceased but if you have any information on her case you can always contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or the charity Missing People, also anonymously on 116 000.