Age: 52
Sex: male
Date: 7 Oct 1987
Place: 12 Anstee Court, Canton, Cardiff
Phillip Charles Henry Saunders was attacked in his garden on the night of 12 October 1987 and died five days later on 17 October 1987.
Phillip Saunders had run three newspaper kiosks in Cardiff city centre and had had £500 takings from one of them at the time he was attacked.
Three men were convicted of his murder but their convictions were later overturned after it was heard that the confession by one of the men had been false. They had served 11 years each.
Phillip Saunders had owned a kiosk which sold cigarettes, newspapers, and sweets and each day he would visit the kiosk near the bus station and collect the takings. The kiosk had been at 'A' Shelter, Central Bus Station, Wood Street, Cardiff.
After collecting the takings and shutting up the kiosk at about 9.30pm on 12 October 1987 he went to the Albert pub in St Mary Street for something to drink and later left at about 11pm.
He then drove to his home in Anstee Court home, Canton and parked his car, but as he was walking up his garden path to his house he was attacked by a man with a shovel and his £500 was taken.
A neighbour said that they heard him fall and called the police at 11.19pm.
When an ambulance arrived he was found to be severely injured and died five days later when his life-support machine was turned off.
His post mortem examination showed that he had received five blows to the head that had caused his skull to shatter.
The police said that they thought that the attack had been an attempted robbery gone wrong and that his assailant had only meant to stun Phillip Saunders and take the money.
The initial investigation was slow, with 42 suspects being questioned, but little progress was made until they brought in the three men that were later convicted for the murder. They were:
It was heard that they had been out on the night in question.
They were initially bailed on 2 November 1987 and then arrested and charged on 9 November 1987 after the 18-year-old Man confessed that he had been a look out for the other two men whilst they robbed Phillip Saunders.
However, it was later noted that the police had doubts over his confession from the start with his story changing and it being submitted that he had suffered from an anti-social personality disorder that meant he was prone to exaggeration.
Other evidence was heard from a police officer that had overheard Man B and Man C talking in a cell, and said that he heard Man B say to Man C:
The trial opened on 27 June 1988 and the three men were convicted of murder three weeks later.
However, there were suspicions over the convictions and the three men became known as The Cardiff Newsagent Three and continued pressure led the Thames Valley Police to carry out a review of the police inquiry which found that there had been more than 100 breaches of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act.
This led to an appeal in 1999 resulting in their convictions being quashed.
Newspaper Salesman
The newspaper salesman that had worked for Phillip Saunders, said that he had worked for him for about four years and that before that he had worked for the previous owner for three years.
He said that his main duties at the kiosk were to open up around 5am, for which he normally arrived at 4.30am in order to sort out the newspapers and prepare them for sale. He said that he then normally worked until 7am when the morning staff would come and relieve him, the morning staff being two women and that when they arrived he normally went home.
He said that during the two hours that he worked at the kiosk that they would have a good flow of customers and that he would generally take £100 plus whilst he was there. He said that the money taken was normally put in the till but that there was normally only one £5 note in the till at one time and that any other notes would be put into 'traps' that they had fitted to the right of the till. He added that by 'trap', he meant a security draw they had with a hole in which any notes that were taken, apart from the one £5 note, were dropped into. He added that the draw to the trap was locked and could not be opened without a key and that as far as he was aware that Phillip Saunders was the only one with a key.
He added that he had been a key holder for the kiosk since he had worked for Phillip Saunders, and that he had them in case he was required outside business hours at the kiosk, in case of a burglary.
He said that over the period that he had known Phillip Saunders that he would describe himself as more of an acquaintance than a friend and didn't normally see him on a regular basis, only seeing him when he had to.
He said that he knew that he normally worked at the kiosk in Wood Street at around 9pm to 9.30pm, to relieve the evening staff and that he would keep the kiosk open until 10pm when he would then lock up. He said that that was a regular occurrence, but that he would not leave the kiosk until about 10.30pm after he had finished counting the days takings and prepared the stock for his turn in the morning.
He said that as far as he knew that Phillip Saunders took the days takings home with him, but noted that he had known him to sometimes go to the Albert public house in St Mary's Street in Cardiff after locking up and before going home, for a quick drink.
He noted that Phillip Saunders had had a white Dihatsu van, which was a B registration, which he used to get to and from work but that he also owned a metallic gold Jaguar, a sports type like the XJS, but that he rarely used that for work.
The newspaper salesman said that he thought that Phillip Saunders had a warehouse at the back of the House of Holland in Tudor Street, down the lane to the side of the House of Holland and that he sold fancy goods from there.
He added that he was also aware that he had had a girlfriend in the Barry area who he normally visited on a Friday evening. He noted however, that he did know her telephone number.
He noted that about three weeks before the murder that Phillip Saunders telephoned him to say that he had been broken into. He said that he rang about 11.30pm and asked if he would work in the morning and that he agreed.
He noted that apart from Phillip Saunders working last thing at night that he regularly called at the kiosk during the day to deliver stock etc.
He said that as far as he knew he was not a man that went out drinking a lot and that normally he kept details of his business to himself.
He added that as an estimate that in any one day the kiosk would take at least £1,000 as it would normally remain busy at the kiosk throughout the day.
He also said that Phillip Saunders had not told him about having fallen out with anyone in particular and that as far as he knew he had no enemies and described him as a shrewd businessman but a very decent chap.
He added that on the times that he had seen Phillip Saunders in work that he would describe his dress as casual trousers, normally a check shirt and a jumper and that as far as he could remember he had not seen him wear any jacket to work and was not aware of any particular jacket that he owned.
Sometime after giving his initial statement the newspaper salesman added some other details. He noted that he normally started work around 4.30am each morning but that they would take it in turns to work the kiosk, doing it alternate weeks, him working Monday to Friday one week and Phillip Saunders working Monday to Friday the following week.
He said that the week commencing Monday 12 October 1987 was his turn to work.
He said that he went into work as normal on Tuesday 13 October 1987 and it was only when he was stopped by a security guard working for the Western Mail in Wood street that he learnt that Phillip Saunders had been attacked, that being the first he had heard of it.
He said that normally when he opened up that Phillip Saunders would have left a small float in the till that amounted to between £2 and £3 which was mainly made up of small change, usually copper and silver coinage, which he said was the case on the Tuesday morning, with nothing appearing different. He reiterated that Phillip Saunders had been the only person, so far as he knew, who had a key to the security trap and that he would have entered that the previous night and that if it had not been emptied then he would have been able to tell as it would have soon filled up and would be difficult to feed the money in.
He noted that in the time that he was there in the morning that he would usually take about £100, from which money, all the notes would go into the trap, but that it was sometimes hard to say how much he would put in as sometimes he would take a lot of notes and other times he would have a lot of coins, which he would leave in the till. He said that he could not be sure, but that he could only presume that Phillip Saunders would collect that money during the day and take it with him because, as he said, there was only ever a small float left in the till when he started work.
Barman
A barman at the Albert public house in St Mary's Street, Cardiff, where he had worked for the previous six years, said that over the previous five years he had come to know Phillip Saunders as he regularly came into the bar about fifteen minutes prior to last orders being called during their evening hours, that generally being about 10.50pm. He said that he would normally buy two pints of Brains SA Strong Bitter, buying them one at a time and that when he had finished them he normally left, that being about 11.05pm.
He said that ordinarily his shifts were at the time Monday and Saturday evenings, although if a member of staff was ill then he might be called in to fill in for them.
He noted that being a Monday it was normally quite quiet in the bar area.
He said that at 10.45pm or just after on the Monday evening, 12 October 1987, Phillip Saunders came into the bar and was served his usual pint of Brains SA Strong Bitter by a barmaid there, another member of staff. He said that he then stood by the bar drinking his pint, as far as he could recall, not talking to anyone. However, he said that a few minutes later he left the bar and went over to the far side of the bar where he had a conversation with another man who he described as another regular in the bar and about the same age as Phillip Saunders, noting that there was nothing unusual about the conversation and that it only lasted for about 3 minutes.
He said that Phillip Saunders then returned to the bar and was served his second pint of beer by the barmaid, but didn't notice whether he spoke to anyone else after that and said that as far as he was aware he remained in the bar alone, drank his pint and then left, which would have been about 11.05pm and the last time he saw him.
He said that as far as he could recall that there were only about 18 customers in the bar when Phillip Saunders was there and that as far as he remembered the majority of them were regular customers. He noted that as far as he recalled that no one left with Phillip Saunders or followed immediately behind him.
He said that Phillip Saunders had been wearing grey casual trousers, a grey jumper with a pattern of white vertical lines on the front with two large triangles and that as far as he could recall he had not had a jacket and was not carrying anything.
The barman noted that when Phillip Saunders usually came into the bar that he would normally only speak to two photographers with the South Wales Echo and that as far as he could recall, there was no one else that he would particularly speak to. However, he further noted that the two photographers had not been in that night and the last time he saw them was about two weeks earlier.
He said that when Phillip Saunders came into the bar that he would only talk in general terms, like about the weather, and didn't mention his business.
He said that as far as he knew, Phillip Saunders had been well-liked in the bar and that in all the years he had known him he had never argued with anyone in the bar or had any disagreement.
Taxi Driver
A taxi driver that had worked in Cardiff for the previous 7 or 8 years, said that he had driven a black and white Mark 4 Cortina motor car with a taxi sign on the roof rack. He said that he worked most nights of the week but that he sometimes took Sundays and Monday nights off, depending on how much business he had done that week. He said that he usually started about 7pm each evening and operated his taxi business from the rank at Wood street near the kiosk at the Central Bus Station.
He said that due to the fact that he was regularly parked at Wood Street each evening that he knew the man that owned the kiosk there, but although he spoke to him often, he didn't know his name until the publicity surrounding his murder on the night of Monday 12 October 1987.
He said that he only knew Phillip Saunders to talk to as a customer at his kiosk and had no knowledge of his social or private life, or even where he lived. He said that he knew that he finished work at night and would go to the Albert public house but didn't know any of his friends and never saw him driving off at night from the kiosk with anybody, noting that in fact he had never seen him in company with anyone else.
He said that he was aware that male homosexuals frequented the toilets at Wood Street, and that alcoholics also frequented the area, but had never seen Phillip Saunders with any of those people.
He said that on Monday night, 12 October 1987 that he went to the rank at Wood Street at about 7pm and that as business was quiet he spent a lot of time there, although he didn't visit his kiosk that night. He said that he did notice his white van parked in Wood Street, but didn't see him until about 11.20pm, noting that he thought that it had been about that time as he was about to go to the railway station as a train from London was due to arrive at 11.20pm. He said that he was sat in his taxi which was parked in Wood Street on the southern side, at the taxi rank and facing towards the Empire Pool and a couple of yards away from the entrance from Wood Street to the kiosk.
He said that he then saw Phillip Saunders walk from the direction of his kiosk into Wood Street accompanied by three young men. He said that two of them continued walking and crossed to the other side of Wood Street and that he didn't pay any further attention to them, but that he saw the third young man stop with Phillip Saunders by his van and heard Phillip Saunders say to him:
He said that Phillip Saunders then got into his van and the youth walked across Wood street and rejoined the two other men.
He said that at that time Phillip Saunders appeared a bit angry.
He described the young man that spoke to Phillip Saunders as:
He said that he had not seen him before, noting that he was familiar with most people that hung around the area. He noted that he couldn't describe the other men.
He said that after that Phillip Saunders drove off in his van towards Riverside and that he followed him shortly after but turned left soon after towards the railway station.
He noted that he didn't pay any attention to the direction that Phillip Saunders went and nor did he look across Wood Street to where the three young men were.
He said that when he got to the railway station that he collected a fare that took him to Beddau.
Neighbour At 13 Anstee Court, Leckwith
A manageress that lived at 13 Anstee Court next door to 12 Anstee Court where Phillip Saunders lived said that on 12 October 1987 that she had remained at home all day as it was her day off. She said that she was aware that Phillip Saunders was out at work most of the day and that subsequently she didn't see him during the day. She said her boyfriend came home about 7pm and they spent the entire evening at home watching TV etc.
She said that she was the first to go to bed, which was at approximately 10.30pm and that their bedroom was at the rear of their house and the window opened onto both their rear garden and Phillip Saunders's rear garden.
She said that she went to sleep at about 11pm and was awakened after a short time by voices coming from outside in the area of the rear garden, and that she recognised one of them as that of Phillip Saunders, noting that it was louder than that of normal conversation, as well as the voice of another male. However, she said that she was unable to say if there was a third voice, but said that she did remember that the voices were getting louder as she was listening.
She said that whilst listening to the voices that she also heard a click and rattle, which she recognised as that of the rear gate of the link houses as all the houses had similar gates and locks.
She said that as the voices got louder the next thing she was aware of was a loud bang and clatter which she said she would describe as a dull thud and a metallic clatter. She noted that at first she thought that it was shelves in their house falling from the wall.
She said that the first thing she then did was to look out of her window into the gardens, noting that she was short sighted and wasn't wearing her glasses and that when she looked into Phillip Saunders's garden that she saw a male person standing outside his rear glass door. She said that the man looked directly up at her, and she assumed that it had been Phillip Saunders, but had been unable to distinguish if it was and unable to see whether he had been holding anything.
However, she said that at that time she then moved away from the window as she had had no clothes on.
She said that she then went into the bathroom where her boyfriend was and said:
She said that she said that because she felt it was strange that the male person had stopped what he was doing and looked up at her and that it appeared to her that he had been trying to enter the house via the back door. She added that at that time she was aware that Phillip Saunders's rear gate was open and could see Phillip Saunders's white van parked in its normal position in the rear courtyard. She noted that she could see his van from her position in the bedroom over the garden fence, and not through the open gateway of Phillip Saunders's garden.
She said that she thought that her boyfriend then went to their bedroom window to look out and then went downstairs to the living room and that as he was doing that that he returned to the bedroom window and saw a male person stumbling along Phillip Saunders's garden path towards his open rear gate, noting that she thought that it was the same person that had looked up at her.
She said that when she saw the man stumble along the garden path that she saw that he had dark curly hair, and a lot of it, and that he had been wearing a dark blouson type jacket and dark trousers, noting that that was not a description of Phillip Saunders. She said that the man had been white skinned, of a similar height to Phillip Saunders and of slight build.
She said that at that time she said to her boyfriend, who was halfway down the stairs:
She noted that the person didn't cross the courtyard at the rear of the house, as she would have seen him, but noted that there was a dark lane leading to Atlas Road some 30 yards or so to the left of the rear of her house.
She said that her boyfriend then returned to the bedroom and opened the window fully and looked out and told her that he could see a body lying on the floor in Phillip Saunders's garden, near to his back door.
She said that he then went downstairs and that it was only at that time that she put on her glasses and leant out of the window herself to see and that she then also saw a body lying on the ground where her boyfriend said, but that she also saw the figure of a man standing over him. She said that the sight shook her at first, but that she soon after learnt that the man was another resident of Anstee Court and that he had been wearing a dressing gown. She said that the person then shouted at her to put on a light and that she then put her bedroom light on and that her boyfriend then went out into the garden and she followed downstairs.
She said that it was then obvious that more light was needed and that she got an extension lead and attached it to a table lamp from their living room and took it outside.
She said then that it was under that light that she saw that the body on the floor was that of Phillip Saunders and that there was a lot of blood around his body.
She said that neighbours then assisted in covering Phillip Saunders up and an ambulance and the police arrived soon after.
However, after making her first statement, she said that upon reflection that she could definitely say that the man had been white, that she didn't think that he had curly hair, only that he had a reasonable amount of hair. She added that she was still certain that his top clothing had been of a blouson type, but that she could not say whether it had been a jacket. She added also that she could not be sure of his height or build, because of the manner in which he went to the gate.
She also noted that it had been very dark and the weather had been wet at the time.
Phillip Saunders was then taken by ambulance to the hospital.
Police Inspector 1825
A police inspector said that he heard a radio message at 11.20pm and shortly after left Canton Police Station for Anstee Court. He said that he drove to the car park at the rear of Anstee Court and met some other officer and then went into the rear garden of 12 Anstee Court where he saw the body of Phillip Saunders lying on his back on the floor near the back door to his house.
He said that he noticed that he had severe injuries to his head and was bleeding profusely and lying in a pool of blood that was coming from his head.
He said that Phillip Saunders was being treated by two ambulance men and a neighbour and that one of the ambulance men told him that his injuries appeared to be serious and that he thought that he had been hit by something sharp, like an axe.
The police inspector said that he then used his torch and searched the back garden and saw that there were a bunch of keys in the lock of the back door and a bottle of whisky on the floor stood up near the door.
He said that he noticed then that there was no blood on the floor leading to the body on the approach from the back gate.
He then saw a shovel near the fence separating the garden of no 11 from no 12 and that on closer inspection saw what appeared to be skin or bone on it on the right hand edge of the blade of the shovel and that there also appeared to be traces of blood.
He said that Phillip Saunders was then placed in a stretcher and that when he was taken to the ambulance that the manoeuvre resulted in a trail of blood from where he had been lying, out through the back gate.
Hospital
When Phillip Saunders arrived at the hospital at 12.01am on 13 October 1987, he was taken to the crash room which was set aside for serious injuries and emergency treatment at which point his upper body clothing was cut off, but remained under his body, and his trousers removed. At about 1.15am, prior to his arrival at the University Hospital of Wales, his trousers were checked and in the pockets, was found £21.90 in coins, made up of 20 £1 coins, 2 50p coins and 90p in loose change.
When Phillip Saunders was taken to University Hospital Wales at Cardiff he was taken to the operating theatre where he was operated on. He was then put on a life support machine. However, on 16 and 17 October 1987 brain scans in depth were carried out, but all tests proved negative and at approximately 11.45am on 17 October 1987, following discussions with Phillip Saunders's brother, his life support machine was discontinued and at approximately 12.45pm the same day his heart stopped and he was certified dead.
His post mortem examination concluded that his cause of death was:
It was further noted that any or all of his injuries could have been caused by the shovel that was found at the scene.
