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Nino Williams

Clydach murders: David Morris family's anger as police won't say if they will release full independent forensic review of evidence

The family of the man twice convicted of the Clydach murders say police have still not made available the full review of evidence they hope might clear his name - and the force has declined to comment on whether it will do so.

South Wales Police last year carried out a review of some evidence in the case against David 'Dai' Morris, who was jailed for life for the killings of three generations of the same family in 1999.

Mandy Power, her daughters Katie, 10, and Emily, 8, and her mother Doris Dawson were brutally killed in their home in Kelvin Road, Clydach, in the Swansea Valley, which was later set alight by the killer in a bid to hide their tracks.

READ MORE: 'For many it is unresolved, there are still questions': The Sky Clydach murders documentary maker on a valley town divided

Her family have always maintained the right man was convicted of the killings. But Morris' family have been behind a long-running campaign to clear his name, and continue to do so despite him dying behind bars last August.

Last year South Wales Police announced an independent review - to be carried out by an outside police force - would look at potential new evidence. It followed a BBC documentary aired in October 2020, which raised questions over potential forensic evidence.

Mandy Power, her daughters Katie and Emily, and mother Doris (PA)

The investigation, Operation Dolomite, included analysis of a sock believed to have been used by the killer, which the review concluded supported the existing evidence against Morris. It led to a link between Morris and the sock, according to South Wales Police, although it added, “the science cannot determine how or when this profile was transferred onto the exhibit”.

South Wales Police said nothing in the review, which was shared with the Criminal Cases Review Commission and the Crown Prosecution Service, established any information that undermined the conviction of Morris. It said the scientific link to the sock was in addition to evidence presented at two crown court trials which both resulted in convictions, and which included phone records, a gold chain of Morris's found at the murder scene, Morris's purchase of a replacement chain, and his lying in interview. They added that the findings addressed the questions the Morris campaign had repeatedly raised over the significance of the sock used during the murder.

The force also said it had put much of the Operation Dolomite findings in the public domain.

But the family have said their legal team are still waiting to see the full findings of the review.

David Morris's sister Debra said: "We are never going to stop our campaign. Why are they not handing over the full review? What are they hiding? Let us see what is in the report".

A current Sky Crime documentary series, Murder in the Valleys, examines the killings which rocked the community.

It's producer Owen Phillips said: "South Wales Police have decided not to release the [Operation Dolomite] report and say it has been handed to Criminal Case Review Commission, who have also not released it to the public. For the family of David Morris, they think how can we trust this? By not releasing it opens up a new chapter, there is a shadow over it all".

And Maslen Merchant, of the Morris legal team, added: "Tell us what the full scientific conclusions are, provide copies of the reports and if they show there is no doubt that David Morris is guilty, as South Wales Police claim, it will put this to bed finally.

"The Murder in the Valleys series highlights the pain the Morris family has endured for the past twenty years, and that is nowhere near what the Power family has gone through.

"South Wales Police now have a single opportunity to put this to rest once and for all, and to say here is the evidence; no equivocation, no ifs or buts, nothing to be left to interpretation. So show us the report [Op Dolomite] and its conclusions and South Wales Police can say, 'this is what the scientists have told us'.

"They have not done this and as long as they refuse there will always be a question mark".

David Morris died behind bars last year (MEDIA WALES)

Geraint Evans, spokesman for the Free Dai Morris campaign, added: "We can't understand why South Wales Police will not make the full review of Operation Dolomite available to the family and their legal team. What reason do they have to withhold it?

"If they believe it supports the case against Dai Morris, then why won't they show its full findings? It makes it look as though there is something to hide. If they believe it brings closure to the investigation, what possible good does it do keeping the findings out of the public domain?"

A spokesman for the Criminal Cases Review Commission said: "The CCRC is not currently reviewing Mr Morris’s conviction. The CCRC’s most recent review of this case concluded in 2018. The CCRC is aware of the findings of Operation Dolomite, which were provided by South Wales Police last year".

It added that any decision to release the full Operation Dolomite review would be one for South Wales Police.

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South Wales Police has declined to comment on whether the full Operation Dolomite review would be made available to the Morris family and their legal team.

However, ACC Dave Thorne, of South Wales Police, said: “South Wales Police has shown a commitment to providing evidence-based answers to the issues which have been raised about this case over many years.

“This commitment resulted in a forensic link between the convicted killer David Morris and an item of great significance which was recovered from the murder scene. South Wales Police commissioned a review in the hope that we could in some way provide closure for those most affected by the murders. In particular, those who lost three generations of the same family and have had to revisit those painful memories time and time again over the last two decades.

“The findings from Operation Dolomite have been shared with the Criminal Cases Review Commission to complete the due process and demonstrate transparency. However, in the knowledge of the conclusions drawn from this review, South Wales Police would like to show respect to the family and those affected by these terrible crimes by finalising this case.

“Our thoughts as ever remain with the family of Mandy Power, her children Katie, aged 10, and Emily, eight, and her 80-year-old mother Doris, who still experience such painful memories even to this day.”

In a statement supplied to the Murder in the Valleys documentary series, the Power family added: "Our families have suffered a huge loss in our lives. Katie and Emily would be young women now, possibly with families of their own, and Mandy a loving grandmother. We miss seeing our mum's beautiful smile. All this has been cruelly taken from us.

"Following years of enduring innuendos and claims of new evidence we were very pleased that SWP instigated an independent forensic review. The findings further confirm David Morris' guilt, something we have never doubted.

"We still find it hard to believe this has happened to our family, we love them so much. We just hope we can move forward now and let them all finally rest in peace".

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