New details revealed of Anglesey crossbow killing

Evidence was withheld in two criminal trials involving Anglesey crossbow murder victim Gerald Corrigan, a new book has revealed.

In a highly unusual move, court orders prevented defence lawyers and juries in both trials from seeing some evidence –  which still remains secret.

The book “Murder on Ynys Môn”, by journalist Siôn Tecwyn and Meic Parry, producer of the acclaimed “Crossbow Killer” podcast, takes an in-depth look at a case which still has many unanswered questions.

Mr Corrigan, who was 74 years old, died three weeks after being shot with a crossbow outside his remote home near Holyhead in the early hours of Good Friday 2019.

Terry Whall was later found guilty of his murder and jailed for 31 years.

The motive remains unknown. But speculation continues that Whall was hired as a ‘hitman’ to carry out the murder on behalf of somebody else.

Only now has it been revealed that some evidence was kept secret in two separate trials.

Fraud trial

The defence teams and juries were not allowed to see all the material gathered in the trial of Whall, and a subsequent fraud trial, in which another man, Richard Wyn Lewis, eventually pleaded guilty to defrauding Mr Corrigan and his partner out of more than £200,000 over a two year period before the shooting.

Lewis was given a six-year jail sentence for the fraud. There is no evidence of any connection between the fraud and the murder.

Legal documents obtained by the authors show that the prosecution and the Court of Appeal blocked efforts by Richard Wyn Lewis’ defence team in the fraud case to see material which they said would show Lewis had been a police informant, who had provided intelligence about major criminals involved in drug distribution in Wales and Ireland. Two men named in the documents were given lengthy prison sentences.

North Wales Police have refused to comment on claims that Lewis, who was initially arrested on suspicion of being involved in the murder but released without charge, had been a police informant.

Richard Wyn Lewis, who has been released from prison on licence after his fraud conviction, also declined to comment. But he has told friends that he believes his life is in danger, and that the police have “hung him out to dry” after using him as an informant.

‘Good friends’

He has always denied any involvement in the murder, saying he and Gerald Corrigan were “good friends”.

The nature of the material that was kept secret in the murder trial remains a mystery.

The prosecution obtained a Public Interest Immunity Order to prevent some evidence being made available to Terry Whall’s defence team.

The Crown Prosecution Service’s own guidelines on such orders say they should be “rare”, only applied for “in exceptional circumstances”, and only if it is “in the public interest.”

“There’s no reason to believe that this led to a miscarriage of justice,” say the authors. “Everything points to Terry Whall being the killer. But we don’t know why he did it, and this secrecy raises more questions, in a story which already has many unanswered questions.”

The Crown Prosecution Service refused to comment on either case.

Scared

The book also reveals that a friend of Gerald Corrigan from Anglesey left the UK shortly after the murder because he too feared for his safety.

“Some people are still too scared – even now -to talk about what happened,” say the authors.

“There is of course one man who knows the truth, and that’s Terry Whall. In a matter of minutes, he could lessen some of the agony for Gerald Corrigan’s family and friends by explaining why he committed such a brutal murder. But so far he has refused to do so.”

The book recounts the investigation and trials in detail, featuring accounts from Mr. Corrigan’s daughter and friends, and people who knew Terry Whall.

Murder on Ynys Môn is published by Seren Books and can be purchased here.