‘Please don’t release dangerous killer who brutally murdered my grandmother’

Martin Shipton

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A woman who has suffered severe trauma for nearly 40 years since finding the body of her murdered grandmother at the age of 12 has written a moving victim impact report in the hope of stopping the killer from being released from prison for the second time.

In December 1985 Sharon Owens called to see her much-loved gran Glenys Owens, 67, at her home in Merthyr Tydfil, but found her dead, wearing only a pair of tights and pants. During a ferocious attack, Mrs Owens’ upper and lower jaw, her eye sockets and the base and left side of her skull had been shattered.

At first it was thought a hatchet had been used to kill her, but it emerged that she had in fact been stamped to death by Donald Sheridan, a 21 year-old friend of her grandson who had a fetish for much older women.

He also resented the fact that Mrs Owens didn’t approve of his friendship with her son. During a police interview, Sheridan said he had gone into Mrs Owens’ house and punched her in the face when trying to get her out of a chair. He threw her on the floor and then hauled her up the stairs with his hands around her throat.

Upstairs he headbutted her, pulled her clothes off and sexually assaulted her.

Jailed for life

Sheridan pleaded guilty to murder and was jailed for life at Cardiff Crown Court, although the judge made no recommendation about the minimum sentence he should serve.

He was released in 2019 after the Parole Board decided he posed no danger and moved to Leeds. Around a month later he committed another serious attack on a woman.

Sheridan had been drinking rum in the probation hostel where he was living, in defiance of an alcohol ban. He took a “considerable amount of money” to meet a female sex worker in the city’s managed sex zone. The sex worker made a phone call while they were behind a skip in a commercial yard and they began to physically fight before some men turned up and stole his money.

Following the incident, Sheridan made his way under a disused railway bridge and sat in some bushes. He grabbed a random woman around the neck as she walked past on her way home from the gym and pulled her backwards into the bushes.

He told the victim to lie down, started strangling her, then asked her for money.

She gave him £10, offered to transfer him more money, told him she had two young children at home and begged him not to kill her.

Sheridan told the victim he would not kill her and then continued strangling her while telling her to be quiet. He asked the victim to kiss him and perform oral sex on him, but she refused. He then took out two pairs of female women’s tights and made the victim put them on.

Sheridan let the woman go when a dog walker came near the bush but made her take the tights off first and asked her not to tell anyone.

DNA

Leeds Crown Court heard the victim, who believed she was going to die during the attack, ran away. Police later found tights covered in Sheridan’s DNA at the scene.

In a police interview Sheridan claimed he had only dragged the victim into the bush because he had just been robbed and said: “Well she’s not my type really, do you know what I mean?”

He then admitted that he had had a fetish for women in their sixties and seventies ever since he had seen a naked nun when he was in care as a child. He said he stole the nun’s tights, wore them to bed and had carried women’s tights around with him ever since, adding: “It’s a comfort blanket for me.”

But Sheridan said making the victim wear the tights did not “do it” for him as he intended. Asked what would have happened if the woman had been older and the tights had “done it for him”, he replied: “Might have raped her, might have killed her, I don’t know.”

Sheridan told police he still experienced urges to rape and murder women, especially to strangle them, and he had recently felt the urge to strangle an older sex worker after using her services.

After he made his first court appearance in relation to the Leeds offences the following day, he attacked a dock officer as soon as she took off his handcuffs in his cell. He lunged at her and began to strangle her before another prison officer pulled him off. Sheridan later told police he could have kept strangling the dock officer until she died.

Sheridan pleaded guilty to robbery, false imprisonment, committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He was sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment and life imprisonment with a minimum term of five-and-a-half years.

From early 2025 Sheridan will be eligible for parole again, but Sharon Owens is determined that he should not be released.

In her victim statement to the Parole Board, shared exclusively with Nation.Cymru, she states: “Many years have passed since my grandmother, Glenys Owens, was brutally taken from us. Her death, a horrific murder, forever altered the course of my life. At just 12 years old, I was thrust into a world without the love and security she provided, and the consequences have remained throughout my life.

“After my father’s passing when I was only nine, my grandmother became my entire world – my caregiver, my mother figure, my sanctuary. In a dysfunctional home riddled with chaos, her small house was a haven filled with warmth.

“She taught me life skills: how to be independent, how to manage money, and, most importantly, how to love and care for others. Despite her not having much, she showered my brother, Jonathan, and me with unconditional affection. We shared meals, laughter, and the kind of bonding that I desperately craved amidst the turmoil at home. She instilled in me the values of honesty and kindness, guiding principles that I’ve clung to ever since her life was so cruelly cut short.”

Delivering newspapers

Writing of the day she found her grandmother’s body, Sharon writes: “During the time I was delivering newspapers for the local shop, at 5pm on Friday December 13, I turned up at my grandmother’s, just to reassure her of what time I would be home, once I had delivered the papers. I arrived at my grandmother’s front door. The door was open ajar and I entered. I walked into the hallway and turned left into the living room. In the living room, Donald Sheridan was sitting on the edge of the sofa on his own, Donald did not say anything to me and I recall him looking at me. At the time I didn’t think it was out of the ordinary for him to be in my grandmother’s, as he was my brother Jonathan’s friend at the time, I thought he was there for Jonathan.

“My grandmother was still alive at this time, she was standing in the kitchen door and I told her that once I had finished delivering the papers I would be back home. My grandmother appeared normal in herself. I left out the front door – the door at the time was still open ajar. I did my paper round and returned home to my grandmother’s at approximately 9pm. My grandmother used to leave a key on a string behind the door; you could put your hand through the letter box and retrieve the key to open it.

“I recall the living room and upstairs landing light being on, and there was no answer, therefore I put my hand through the letter box and there was no key. I then walked up to my grandmother’s sister’s home in Cherry Grove, which was approximately a 10-minute walk, to see if she was there. However there was no answer there either. I returned to my grandmother’s home address, looked through the letter box, but I could not see anything.

“I shouted for my grandmother but I received no reply. I then knocked on my grandmother’s neighbours, namely Jean’s, house and asked if I could jump over the garden fence to get in. She allowed me and I climbed over the fence. Once I got into the garden, I felt really frightened all of a sudden. I asked Jean if she could follow behind me, which she did. I went to the back door; the door was unlocked and I opened the back door and looked around the kitchen door and my grandmother was laying semi-naked in front of the fire.

“My grandmother only had her tights on. I remember screaming and I was hysterical. I was very frightened of what I saw of my grandmother and Jean took me back into her house, rang the police and the doctor, as I was in shock, to check me over. Seven years previous I had open heart surgery therefore there was a worry for my heart if I was going to have a heart attack.

“I can recall the police arriving, and the doctor with the police taking me down to the police station. My mother had been out socialising that night and the police had found her in one of the pubs and brought her to the police station. The police took my fingerprints, and they asked me various questions in which I was co-operative about the murder of my grandmother.

“The events that unfolded led to my brother Jonathan being arrested as he was Donald’s friend; however, he was released with no further action. Jonathan has never been able to be emotionally or mentally stable since the event.

“I believe it’s important that I recall the events in this statement as what I witnessed affects me in my life every day.

“The night of my grandmother’s murder is seared into my memory. My mother arrived at the police station and did not show me any affection, she didn’t cuddle me or even tell me everything was going to be all right. I felt as though my mother was emotionally inept and she has never been affectionate to this day. I knew at that point I had nobody to look out for me; my father passed away beforehand and now my grandmother was murdered. The only person who should have looked after me should have been my mother, but she never did or I never saw it.

“Within the home I struggled with some of my brothers; within the house my brother Simon was aggressive towards me; my mother never intervened – this would have never happened around my grandmother.

“I totally resented my mother. My other brother Mark took on the role of father; however he used to threaten us all with violence as a child, I would often lock myself in the bathroom for hours and hours on end as I would be petrified. I would have never had to go through with this if my grandmother was not murdered. During this time, I should have been grieving; instead I was full of resentment and anger.

“Throughout my life within the home, my mother would go out and I would be home alone. When I was on my own, I wished social services would turn up; one day I packed my bag and I wanted to go to the children’s care home. At the time I was only 14 years of age but I didn’t know if I could turn up or not. No child should ever have to think like this. “Looking back at this now, I have a huge amount of anger with the world. I was left with nobody other than a dysfunctional family; this has taken a huge emotional toll on me as I often cry and be upset when looking back. I often think how I have been broken mentally since the death of my grandmother, which was heightened by moving back in with my mother and my brothers and sister. I tried to keep myself out of the house as much as I could, I went horse riding, went to the gym and used to ride my bike everywhere. I tried everything to look after myself mentally and emotionally.”

Unravelled

In terms of her schooling, Sharon writes: “Initially, I excelled academically, but after my grandmother’s death, I unravelled. After the murder of my grandmother, I was very disruptive. I could no longer concentrate in school and due to lack of this I would want to play jokes on people. I would end up disrupting the class.

“The stability she provided vanished, and in its place I became the ‘class clown’. I now understand that I would seek attention from my peers as I no longer had the care and attention from my grandmother, and this severely impacted my development as a child. Throughout my school life, I didn’t pass any of my school exams, I truanted, and I left school at the age of 15 with nothing to take away with me.”

She goes on to state that the biggest impact on her has been lingering flashbacks to the murder scene: “From witnessing the dead body of my grandmother, I have had flashbacks all through my life. I have dreamt that I have been in the living room with my grandmother looking at her lifeless body, walking through the home looking through the ornaments in the glass cabinet she had and on the fireplace.

“These dreams and flashbacks are extremely vivid whereby nothing triggers them. I could be walking my dog, washing the dishes, shopping at Tesco’s and specifically looking at Breakaways [chocolate biscuits], as she would often buy these for me. I have also had extremely vivid dreams where she is at the gates of heaven and even calling me. These memories ambush me at the most unexpected moments, dragging me back into the darkness of that trauma.”

Google

Thinking back to an incident in 2021, Sharon states: “I was travelling with my partner’s sister at the time and I could recall her asking me about my grandmother’s murder. She asked specifically if I had ever Googled the offender. At the time no one had ever contacted me about him, not the Parole Board or the police about Donald, regarding his sentencing for how long he was in prison for, when he was going to be released or not even any form of victim care for myself: it had been 36 years. This spurred me to check about him on Google.

“I located an article from Leeds regarding Donald which outlined that he had lied to the Parole Board to get released from prison, and on his release, he attacked a mother and strangled her in a bush. When I found this out, I felt sick to my stomach. The thought that Donald was out in the public again brought back extreme worry, and that he could possibly come and look for me due to knowing that I was Jonathan’s sister and the main witness in the case, as I was the last person to see my grandmother alive.

“When I found out about this article, all my feelings came flooding back after having to mask them all for years and years. I instantly began feeling devastated that I hadn’t been told of his release, whether he was going to be released back to the area where he committed the murder, where my family still resided, and most importantly the new offence he committed in Leeds was only a short distance from where I was living.

“Since the incident I have mentioned my flashbacks. It’s taken me from the age of 12 to the age of 50 to realise the extensive impacts to my mental health. I masked a lot of my mental impacts over the years, and I tried to have a coping mechanism and attempted to delay counselling. I tried going for walks, cleaning or even just going out and doing something to occupy my mind. As the years went on I contacted my local liaison officer due to my worries about Donald from the article I read in 2021.

“From my contact with the liaison officer, I was referred to a counsellor for eight weeks whereby I was emotionally and mentally drained due to having to recall all the events. I was eventually diagnosed with PTSD. I also suffer when I’m home alone. I tend to lock my door every time and on my days off I stay at home as I feel like I’m at risk being out in public and coming across Donald: this has been heightened since 2021.

“As previously mentioned, I suffered as a child within my family home which has caused me significant mental and emotional trauma. In social events when speaking with people, I could be in a situation whereby I could have a flashback all of a sudden, in which I would be enraged at how I could not help my grandmother; how the event took place knowing I should have been there; how I wasn’t there to help her; and how she was murdered. I often blame myself and feel guilty about not being there. I then tend to be angry with myself and this would be projected onto other people. This has affected some relationships with people throughout my life, for instance my ex-husband. It affects me as a person as I am not an angry person; rather the event has made me feel angry and I was not brought up by my grandmother to have aggression.

“As the events unfold regarding Donald – that he is due for parole in 2025 – I feel that he would always be a risk to women, my family and a risk to me, as I believe I was the key factor in putting him away to prison those many years ago.

“From my own research, Donald has not been rehabilitated due to the events that unfolded in 2019. I don’t believe that he would ever be able to be safe enough with the public to be released.

“I have to deal with the trauma of my grandmother’s murder when I was 12 years of age, and the impact of the violence has remained with me throughout my years. My grandmother taught me love and kindness, and Donald’s actions on the night of Friday December 13 took this away from me.”