2 days Ago By [email protected] (David Powell)
It is a chilling case which has haunted the community of Anglesey since 2019. The murder of Gerald Corrigan, killed by a crossbow in the quiet countryside, remains one of Wales’ most perplexing criminal mysteries. In a new two-part documentary called Llofruddiaeth y Bwa Croes (Crossbow Killer), and airing on S4C on January 2 and January 3, viewers are offered an in-depth exploration of the investigation, featuring interviews with journalists, a pathologist and those closest to the victim.
The series revisits the tragic events surrounding Mr Corrigan's death and attempts to answer the one question that has lingered for years: Why was Gerald Corrigan killed? On Good Friday, Easter 2019, Gerald Corrigan was found badly injured outside his remote Anglesey home. He had been struck by a crossbow bolt fired from a distance, an unusual and shocking method of murder that immediately set alarm bells ringing for investigators. Join the North Wales Live Whatsapp community now Mr Corrigan was taken to Ysbyty Gwynedd , Bangor , and was later transferred to the Royal Stoke Hospital, where he died some 22 days later on May 11 that year.
He had developed sepsis and also had kidney problems. What made this tragedy even more unsettling was the lack of any clear motive. Mr Corrigan, a retired photography lecturer, was a man of modest means with no apparent enemies, leading police to speculate that this may have been a random attack.
However, with no evidence to support this theory and no obvious suspects, the case soon spiralled into a mystery that would baffle people for months to come. The first episode of the S4C documentary takes viewers back to the scene of the crime, a remote house with a broken satellite dish and a householder who seemingly lived a peaceful and uneventful life, but ended up murdered in an unusual and barbaric way. Viewers are presented with video footage of the initial efforts to piece together what had happened, but the lack of forensic evidence and witness statements only deepened the mystery.
The painstaking search of the area for clues and interviews with locals show the complexities of a case that should have been straightforward, yet was anything but. Journalists who covered the story provide their perspectives on the case, sharing the confusion and frustration they felt as the investigation progressed with few developments. They detail how the press was gripped by the story, trying to make sense of why a man like Mr Corrigan would be targeted in such a violent and impersonal way.
With few leads, the case quickly became the subject of speculation, and the media, much like the police, struggled to find an explanation for the senseless murder. In the second episode, the documentary delves deeper into the case, exploring various theories and a complicated web of deceit, criminality and drugs - all within close proximity to Gerald Corrigan’s home. A sport therapist called Terence Whall, who lived in Bryngwran not far from Mr Corrigan’s home, was eventually charged with his murder, convicted and sentenced for a minimum 31 years at Mold Crown Court in February 2020.
The documentary uncovers how Whall was arrested and charged with the murder. Detectives had spoken to Whall before he became a suspect as he was one of 17 people on Anglesey to have bought a crossbow in the previous ten years from the UK's largest crossbow supplier. Whall became prime suspect weeks after being first interviewed by police, when a Land Rover Discovery belonging to his partner was found burned out near Bethesda - a 25-minute drive from his home.
The programme shows that analysis of the Land Rover's telematics - a location-tracking SIM card - revealed it had parked at Porth Dafarch beach, a short walk from Mr Corrigan's home near the Anglesey coastal path at the time of the murder. Whall and his associates had tried to destroy the vehicle by arson but unbeknownst to them the telematic information had been uploaded to the cloud. Whall's digital footprint also revealed he had bought the identical crossbow arrow tip and bolt to the one that killed Mr Corrigan on Amazon in two separate orders a few weeks before the murder.
Whall’s prosecutors admitted without the Land Rover's "black box" location technology, Whall might have got away with murder. But no motive has been given as to why Mr Corrigan was killed. His death remains an unsettling mystery that will continue to haunt the people of Anglesey - and those who remember his story.
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