The Pembroke Murder

On 21st March 1950, the Rosemarket farmer Albert Edward Jenkins was convicted of killing his landlord, William Llewellyn. The jury at Pembrokeshire Assizes, consisting of two men and ten women, took less than two hours to reach their verdict.
Jenkins had denied the allegation throughout the trial, however the facts of the case were clear.
On the morning of 10th October 1949, Jenkins was visited by his landlord at his home, Lower Furze Hill Farm, in Rosemarket, Pembrokeshire. There was back rent owed and discussions were being held regarding Jenkins buying the farm. He claimed to have handed Llewellyn £1,050 that day: £50 for the rent, and the rest in order to purchase the farm. The cash was taken from a beam in the roof where Jenkins had kept it.
William Llewellyn never returned home and his wife subsequently alerted police. His body was found the next day, buried in a clay pit on Jenkin's land. The injuries to the body were terrible, revealing that he had been killed by a number of heavy blows.
According to the South Wales Evening Post, the judge pointed out to the jury that

'there was no evidence, no evidence of any eyewitnesses, but from the knowledge of affairs the jury would hardly expect in murder cases to find eyewitnesses. The evidence placed before them by the Crown was circumstantial and circumstantial evidence was often the best.'

The case for the prosecution was that Llewellyn was killed by Albert Jenkins. Despite what the accused man said about giving his landlord a considerable sum of money - and having a receipt to prove that the money did indeed pass hands - no cash was ever found on the body.
An officer of the Milk Marketing Board, Mr Cudd, had called at Lower Furze Hill Farm on the morning of 10th October and saw Albert Jenkins driving his tractor down the field. There was, he said, a large bundle on the box of the tractor, covered by tarpaulin and Jenkins 'looked rather wild.'
Llewellyn's bicycle - on which he had arrived at the farm - was later found at nearby Neyland. Two witnesses claimed that they had seen Jenkins riding a bicycle towards Neyland on the afternoon of 10th October, yet when he was later seen by a policeman, returning from Pembroke Fair, he was walking and there was no sign of the bicycle.
William Llewellyn's boots were also discovered buried in manure in the calve's cot at the farm, and leather laces on the murdered man matched two more laces found on Jenkins. Earth taken from in front of Jenkin's house was, when tested, found to be saturated with human blood.
The prosecution case was clear. After obtaining a receipt for the money, Jenkins had clubbed the unlucky Llewellyn to death and reclaimed his money. He had then wrapped the body in tarpaulin and buried it in the clay pit. When the guilty verdict was given, Albert Jenkins gazed intently at the judge and remained unmoved during the proceedings.
With Albert Pierrepoint officiating, Jenkins was executed on the morning of 19th April 1950. At 9:25 a.m the main gate of Swansea Prison opened and two warders posted the declaration of the sheriff and a certificate from the surgeon at the door. A crowd of around thirty five local people stood outside.