Women jailed for Ystradgynlais knife and bleach attack

Kathryn Llewellyn and Teresa Morgan-Peters were found guilty on April 28 after a trial of the masked attack on Pen-Y-Bryn in Ystradgynlais in the early hours of November 1 last year.

The victim was taken to hospital after the attack with multiple severe knife wounds.

During the trial, the jury heard that the victim had messaged Llewellyn’s partner, Gregory Morgan, after she heard Llewellyn had been posting about her on social media.

Morgan-Peters gave evidence that the exchange of messages “bothered” Llewellyn. Llewellyn came over and drunk at Morgan-Peters’ home – which was “around 150 yards” from the victim’s – with Mr Morgan on the evening of October 31. Morgan-Peters described Llewellyn as “kicking off” about the victim.

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The victim reported having eight phone calls from a withheld number that night between 1.13am and 1.29am. She reported the first of the calls were silent when she answered, but there was laughter – “like clowns cackling” – in the later calls. Subsequent analysis of Morgan-Peters’ phone showed the calls were from her – although she had deleted the logs.

The pair then went over to the victim’s house, and the door was unlocked. She told police she saw two figures coming down the hallway in her flat after 1am in “clown masks”.

“She started coming at me with a Stanley knife,” she said.

“Then the other one came at me and I had bleach thrown at me.”

Prosecutor Robin Rouch said the victim suffered knife injuries to her face, neck, arm, back, and thigh.

The victim managed to rip the mask of one of her assailants and escape to a friend’s home. The mask and the bottle of bleach were recovered at the scene, and linked Llewellyn and Morgan-Peters to the scene.

The neighbour the victim had ran to said she could smell bleach on the her, and that her black pyjama top had begun to discolour.

Llewellyn and Morgan-Peters were arrested on November 1.

They denied all charges, although Morgan-Peters, 45, of Dolfain in Ystradgynlais, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of unlawful wounding as an alternative to wounding with intent.

Llewellyn claimed not to have been at the scene at all, having been set up with the forensic evidence by her co-defendant. Morgan-Peters admitted to having been at the scene, but claimed to have gone to stop Llewellyn from attacking the victim, and that she took as mask so that the victim – who considered her a friend – wouldn’t think she was involved.

In a statement read out at Swansea Crown Court, the victim said: “On the night itself I thought I was going to die.

“They attacked me for absolutely no reason at all.”

She described her two attackers appearing in masks in her hallway.

“It was terrifying stuff that you see in horror movies,” she said.

She said she still has flashbacks to the attack, resulting in night terrors, and that she doesn’t have any mirrors in her home as her scars were “a constant reminder of what [she] went through”.

“This is the first thing people see when they look at me. It’s the only thing I see when I catch my reflection,” she said, referencing one scar running from her eye to her lip.

Kathryn Llewellyn claimed to have been 'set up' by her co-defendant. (Image: Dyfed-Powys Police)

David Leathley, representing Llewellyn, admitted it was a “truly horrific incident”.

He cited a letter from a prison officer, who said Llewellyn, 43, of Golwg y Mynydd in Godrergraig, had done “good work in prison” and had been “relied on” for her people skills.

“On her own, Kathryn Llewellyn is a delightful young woman, much loved by her family,” Mr Leathley said.

“It’s baffling why a lady such as this visited these particular actions on to [the victim].”

“This is a tragic incident,” said Mr Stokes, representing Morgan-Peters after she split with her barrister who represented her at trial.

“This incident does not reflect this woman in her entirety.

“She is well respected by her family. She is regarded in considerable esteem by her employer.

“The repercussions for her will be significant, and in particular for her nine-year-old child.”

Teresa Morgan-Peters has been jailed for a total of 10 years. (Image: Dyfed-Powys Police)

Addressing the defendants, Judge Geraint Walters said: “This was a pre-planned attack on a woman in her own home by two masked intruders.

“It is only the two of you and nobody else that know what was going on in your minds that particular night.

“This was obviously a punishment beating for what you perceived as a slight on you.

“Mercifully, despite the seriousness of these injuries, they were not life-threatening.

“I have not a shadow of a doubt that, on the evidence I have heard, that the intent was to do even greater damage.”

Judge Walters sentenced both women to 10 years for wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, with six years each – running concurrently – for a charge of burglary.

Llewellyn was sentenced to one year – running concurrently – for possession of the Stanley knife, while Morgan-Peters received a three-month concurrent sentence for possession of a lock knife retrieved by police from her car during the course of the investigation.

He also awarded the victim an indefinite restraining order against both defendants.