Man guilty of murdering fiancee before partially wrapping her body in cling film
Written by News on 10/12/2020
A man has been found guilty of murdering his fiancee at their home, and then partially wrapping her body in cling film.
Madog Rowlands from Wrexham denied murdering 21-year-old Lauren Griffiths in their Cardiff flat last year.
He was found guilty by a unanimous jury decision at Newport Crown Court on Thursday.
Rowlands, 23, strangled Griffiths but waited more than a day before dialling 999, the jury heard.
During this time, he took money out of both of their bank accounts, bought and consumed cannabis and MDMA, ordered takeaways and attempted to set up a Netflix account, prosecutors said.
Rowlands waited more than 24 hours to alert emergency services about his fiancee, after killing her in the early hours of 29 April last year.
He denied murder and claimed in court that he had killed Ms Griffiths in self-defence.
In the 999 call heard by the jury, Rowlands could be heard telling the police: “I’ve killed my fiancee by mistake.”
This was followed by him saying “she’s dead”, before adding “I’ve strangled her”.
Police body camera footage shows a composed Rowlands being arrested, where he admits this is not the first time he had been arrested “for attacking Lauren”.
“It was a strangling again,” Rowlands told the officer.
Detective Inspector Stuart Wales, from South Wales Police major crime investigation team, said: “Lauren was a much-loved daughter and sister who had a bright and promising future.
“Her family have shown tremendous patience and dignity during this long and heart-breaking ordeal. We hope they can now begin to recover and rebuild their lives.
“At no time did he show any meaningful concern for Lauren’s welfare or dignity.
“We would like to thank all the witnesses who assisted the investigation, the community of Cathays, as well as the prosecution team.”
Rowlands will be sentenced on 8 January.
(c) Sky News 2020: Man guilty of murdering fiancee before partially wrapping her body in cling film
