Mystery Location No. 279: November 14, 2021

I think that this could be Ger-Y-Twr, Lon Pant, Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, Isle Of Anglesey, LL61 5YP. This is the location where 17-year-old Mathew Hardman murdered Mabel Leyshon on November 24, 2001. He broke into her house, stabbed the 90-year-old widow 22 times and cut out her heart.

The killer left clear signs of having drained and drunk his victim’s blood, his bloodlust and interest in vampires earning him the nickname “Vampire Killer”. Hardman thought that drinking Mrs. Leyshon’s blood would make him immortal. At trial it came out that Hardman was obsessed with vampires and had previously asked a German exchange student to bite his neck to become a vampire. This eventually helped lead police to him, as the German girl saw the details of the murder on the show Crimewatch and called the police to tell them about her experience with Hardman.

Hardman lived nearby and had delivered newspapers to his victim in the past. In addition to being elderly, Mrs. Leyshon was hard of hearing with failing vision and was a tiny woman (she was only 4’11” tall and weighed under 100 pounds), she wouldn’t have stood a chance against a healthy 17-year-old boy.

Anglesey is an island in Wales. The town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyll is also known as Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch and it is famous for its long name.

The other deaths in the area (determined not to be a part of this murder) included a suicide from the Britannia Bridge a week after the murder, a woman found dead in a local cemetery and a man whose body washed up on the west coast of Anglesey.

Taffy is a Welsh name that means “beloved friend” and a diminutive of the Welsh name Dafydd (equivalent to “David” in English). It is also a slang term that refers to Welsh people in general, most likely a reference to the River Taff in Cardiff.