In October 2015, in Beddau, South Wales, 74-year-old Leigh Ann Sabine passed away from cancer. Weeks later a body was found in her shed.
Leigh Anne Sabine claimed to have been born in New Zealand but this was not the truth. She was actually born in Wales, spending her childhood moving between family members and foster care. When she was 17 she met John Sabine, 11 years her senior, in a London hospital where she worked.
John Sabine was a veteran and an accountant. When he met Leigh Anne, he was married with two children, but when Leigh Ann fell pregnant with their first child, the two of them ran away together.
The pair ended up eventually getting married and emigrating to New Zealand in 1960.
By 1969, the married couple had five children together, with the eldest being 11 and the youngest just 2. It was this same year that Leigh Ann Sabine decided she wanted to seriously pursue a singing career in Western Australia. So, Leigh Ann and John decided to abandon their children and run off together once more.
In 1972 after failing to get her singing career off the ground, the couple moved to the Wairarpa area of New Zealand under different names; Lee and John Martin.
In 1984, Leigh Ann and John reunited with their children. Leigh Anne told a local newspaper that they were desperate to find their children but had only recently made enough money to get themselves out of poverty and return to New Zealand.
Soon after this, the relationships with their children started to unravel and the pair told neighbours that they were going on holiday up north. They never returned to their home.
Instead, they ended up back in the UK, and then in 1997, they moved to Beddau, Wales. That same year John seemed to disappear. No report was filed as according to Leigh Ann’s account, John had simply left her for another woman.
Also in 1997, Leigh Ann Sabine made a call to her old friend Valerie Chalkley. Valerie apparently commented that it had been so long since she had heard from the Sabines that she was sure one had killed the other. It was then that Leigh Ann apparently said:
“It’s funny you should say that. I’ve killed him. I’ve battered him with a stone frog which was at the side of the bed. He was just driving me mad. Every night he would get into bed crying and weeping, saying you don’t fancy me”.
Unfortunately, Valerie didn’t take this seriously.
Over the years, Leigh Ann Sabine told stories of a fake skeleton that she had in her home, apparently something she used during her medical training to be a nurse. One person who heard the story of the skeleton, was neighbour 45-year-old Michelle James. Sabine had mentioned to her that there was a skeleton in the communal garden area which she wanted moving into her attic. Sabine also asked Lynne Williams, a carer who looked after Sabine during her cancer treatment, if she could move it for her. Williams apparently said she hoped it wasn’t a real body, to which Sabine replied: “You never know”.
Then, in 2015, Leigh Ann Sabine died.
A few weeks after her death, neighbour Michelle James remembered the medical skeleton and thought it would be perfect for a prank. James went to the shed where she found the skeleton wrapped in layers of tin foil, plastic wrap, bags and roofing materials. Inside wasn’t a medical skeleton however, it was actually the decomposing remains of John Sabine who had been dead for 18 years.
In November 2015, the police officially started their investigation. John’s identity had been confirmed by DNA analysis. Over the years due to the conditions that his body was kept in, his body had become “chemically Mummified”. There were a number of skull fractures, any of which could have caused his death, but they had been caused by the ornamental ceramic frog.
Coroner Andrew Barkley said:
“It is beyond doubt in my mind that foul play was the cause of his death.”
Detective chief inspector Gareth Morgan said:
“It is my view that Leigh Sabine probably killed John Sabine and wrapped up his body. There was no evidence to suggest anyone else knew of his death.”
Sources:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c628ez6zx0mo
https://www.rnz.co.nz/life/screens/tv/the-body-next-door-a-dark-tale-of-abandonment-and-murder
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/how-friend-hid-murdered-husbands-31208415
