Man arrested over 1993 unsolved Tooze murders faces no further action

A man arrested in connection with one of Wales' most notorious unsolved murders is no longer under investigation, police have said.

Harry and Megan Tooze were shot dead and found in a cow shed at their farm in Llanharry, Rhondda Cynon Taf, on 26 July 1993.

Last year, South Wales Police arrested an 87-year-old man but he will now face no further action.

Police arrested him as part of a forensic review of the cold case launched in 2023 as they investigated the deaths of Harry, 64, and Megan, 67.

In 1995, their daughter's boyfriend, Jonathan Jones, was found guilty of their murders, and spent a year in prison before being freed on appeal.

On the day of the double murder in 1993, the retired fruit wholesaler and his wife had left their farm at Tŷ Ar y Waun and drove their Land Rover to Tesco in nearby Talbot Green to do their weekly food shop, stopping to collect their pensions on the way home.

They were seen arriving back home at 11:00. At about 13:30, two gun shots were heard by neighbours, but this was not considered unusual on a farm.

The couple's daughter, Cheryl, raised the alarm when her regular daily call to her parents went unanswered that evening.

Officers went to the farm and found the couple's bodies in a cow shed.

Both had been shot in the back of the head from a distance of about 3ft (0.9 metres), then covered in carpet and hidden under hay bales, detectives said.

Investigators believed Harry and Megan had not been killed in the cow shed. It was thought they had been carried there after their deaths.

Their daughter's boyfriend, Jonathan Jones, was found guilty of their murders and sentenced to life in prison in 1995, but was later freed on appeal.

Jones, who was a self-employed recruitment consultant, had told police he had taken the day off work on the day the Toozes were killed and was in Orpington, Greater London.

His partial thumbprint was also on a cup and saucer that had been found in the couple's living room.

He was arrested that December, five months after the murders.

The couple's daughter stood by him, moving in with his family in Caerphilly after his arrest.

A year after his conviction, Jones was released on appeal. Three appeal court judges took five minutes to reach their decision.

The original trial judge was criticised, and it emerged police had failed to seal the crime scene properly.

South Wales Police said the forensic review of the case, which is being led by the Major Crime Investigation Team, would continue.

Det Supt Mark O'Shea said the force remained "committed to solving these dreadful murders" and he encouraged anyone with information to come forward as it "may help us get justice for the family".