Murdered pensioner handed £200,000 to conman who promised to develop his home


Garald Corrigan, 74, who lived in a remote part of Anglesey, North Wales, was murdered in 2019 after he was 'virtually cleaned out' having handed £200,000 to a conman who promised to develop his home

Garald Corrigan, 74, who lived in a remote part of Anglesey, North Wales, was murdered in 2019 after he was ‘virtually cleaned out’ having handed £200,000 to a conman who promised to develop his home

A pensioner who was murdered with a crossbow had been ‘virtually cleaned out’ after handing £200,000 to a farmer conman who promised to develop his home and sell it for £2m, a court heard today. 

Richard Wyn Lewis, 50, took thousands of pounds from Gerald Corrigan and his partner Marie Bailey, which he claimed was going towards property development and the purchase of horses, a trial at Mold Crown Court was told.

Mr Corrigan, 74, who lived in a remote part of Anglesey, North Wales, was murdered in 2019, the jury heard.

This trial, relating to eight counts of fraud, is separate and unrelated to the murder. 

Peter Roach QC, prosecuting, said: ‘Wyn Lewis is a conman, he is a fraudster, and during the period spanned by this indictment he conned a number of different people out of various sums of money, sometimes many thousands.

‘Throughout, people lost their money and Wyn Lewis dishonestly kept it.’

Mr Roach said Lewis told Mr Corrigan and Ms Bailey he would help them with the apparent development and sale of their home, Gof Du, and they would be able to sell the 35-acre plot for more than £2m.

He told the jury: ‘I say apparent development and apparent sale because there was no such development and there was no such sale, it was all a figment thought up by Wyn Lewis.’

The court heard that Lewis told Mr Corrigan he had a potential buyer, John Halsall, and a retired planning officer, referred to as David, would help him to get planning permission.

But, following Mr Corrigan’s death, police found several numbers he had noted down for ‘David’ could be traced back to Lewis.

Richard Wyn Lewis told Mr Corrigan and Ms Bailey he would help them with the apparent development and sale of their home, Gof Du, and they would be able to sell the 35-acre plot for more than £2m

Richard Wyn Lewis told Mr Corrigan and Ms Bailey he would help them with the apparent development and sale of their home, Gof Du, and they would be able to sell the 35-acre plot for more than £2m

A high powered Excalibur Micro 355 crossbow that used for test firing and shown during the trial into Mr Corrigan's murder

A high powered Excalibur Micro 355 crossbow that used for test firing and shown during the trial into Mr Corrigan’s murder

The home of Gerald Corrigan, showing the satellite dish he was trying to fix when he was shot

The home of Gerald Corrigan, showing the satellite dish he was trying to fix when he was shot

Mr Corrigan was convinced the sale was near completion before his death, Mr Roach said, but no planning applications had been submitted and Mr Halsall did not exist.

Mr Roach said: ‘The whole thing was a sham, the whole thing was a con from the outset and it cost Gerry Corrigan and Marie Bailey many, many thousands of pounds which they paid over to Wyn Lewis in cash.’

When interviewed by police, Ms Bailey estimated the couple had given about £200,000 in cash to Lewis between 2015 and 2019.

Mr Roach said: ‘She said by the end she and Gerry Corrigan were virtually cleaned out of all available cash.’

The court heard that two days before his murder, Mr Corrigan gave £200 to Lewis and told him: ‘There is no more money.’

He said Lewis also took money from the couple for ‘non-existent’ horses and stabling fees.

The jury was told Ms Bailey, 66, paid Lewis to take her car for repair but he sold it for £5,000, telling her it was damaged and should be scrapped.

Terrence Whall, 39, has been found guilty of the murder of Gerald Corrigan, 74

Terrence Whall was found guilty of the murder of Gerald Corrigan last year

Mr Roach said: ‘Not only did Wyn Lewis steal Marie Bailey’s car, he charged her for doing so.’

In 2018, Ms Bailey transferred £50,000 to Lewis’s partner, Siwan Maclean, for the purchase of the former Llandona school in Anglesey, which Lewis had told her she could sell for a profit to a building firm, the court heard.

But, Mr Roach said, the building was never up for general sale.

The jury was told Mr Corrigan’s murder was nothing to do with this trial, but the fraud allegations came to light when Ms Bailey was interviewed by police after the shooting.

Terence Whall was last year convicted of killing Mr Corrigan, who was shot in the early hours of Good Friday, 2019 as he adjusted the satellite dish outside his home.   

Mr Corrigan never recovered from the horrific injuries caused by the crossbow bolt and died in hospital three weeks later, with Detective Chief Inspector Brian Kearney of North Wales Police describing his killing as a ‘barbaric, medieval-style execution’.

Lewis, of Llanfair-yn-Neubwll, Holyhead, denies eight counts of fraud.

His partner Maclean, 51, of the same address, denies entering into a money laundering agreement.

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