A 14-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the body of a teenage girl was discovered just 500 yards from the home of missing 14-year-old Lilly, who had not been seen since Saturday evening in the small South Wales town of Blaina.
The body was found in the Duffryn Park area of Blaina, a former mining village near Ebbw Vale in the South Wales Valleys, at around 10.10pm on Monday by two young people who had gone out searching for the missing teenager. Formal identification has not yet taken place, but Gwent Police confirmed that Lilly’s family had been informed. The suspect, also 14 and from the Blaina Gwent area, remains in police custody. Gwent Police has also referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct in connection with the matter.
Lilly had last been seen on the town’s High Street at around 6.50pm on Saturday, wearing a long black dress and black sandals. Her family had become increasingly alarmed because her mobile phone had been switched off — something those close to her said was deeply out of character. Locals claim her phone had been turned off around 20 minutes before she was last spotted.
A local resident told police she had seen Lilly outside a kebab shop on the night she disappeared. “It looked initially like she was waiting for someone,” the woman said. “I told her that she looked lovely. She crossed over and walked through the church yard.”
Lilly’s mother, Gemma Jones, had put out a desperate public appeal hoping her daughter had travelled to Cardiff, pleading: “Please bring my baby back home.” Her aunt, Zoe Jones, wrote: “[She] went out at 6.30 and hasn’t come home — very much out of character. Lilly please come home my girl, I promise you’re not in any trouble… we just want you home.” Family members organised their own search of Duffryn Park on Monday, while police deployed drones to assist. Hours later, the body was discovered near a waterside walk, approximately half a mile from where she was last seen. The area has since been sealed off with a police tent erected to preserve the crime scene.
The discovery has devastated the close-knit community. One resident said: “It’s a huge shock, everyone is in a state of disbelief and worry. Blaina is a small town so people knew the girl was missing and there were searches going on. Now this, it’s a terrible thing.” Councillor Lisa Catherine Winnett said the community was “devastated” and urged police to “work promptly now to find the perpetrator.”
Senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Steven Thomas said: “We continue to have a significant police presence in the area and understand the concern amongst our communities at this time. Our enquiries are ongoing to establish the circumstances surrounding the death and we currently have one person in police custody being questioned. I’d also encourage people not to speculate online as this is a live investigation and such comments can have an impact on our ability to bring anyone, found to have committed a criminal offence, to justice.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101, quoting reference 2600197059, or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
