The Rev star John Sam Jones has warned viewers that twisted corpse mutilating crime “could happen again”.
Back in December 1984, Presbyterian minister Emyr Owen was arrested for mutilating corpses of three men in his chapel of rest in Tywyn prior to burial. When police searched his property, officers discovered a stash of gay pornography, books on cannibalism and human sacrifice, handcuffs, dental extractors and ropes as well as photographs of the severed genitalia.
The clergyman pleaded guilty to the horrific crime and was sentenced to four years behind bars, after which he lived out the rest of his days in Llandudno before he died in 2001 at the age of 78. Now, more than forty years on, documentary maker Rhys Evans has taken a deep dive inside the chilling case in his new documentary produced with Docshed in association with S4C.
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In an exclusive interview with Daily Star, former clergyman John Sam Jones – who visited the disgraced minister throughout his time in prison – has warned viewers that the terrifying crime “could happen again.” He told us: “I think there are documented cases of very religious people who realise that they are gay or transgender which has led to genital self mutilation.
(Image: Icon Film Channel)
“And what I think we had with Emyr Owen was that he transferred those feelings of hate towards his own genitals to the genitals of a dead body.” When the former minister was asked if he thinks the horrific crime could happen again, he immediately said yes.
John continued: “Yes. I think it could happen again because whilst society has moved on and it’s far more accepting to be gay and lesbian, we’ve seen how negative the British community can be where trans issues are concerned in these last few years. The vindictiveness of the hate seems to be flowing around transitions.
“So yes, I think a disturbed person could in fact, sometime in the future, do something similar again. But I think it might be responded to differently the next time.” The director pointed out that up until now, there was only one documentary made at the time that explored his case, which Rhys argues was filmed through a “homophobic lens.”
(Image: S4C)
He argued: “We knew that some people would be upset by this story being resurrected. The only justification for this is that we were looking at it with fresh eyes and with non-homophobic eyes.
“There was a programme made in 1992 about him, but I think it was quite homophobic, it was filmed through a homophobic lens. So, I think we’re the first people to actually look at his story with modern eyes.
“Our aim is to try to find out why Emyr Owen did what he did. We look at the cause and his upbringing through a modern lens and lift a mirror to the less tolerant chapel society of Wales of the last century.”
(Image: Icon Film Channel)
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The producer went on to add that his biggest worry was that the film would let the late minister “off the hook too easily”. He went on: “I think my biggest worry that I had was that we weren’t letting him off the hook too easily because what he did was absolutely terrible, abhorrent even.
“There are still lots of very, very upset families around the Tywyn area. What was worse is that they didn’t let the families know.
“So there’s an entire generation of people in Tywyn now that aren’t quite sure if it was one of their relatives that was mutilated. So we were careful not to let him off the hook too easily, but then we were also sympathetic because once you know the history, it’s a very, very sad story.”
The Rev premieres exclusively on the Icon Film Channel from 9 October. Followed by all major UK digital platforms from 8 January 2024.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
