Linda Maggs Case: Investigating a Disturbing Call and Its Dark Secrets
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00:00 Pontypool, Wales. Homes for roughly 30,000 people, two of which are in the city of Pontypool.
00:07 Pontypool, Wales. Homes for roughly 30,000 people, two of which are in the city of Pontypool.
00:35 The couple had been together since 1988, but had initially met in 1977. Linda had been
00:41 raising her two children, Kerry and Andrew, on her own, after her first marriage had ended.
00:45 She worked incredibly hard to support herself and her children, sometimes working three
00:50 jobs to make it happen. David had also been married twice before. They had been together
00:55 for many years when they decided to marry, and in August of 2002, they tied the knot.
01:03 Linda and Kerry had welcomed David into the family, and the couple looked set to begin
01:07 the rest of their lives together.
01:10 74-year-old Linda had an incredibly active social life. She was the member of a dance
01:15 group and was often out with her group at dance clubs. She also loved being a grandmother
01:20 and enjoyed going shopping for clothes with her beloved granddaughter. She took real pride
01:25 in her home and garden, which was often the centre for many social gatherings. Linda was
01:30 incredibly close to her two children and they shared a tight bond. She was always on hand
01:35 to help or lend advice whenever needed. Her son Andrew described her as a beautiful, kind
01:40 lady with a huge heart.
01:43 Her 71-year-old husband David had worked as an accountant, but would later retire. The
01:47 pair enjoyed travelling together all over the world, including the United States and
01:51 Australia.
01:53 However, there was one thing that was a source of contention for the couple - money. Prior
02:00 to the marriage, David had wanted Linda to sign a prenuptial agreement, but she didn't.
02:09 She said as they were married, everything should be shared between the two of them.
02:13 However, once they were married, they had separate bank accounts and even paid for their
02:18 own food if they went out for a meal, something her daughter Kerry thought was odd. David
02:23 didn't share her busy social life. On the occasions he would go out with Linda to her
02:27 dance shows and clubs, he wouldn't engage or participate. Instead, he would stand outside
02:32 the venue and smoke.
02:35 In 2009, David had become more and more reclusive, as he had had his driver's licence taken
02:40 away due to having epilepsy.
02:43 Over the next few years, their marriage continued to decline. They would often argue over money,
02:51 and neighbours could hear them fighting in the back garden. By March of 2020, their relationship
02:56 had completely broken down.
02:58 When coronavirus hit and lockdown orders were issued, David rang his GP and was prescribed
03:04 sleeping tablets and antidepressants. His sister was concerned for him and said he was
03:08 failing to look after himself properly. She would often bring him food and check on him.
03:14 His day-to-day life consisted of playing cards, watching films and smoking. He had been in
03:20 ill health for several years, having survived two heart attacks and spending five months
03:25 in hospital, as well as suffering from emphysema.
03:29 Lockdown was also very hard for Linda. Having previously enjoyed a busy and active social
03:34 life, not being able to see anyone meant she spent most days upstairs alone.
03:40 After his heart attack in 2019, he was referred to a counsellor. He was given an anxiety and
03:45 depression score of 12, with anything over 8 being grounds for a referral.
03:51 In August, he requested that his antidepressants were increased, and after this, he said he
03:56 was feeling much better.
03:59 But in September 2020, another argument between the pair would do further damage to their
04:04 already difficult relationship. David had called his sister one night and said they
04:08 had been arguing again and asked her to go to the house. She said when she got there
04:13 it was clear that Linda was very stressed. The argument had, once again, been about money.
04:18 Linda had shouted "it's over, it's done" and David had replied "just go" before
04:23 going back into the house. Three days later, Linda apologised to David's sister for the
04:27 argument.
04:29 On the 16th September 2020, Linda decided to start divorce proceedings and officially
04:35 end her marriage to David, citing unreasonable behaviour.
04:40 After consulting a lawyer, she was advised not to leave the home, and David would also
04:44 not move out. So, they continued living together, but the pair were living separate lives, with
04:49 Linda refusing to clean up after him or cook for him. David had the downstairs turned into
04:54 a bed sit, with a lock on his door, and Linda had the upstairs. While she had purchased
04:59 locks for her doors, she was yet to have them fitted.
05:03 As they shared a bathroom and kitchen, Linda said she felt as though she was being stalked
05:07 by him. He would often sit outside the bathroom while she was in the shower and wait for her
05:11 to come out. An estate agent would go and look at the house and value it. He described
05:16 David as chain-smoking and visibly shaking. David told the estate agent he would rather
05:22 hurt his wife than lose anything. The estate agent described Linda as being very timid.
05:28 When it became clear that the house could be sold as part of the divorce, in November
05:32 of 2020, David was put in touch with a housing support worker who encouraged him to look
05:37 into sheltered accommodation and renting as options for if the house sold. He expressed
05:42 the same sentiment to the housing officer that he had to the estate agent. Linda was
05:47 not going to get anything, even if it meant she came to harm.
05:51 He told the support worker that he needed to go to the police, as he had thought about
05:56 stabbing Linda. The support worker was so concerned that she spoke to her line manager,
06:01 who advised her to call the police on the non-emergency number and also contact his
06:05 doctor.
06:07 The doctor phoned David that day and increased his sleeping pills and antidepressants. After
06:12 the support worker had contacted them, the police went to the house to speak to the couple.
06:17 When David's sister answered the door, she said she was in shock. She said the police
06:21 explained that they were concerned for David's mental health, a sentiment she shared, saying
06:26 he was a wreck and very depressed. David said he was surprised that she had contacted the
06:31 police but understood why she had. He said he felt the police didn't listen to him and
06:36 that their visit wasn't worth it.
06:38 An officer spoke to Linda, saying there were concerns for her safety. The officer said
06:42 she was quite flippant and thought it was just his way of trying to get her out of the
06:47 house, as the house was solely in his name. The officer said Linda declined a domestic
06:52 violence risk assessment and the option of a safe house, saying that David had never
06:56 laid a finger on her. The officer told her to avoid arguments with him and keep her phone
07:01 close to her. No further action was taken.
07:06 By the new year, the pair were no longer speaking.
07:11 Financial investigators had been brought on board to look into the couple's finances.
07:15 This meant that the house would likely be put on the market for sale.
07:21 On the 5th of February 2021, Linda was on the phone to her daughter Kerry. She told
07:26 Kerry that she was worried about how David would react when he found out their finances
07:30 were being examined. That same day, David's sister had called him at around 9pm. She said
07:36 he seemed settled and was enjoying watching a film.
07:43 The 6th of February 2021, 9.13am. A disturbing 999 call is made.
07:51 "Thank you, police emergency, how can I help?" "Please." "Yeah, you've reached the police,
07:58 how can I help?" "Please." "How can I help?" "I just killed a wife." "You just what, sorry?"
08:07 "Please." "Yeah, how can I help you? You've reached the police, is this an emergency?"
08:13 "Please." "Is this an emergency?" "Yeah." "Yeah, why?" "I think I just killed a wife."
08:22 "Your wife, is it?" "Yeah." "Okay, what's your address, are you at home?" "Yeah, call an ambulance
08:27 just in case." "And an ambulance as well, okay, so what's happened in between you and your wife today,
08:31 for this to have happened, did you have an argument?" "Did, just call an ambulance and call the police."
08:37 "Yeah, you threw to the police, that's fine, okay, so I'm putting a log on now and we'll call the ambulance
08:40 out as well, okay, but what's happened?" "I stabbed her." "You stabbed her, did you?" "Yeah."
08:47 "Okay, have you got a knife on you now?" "Pardon?" "Have you got a knife on you now?" "No."
08:52 "Where's your wife?" "In bed." "She's left in bed, is she?" "Yeah." "Okay, what's your name?"
09:04 "Max, M-A-W-G-S." "Is it David I'm speaking to?" "David, yeah." "Hiya David, okay, we're going to be
09:11 sending help out to you now, okay, is there a lot of blood or?" "Yeah." "Yeah, is she speaking to you
09:18 or do you think she's passed away?" "She's passed away, I think." "Okay, what makes you think that,
09:23 can you see if she's still breathing or is she talking or?" "I don't know, I just lost it."
09:30 "You just lost it, did you have an argument, did you?" "I just lost it, I hope she just comes and
09:36 she just comes and helps me." "You are sorry?" "Just help me." "We'll send help to you now, okay,
09:43 that's what you want to do, I'm going to type this up for you, okay?" "Oh God, help me."
09:49 As officers and other emergency services descended on the scene, body cameras captured the moment
09:55 inside the house. As the officer enters, two knives can be seen on the last step of the staircase.
10:00 "Stay where you are, stay where you are!"
10:02 "Who else is here? Who else is here?"
10:08 "Right, okay, this time you are under arrest on suspicion of murder. The time is 26 minutes past
10:18 nine in the morning. You don't have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention
10:23 when questioned, something which you later on then call anything you do say may be given in evidence.
10:28 Necessity for your arrest at this time is to protect a vulnerable person and prevent any further injury
10:34 to a person, do you understand?"
10:36 "I'm alright now." "You're alright, alright. Just try and stay nice and calm for us, okay?"
10:49 "I can't hear anybody in there." "I don't know from what."
10:55 "She tried to steal two hoses off me." "Okay."
11:00 "Two hoses for God's sake." "Okay."
11:04 "I spent five months in hospital last year."
11:09 "Okay, so you're not going to tell us what happened?"
11:13 "No, I'm not going to tell you what happened."
11:16 "I was in hospital last year." "Okay, what was that for?"
11:21 "Hard." "Okay."
11:23 "She came to see me three times. The rest of the time, she ransacked the house, got hold of all the paperwork,
11:39 destroyed all the paperwork. She came on this house as well."
11:47 David's coldness was apparent. He told the officers, "Thirty years I've been married to her
11:56 and she doesn't know how to keep her mouth shut, so I topped her."
12:00 As the devastating news broke, the community could not believe what had happened.
12:06 Flowers were left outside the home and Linda's children were being supported by officers
12:11 as they faced this horrifying new reality.
12:14 The truth about what exactly had happened that morning would soon come out.
12:21 Even though the upstairs was Linda's domain, David had gone up there and taken two large red kitchen knives with him,
12:28 leaving one outside the bedroom door and he took the other one into her room at around 9am.
12:35 As Linda lay in bed under the sheets, her estranged husband walked into her room.
12:39 David told her he wanted to talk about their separation and impending divorce,
12:44 but she told him that that conversation needed to be left to the lawyers and she wasn't going to discuss it with him.
12:49 David became enraged. In a frenzied attack, he stabbed her multiple times.
12:55 Linda, who was 4ft 10, had suffered an appalling catalogue of injuries.
13:00 She had been stabbed 15 times in the neck, head, stomach and chest.
13:06 Her arms and hands had defensive wounds, showing that she had tried to fight him off with everything she had.
13:12 She had also sustained two broken ribs.
13:15 One stab wound to her chest was 15.5cm.
13:19 When trying to understand what had led to this, officers learned that David had become consumed with the idea
13:27 that Linda had been hiding money from him and that she was going to cheat him out of money during the divorce.
13:32 As was seen in the bodycam footage, he told the officers that she had tried to steal two houses from him.
13:38 Investigations were carried out into the couple's finances to see if there was any evidence of Linda hiding money from him
13:44 or of her trying to dishonestly get more money in the divorce.
13:48 They found none, but they did find that David had a savings account with £14,000 in there,
13:55 something he had failed to declare.
13:58 He admitted to having killed her, but said that he had blacked out and couldn't remember.
14:03 He told the investigators during his interviews that whilst he had taken the knives upstairs with him,
14:08 he had only intended to discuss the finances and the divorce.
14:12 He said he had left one outside the door, in case he needed it.
14:15 He said, "She's only 4ft 10, but she can be a right madam."
14:21 The police soon learned about his history of threatening to harm Linda,
14:25 and soon another witness would come forward with a worrying story to tell.
14:29 A lady named Pamela had been one of Linda's friends, and then she had become friends with the couple,
14:34 before a falling out meant she only spoke to David.
14:37 Pamela had contacted the investigators on the 18th February,
14:41 and explained that just a few weeks before Linda was killed,
14:44 she had been on the phone with David and asked him how the divorce process was going.
14:49 She said he replied, "I feel like I could stab her."
14:54 She said to him that would mean he would go to prison.
14:57 His response? "I don't care."
15:00 He was remanded in custody.
15:03 On the 8th February he appeared at Newport Crown Court, charged with murder.
15:10 He entered a plea of guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility,
15:15 adamant that he had blanked out.
15:19 Judge Michael Fritten would preside over the trial at Cardiff Crown Court,
15:23 which began on the 11th January 2022.
15:26 Judge Fritten told the jury, "It's admitted David Maggs killed Linda Maggs,
15:31 but there is a dispute about the circumstances in which he killed her.
15:35 There's a dispute about his mental state on the day he killed her,
15:38 and there's a dispute about his responsibility for killing her."
15:43 Defence lawyer Sarah Jones argued that Maggs' mental health and depression
15:47 would have clouded his judgement that day.
15:49 "Evidence of his past health clearly points to something very, very wrong with his functioning at the time.
15:55 I accept it does not excuse what he has done," she said.
15:58 Psychiatrist Dr Nguyen Galapathy told the jury,
16:02 "In my opinion, the degree of his impairment due to depression is significant.
16:06 This is a case where there are clear and significant mental health problems.
16:10 In my opinion, this is a case of diminished responsibility."
16:14 But there wasn't a clear medical consensus,
16:17 as another psychiatrist, Dr Thomas Nguyen, said he didn't think David Maggs had depression.
16:22 The court heard that David felt he had been stung by his two previous ex-wives,
16:27 and was adamant that Linda was not going to get any of his money.
16:31 The prosecution told the jury that Linda was upset, scared and anxious.
16:36 She told a friend she didn't know what her husband was capable of.
16:40 A friend told the court that Linda had explained they had argued
16:43 when David had changed his will several years prior,
16:46 cut her out of it completely, and decided to leave everything to his son.
16:50 The witness said,
16:52 "About five years ago they were arguing about the will.
16:55 She said she had to pick up an iron to defend herself."
16:58 The witness also said she had spoken to Linda the night before her death,
17:03 and they had talked about the divorce,
17:05 with Linda saying she thought he would lose his temper,
17:08 but added that he wouldn't hurt her, and in any case, she could call the police.
17:12 The prosecution said that David had given Linda an allowance of £30 a week,
17:17 and told her, "No sex, no marriage, no nothing,"
17:21 meaning financially she would be solely reliant on her pension to get by.
17:25 It was argued that David would become verbally abusive towards Linda,
17:30 and would insult her, calling her thick and stupid.
17:33 Other key witnesses would address the court,
17:36 the estate agent and housing officer who had witnessed David's behaviour,
17:40 and heard him make threats towards her life.
17:43 This painted a very different image from the frail man who was wheelchair-bound
17:47 and struggled to get in and out of the prison van.
17:49 David's sister also testified about the argument the couple had had in the garden
17:54 in September of 2020, saying that Linda had been the one to lose her temper,
17:58 and that she had never seen her brother use threats of violence until that altercation.
18:03 The prosecution lawyer called Linda's death "a vicious and repeated attack".
18:08 The 999 call and police body cam footage were also shown to the jury,
18:13 painting a vivid image of the chain of events that had transpired that day.
18:17 It was also noted that he had only said he had blanked out
18:20 when he had been reminded that he was under caution,
18:23 and anything he said could be used in court.
18:30 After a day and a half of deliberations,
18:32 the jury had reached their verdict on February 1st, 2022.
18:36 The jury rejected his defence of diminished responsibility,
18:40 and he was found guilty of the murder of his wife.
18:43 On the 17th of March, 71-year-old David Maggs was sentenced to life in prison,
18:49 with a minimum term of 20 years that he must serve behind bars.
18:53 His defence lawyer Sarah Jones said that due to his health and age,
18:58 however long his sentence was, he would likely die in prison.
19:02 She said he had asked her to tell the court how sorry he was,
19:05 and that he wished it had never happened.
19:07 When sentencing him, Judge Michael Fritten called David
19:12 "a self-centred, self-interested, bitter and unpleasant man".
19:17 "You had come to resent Linda in a whole variety of ways.
19:21 You resented her still having a life, a social life,
19:25 female friends, loving members of family.
19:28 You resented her having the courage to stick up for herself
19:32 and start divorce proceedings against you.
19:34 I don't think you care about anyone other than yourself," he said.
19:38 During the sentencing hearing, Linda's son Andrew gave a victim impact statement.
19:48 "You claim you can't remember anything, but I don't believe you.
19:51 When you do remember, I hope it torments you as it torments us.
19:55 On your wedding day I made a speech and welcomed you into the family.
19:59 I wish I had never, ever said those words.
20:02 Throughout this whole process you have not shown a single ounce of remorse,
20:05 regret or compassion. That does not surprise me.
20:08 Mum always said you would never, ever say sorry."
20:12 Andrew also added that Linda's headstone used her maiden name of Minaghan
20:16 and not her married name of Maggs.
20:20 "On behalf of all our family, we would like to personally thank
20:24 all of the great police officers who have been involved in the investigation.
20:28 We would also like to thank all the witnesses and the evidence in court
20:31 and the members of the jury for their total guilty verdict.
20:34 Without all your hard work, dedication, support and understanding
20:38 we would never have got justice for our lovely mother."
20:41 For Linda's heartbroken loved ones, being denied the chance to say goodbye
20:48 was devastating. Having such a kind and devoted woman
20:52 ripped away from them in the most horrendous of circumstances
20:55 has left a void that will never be filled.
20:58 Linda's memory will continue to live on through those who knew and loved her
21:03 and she will always be remembered as a devoted mother, grandmother and friend.
21:08 For those of you that like to listen on the go, we now have our episodes in podcast form
21:17 and you can now find this via the link in our description box
21:20 or by searching 'Truly Criminal Podcast' on your podcasting platforms.
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