A NORTH Wales performer has claimed a major award after revisiting a shocking crime that took place in the 1980s.

Eilir Jones, from Llansannan, played the role of the Rev Emyr Owen in the docu-drama Y Parchedig Emyr Ddrwg.

It was screened on S4C earlier this year and the production took the single documentary prize at this month's BAFTA Cymru Awards.

The Docshed / S4C docu-drama tells the tale of minister the Rev Emyr Owen, the minister of Capel Bethel in Tywyn, Gwynedd.

In the early 1980s, police were investigating a series of threatening letters. When the police discovered that Rev Owen was the author behind the letters, it was the start of one of Britain's most eerie criminal cases to this day.

 

Denbighshire Free Press: Eilir Jones as the Rev Emyr OwenEilir Jones as the Rev Emyr Owen (Image: Picture: S4C)

 

While investigating his house, police came across dozens of pornographic magazines and books on cannibalism and surgery.

But the most shocking discovery were pictures of dismembered penises on plates and he was believed to have been cutting pieces of dead bodies all his life.

He was jailed for four years in March 1985 after admitting three charges of abusing and mutilating a human body awaiting burial, and threatening to murder a four-year-old child.

For Eilir, it was certainly a departure from his usual stand-up and comedy roles.

"I met him when I was about 10 or 11," said Eilir. "It was like a child's instinct, but I didn't take to him."

His research for the role was centred on reports from court documents and psychological reports.

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The BAFTA was won by Eilir, Rhys Edwards, who hails from Ruthin, and Gwion Tegid.

"It was the first documentary they had ever done!" added Eilir.

"They approached me to do it and I said I would do it. It went from there. We started it a year before Covid."

When it was announced they had won the award, Eilir said: "It was unbelievable!"