A chilling double murder that has haunted a family for more than three decades remains unsolved after British police cleared an 87-year-old man who had been arrested in connection with the killings of an elderly couple at their remote farmhouse.
Harry Tooze, 64, and his wife Megan, 67, were shot to death at their farm in South Wales in July 1993. Their bodies were later discovered concealed beneath hay bales inside a cowshed.
The case became one of Britain’s most notorious unsolved murder mysteries after the couple’s daughter’s boyfriend was convicted of the killings, only to have his conviction overturned a year later.
Now, a fresh investigation that appeared to offer hope of a breakthrough has suffered another setback.
South Wales Police announced October 2 that the elderly man arrested in December 2025 is no longer under investigation and will face no further action.
His identity has never been publicly released.
The announcement came after detectives conducted an extensive forensic review of evidence connected to the killings. Police did not explain what prompted the original arrest or which findings led them to clear the man.
Despite the development, investigators insist they have not given up.
“We remain committed to solving these dreadful murders which happened more than three decades ago,” Detective Superintendent Mark O’Shea said.
The killings took place July 26, 1993, at the couple’s Ty Ar y Waun farmhouse near Llanharry, a rural village in Wales, approximately 15 miles northwest of Cardiff.
That morning, Harry and Megan left home to collect their pensions before returning to the property around 11 a.m.
At approximately 1:30 p.m., neighbors heard two gunshots. But because the area was surrounded by farmland, the sounds did not immediately raise alarm.
Hours later, the couple’s daughter, Cheryl, became concerned when her parents failed to answer their telephone.
She asked a neighbor, Owen Hopkins, to check on them. When he could not locate the couple, police were contacted.
Officers searched the property and made a horrifying discovery.
Harry and Megan had each been shot in the back of the head. Their bodies had been hidden beneath carpet and hay bales inside a cowshed.
Investigators initially struggled to determine who would want the couple dead.
Suspicion eventually fell on Cheryl’s boyfriend, Jonathan Jones, a businessman who maintained that he had been in Orpington, Kent, looking for office space on the day of the killings.
Prosecutors alleged Jones had traveled to the farmhouse, visited the couple and killed them to obtain money through Cheryl’s expected inheritance.
Investigators also discovered his fingerprint on a teacup inside the house, although Jones had previously visited the property.
He was arrested in December 1993 and convicted of both murders in April 1995, receiving a life sentence.
But Jones maintained his innocence, and Cheryl stood firmly beside him.
Their fight for justice eventually reached the Court of Appeal in London.
In April 1996, three judges overturned the convictions after finding them unsafe. The court heard that prosecutors had failed to establish that Jones was at the farmhouse when the murders occurred, while fresh evidence supported his account of being elsewhere.
Jones walked free after spending approximately a year in prison following his conviction.
But his release left one devastating question unanswered: Who really killed Harry and Megan Tooze?
Cheryl and Jones eventually married and had a child, but the murders continued to cast a shadow over their lives.
Speaking to ITV News in 2023, Jones reflected on the passage of time and the lasting emotional toll of the case.
“When I look in the mirror and see the lack of hair, it seems like a long time,” he said. “But on a day-to-day basis, it feels like it was yesterday.”
Cheryl described the years of uncertainty as an exhausting emotional ordeal.
“We’ve lived in limbo for such a long time,” she said, explaining that the couple still discussed the murders regularly.
In 2023, South Wales Police launched a fresh forensic examination of the case, hoping modern investigative techniques might uncover evidence overlooked during the original inquiry.
Advances in DNA testing and other forensic methods have helped investigators revisit numerous decades-old crimes, even when earlier investigations failed to produce a reliable suspect.
That renewed effort eventually led to the arrest of an 86-year-old man on December 17, 2025.
Police initially described the development as significant, raising hopes that the decades-long investigation might finally be moving toward a resolution.
The man was released on police bail the following day while investigators continued examining evidence.
But nearly ten months later, detectives announced that he was no longer considered a suspect.
Now 87, the man will face no further action in connection with the case.
Police emphasized that clearing the man does not mean the investigation is closed.
The Major Crime Investigation Team is continuing its forensic review and urging anyone with information, however old or seemingly insignificant, to contact investigators.
“It is never too late to come forward,” O’Shea said, stressing that information withheld for decades could still help bring justice to the family.
Authorities say Harry and Megan’s surviving relatives are receiving support and regular updates on the investigation.
Anyone with information can contact South Wales Police by calling 101 and quoting case reference 2300016841. Information can also be provided anonymously through Crimestoppers at 0800 555 111.
For Cheryl and Jonathan, the latest development represents another painful chapter in a mystery that has followed them for most of their adult lives.
More than 33 years after Harry and Megan were found murdered at their quiet farmhouse, no one stands convicted of their deaths.
And the identity of the person responsible remains unknown.
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