Unspeakable

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In January 1953, the Welsh town of Laugharne was rocked by a brutal crime. 77-year-old Lizzie Thomas had been viciously attacked at home and died the following day. Local man George Roberts was arrested for her murder. George was Deaf, communicated through his own personal signs and didn’t read or write, yet he was charged and sent to trial based on an alleged ‘confession’ made through interpreters he didn’t know. As the legal arguments raged over his fitness to plead, George was facing the hangman’s noose or indefinite detention at Broadmoor psychiatric hospital.

In Unspeakable: Murder in Laugharne Simon Tonkin explores the investigation into this unresolved case. How did the local community react? What circumstances led to George’s arrest? To what extent did the police overlook the obvious? And what role did social prejudice and ableism play in what happened?

Highlighting a lesser-known and horrifying story from Laugharne’s past, which involved its famous residents Dylan and Caitlin Thomas, Unspeakable shows how a vulnerable man and woman were wronged by a system which undervalued, misunderstood and failed them.