A silly prank by neighbours in the South Wales Valleys led to one of the most bizarre murder investigations in criminal history.
Eccentric Leigh Sabine told residents of the apartment block where she lived that she had a plastic medical skeleton from her days as a nurse.
Before Leigh died of cancer in 2015, her skeleton and other belongings were dumped at the back of the apartments.
Neighbour Michelle James, 45, thought she would have a bit of fun with the bones wrapped tightly in polythene sheeting.
She said at the time: ‘Another neighbour and I wanted to find the skeleton and sit it on a friend’s sofa to give it an electric shock when I got home.
Eccentric Leigh Sabine told residents of the apartment block where she lived that she had a plastic medical skeleton from her days as a nurse.
Before Leigh died of cancer in 2015, the skeleton and other belongings were dumped in the back of the apartments (stock)
‘We grabbed two kitchen knives and went out into the yard, but we were surprised at how well wrapped the object was.
‘The knife cut through the plastic but then touched the cardboard and finally the aluminum foil.
‘Suddenly, a puddle of black mud poured over my hands and arms. And we were hit by the worst smell you could imagine.
‘I started screaming,’ it’s a body, a real body.’
Two police officers attended and were physically ill as they examined the contents of the bag in the shared courtyard in the village of Beddau, Pontypridd.
Mother-of-three Michelle said she had planned to play a prank on a neighbour but was arrested by police on suspicion of murder.
She kept telling them that whoever was in the bag was connected to Leigh, but they couldn’t prove it because she had just died.
During the three days she was detained, Michelle was shown gruesome images of the contents of the rolled-up bag. There was a skull with a dent where the head had caved in.
Another photograph showed a hand with a gold signet ring on one of the fingers. Incredibly, the body was still wearing blue Marks and Spencer pyjamas.
Three weeks later, DNA tests showed the body was that of Leigh’s husband, John, last seen alive in 1998.
South Wales Police believe Leigh, a mother of five, crushed her head with a blunt instrument, believed to be an ornamental frog, and then hid her body for years in her two-bedroom council flat in the village of Beddau.
Three weeks later, DNA tests showed the body was that of Leigh’s husband, John, last seen alive in 1998.
South Wales Police believe mother-of-five Leigh crushed her head with a blunt instrument, believed to be an ornamental frog (above), and then hid her body for years in her two-bedroom council flat in the village of Beddau.
When Leigh, 74, knew her days were numbered, she wanted to get rid of the evidence and hired two local men to carry it downstairs and place it in the yard.
John Sabine, who was listed as the owner of the property, had not been seen for 18 years before his body was discovered. It is still unknown exactly when he died.
Leigh, who had medical training, had the body embalmed and is believed to have kept it on a divan in the spare bedroom of the house they shared. An investigation in 2016 revealed the body had been preserved using “chemical mummification”.
Glamorgan coroner Andrew Barkley returned a verdict that Sabine was unlawfully killed, most likely by his late wife. The coroner added: “Exactly what happened and the circumstances will sadly never be known for certain.”
But more details have emerged about the mysterious ex-nurse who claimed to be a former cabaret singer who was inspired by actress Greta Garbo.
Her real name was Ann, Leigh was her stage name. She used to boast that she had sung on stage with Sir Tom Jones.
She and John had lived in Australia, where they had been investigated by police for abandoning their brood of five children: Susan, Steven, Martin, Jane and Lee-Ann.
Steve Sabine, son of Leigh Ann and John Sabine. She and John had been living in Australia, where they were under investigation by police for abandoning their five children: Susan, Steven, Martin, Jane and Lee-Ann.
According to reports in New Zealand, the couple went on the run after John Sabine was charged with fraud.
When she died, Ann Sabine was gone from her family, including her children, who now live in New Zealand. She and John emigrated there in the 1960s before abandoning their two sons and three daughters in a state nursery in Auckland and eventually returning to the UK without them.
The couple’s youngest daughter, Jane Sabine, has said publicly: “I have no doubt that my mother was capable of murder.”
During a visit to a local barber shop when his health was deteriorating, he boasted: “People will still be talking about me long after I’m gone.” When asked why, he replied: “Because of the body in the bag.”
Eight years have passed and the story of the wife who kept her husband’s mummified body – Norman Bates style – in her home has died out in the village of Beddau, which ironically means Tombs in Welsh.
But a new three-part Sky TV documentary, The Body Nextdoor, aired for the first time on Sunday and Leigh Sabine’s name is back on everyone’s lips – just as she predicted.
Kelly Williams, 37, a mother of two, said: ‘I moved here around the same time the body was found. It’s very creepy to think about what happened here.
“What bothers me is that she embalmed him, so she must have intended to keep him at home all those years. It gives me the creeps.”
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