Neighbour of woman who had joke skeleton that was actually her husband speaks out about moment she found it (2024)

A woman who ended up becoming a murder suspect after retrieving what she thought was an old plastic medical skeleton from her neighbour's garden has spoken out about the bizarre saga.

Michelle James has told how she was left stunned after what was meant to be an innocent prank landed her in handcuffs and under arrest for suspicion of murder.

The 45-year-old, who lived in the Welsh village of Beddau, Pontypridd, explained she had no idea about the chilling revelations which came out of the woodworks when she decided to pull a practical joke on residents.

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It all started when her neighbour, Leigh Ann Sabine, passed away in November 2015 following her cancer diagnosis.

For years, the late nurse had told her neighbours that she had an old medical skeleton in her flat as a nod to her profession in the healthcare sector.

And when she passed away at the age of 74, all of her belongings - including the bundle of bones - were dumped in a communal garden near her home.

Michelle decided to have some fun with the supposed old medical skeleton she'd heard so much about and went to retrieve it from the pile to pull a prank on one of her neighbours.

At the time, she said as per The Daily Mail: "Me and another neighbour wanted to get the skeleton and sit it on a friend's settee to give him a shock when he got home.

"We took two kitchen knives and headed out to the patio, but were surprised how well wrapped up the thing was."

The skeleton was bound tightly in up to 20cm of polythene sheeting, as well as layers of carpet.

"The knife cut through the plastic, but then hit cardboard and finally tin foil," Michelle continued. "Suddenly, a pool of black sludge poured out, all over my hands and arms.

"And we were hit by the worst smell you can imagine. I started screaming, 'It's a body, a real body!'"

When two police officers turned up to take a look at the discovery, they were reportedly physically sick after examining the contents of the bag - while Michelle was frantically explaining how she found it.

One of the first on the scene, PC Joy Nicholls of South Wales Police, said the smell was 'overwhelming', while adding: "It obviously wasn't a medical skeleton."

Despite insisting she had merely intended to pull a prank on her pal, Michelle was arrested on suspicion of murder.

The strange case which rocked the Welsh village of Beddau is currently the subject of a three-part Sky Documentary series, The Body Next Door, which delves into the disturbing true crime case.

Michelle claimed that she continuously told cops that whoever the skeleton really belonged to was connected to Leigh, but she ended up spending three days in custody while an investigation got underway.

She told how she was shown images of what was inside the discarded bag - including a skull with a dent in it, as well as a hand which sported a gold signet ring on one of the fingers.

A pathologist believed that the body was a man in his 40s, who had died as a result of blunt-force trauma.

Three long weeks passed before DNA tests finally proved that the body - which was still dressed in blue Marks and Spencer pyjamas - belonged to Leigh's husband John, who was last seen alive in 1997.

The confirmation that the body belonged to John led police to delve deeper into Leigh's life.

Police would later discover that John and Leigh had previously lived in Australia, and welcomed five children together - before they abandoned them at an orphanage in New Zealand.

After further investigation into the pyjamas found on John's body and shopping bags used in the wrapping, police deduced that he had died in the late 90s - however, they still couldn't determine an exact date and cause of death.

That was until a former friend of the Leigh's came forward with some pretty damning evidence.

Recalling an unnerving phone call between herself and Leigh in 1997, the woman said recalled the former nurse claiming that she'd 'battered' John with a stone frog as he was 'getting on her nerves'.

The pal hadn't thought much about the conversation until the discovery of the body, and the phone call ended up being enough to link Leigh to her husband's murder.

Police would later recover the ornament, which revealed traces of John's blood alongside Leigh's fingerprints.

Officers were finally able to put together a case and motive for John's death and theorising that Leigh had murdered her husband in his sleep before hiding his remains in her flat until the time of her death.

As for the motive, authorities believed Leigh had grown resentful to John over his regrets about abandoning their children.

As for the responses of their kids, daughter Jane Sabine would later go on record saying: "I have no doubt my mother was capable of murder."

Leigh Ann Sabine was interviewed and photographed by Juliet Eden a year before her death. The author has also written a book about the case, The Frog Murderer, which you can find here.

You can watch The Body Next Door on Sky Documentaries and NOW.