Peter’s Pies heir Dylan Thomas guilty of Cardiff murder | Global News Avenue

The heir to a pie company fortune has been convicted of murdering his best friend, stabbing him 37 times in the house they shared on Christmas Eve.

A jury at Cardiff Crown Court found Dylan Thomas guilty of murdering 23-year-old William Bush on December 24, 2023.

Thomas, 24, who admits manslaughter but denies murder, was carrying a large kitchen knife and a switchblade while looking at the neck anatomy in Llandaff, Cardiff, hours before the attack.

Thomas, the grandson of Sir Stanley Thomas, founder of Peter’s Pies in South Wales, whose net worth was estimated at £230m in 2013, sat in court throughout the trial.

Dylan Thomas is being treated for schizophrenia in a secure hospital after he was arrested a few weeks ago for trying to scale the Buckingham Palace fence.

The jury began deliberating its decision Thursday morning and returned a guilty verdict hours later.

Prosecution barrister Greg Bull KC told the court a personal victim impact statement was being prepared but the sentence “must be a custodial sentence”.

The judge thanked the jury for their “concern” as they carried out their duties during the trial and heard “deeply disturbing evidence”.

Sentencing will take place on December 16.

Speaking outside the court, Mr Bush’s sister Katrin Bush said the “brutal and senseless murder” had left the family completely devastated.

Ms Bush described Thomas as an “evil, manipulative liar” and said the family had “seen no evidence of remorse or responsibility for his actions that day”.

“Will was a loyal, funny, caring and trusting man. His cheeky smile and witty humor lit up every room he walked into.

“We can’t even comprehend the fear and pain Will endured last Christmas Eve,” she said, explaining how he was preparing to return to his family in Brecon when the attack occurred.

“On Christmas Eve, instead of Will arriving for dinner on our doorstep, it was Dyfed-Powys police who delivered devastating news.

“We ask that people remember the great man he was and that his memory is not defined by this brutal attack.”

Inspector Rebecca Merchant of South Wales Police said after the sentencing that Mr Bush died as he was preparing to move in with his girlfriend and start a new job.

She added: “As he was looking forward to spending Christmas with his family and girlfriend, he was murdered by a man he considered a friend who had done nothing to warrant the brutal violence inflicted on him.”

The prosecutor told the trial Thomas was in a “downward spiral” but was in control of his actions at the time of the killing.

The court heard Thomas’s grandmother, Sharon Burton, who drove him to Llandaff on the morning of the attack, described Thomas becoming “increasingly agitated” and sending several text messages.

As she parked the car outside the house, Thomas went inside, got the knife, went to Mr Bush’s bedroom and stabbed him repeatedly.

Passers-by “heard horrific screams coming from the house,” prosecutors said.

A distraught Thomas knocked on his grandmother’s car window, who discovered Mr Bush outside on the terrace.

After the attack, Thomas claimed his friend “went crazy” and stabbed him when he called 999 for an ambulance.

But the prosecution told the trial it was “a planned attack” by Thomas on Mr Bush who “deliberately armed himself with a knife to attack him from behind”.

The expert opinion obtained by the court was Thomas has been insane for months Before killing.

Jurors heard he told police he was Jesus and offered a police officer a “job with God” after he was arrested for the killing.

After his earlier arrest at Buckingham Palace, he spoke of the “Illuminati” who rule the world.

The court heard Thomas believed he could harness gravity and told police he was “exploring energy fields” when he was arrested at Buckingham Palace on November 6, 2023.

Dr Panchu Xavier told jurors his patient was mentally ill when he was admitted to Ashworth High Security Hospital in Liverpool in March 2024.

Thomas and Mr Bush have been friends since they met at Brecon Christian College in Powys.

Mr Bull KC, prosecuting, told the court that while Mr Bush was popular, Thomas had few friends and was considered a loner.

Orlando Pownall KC, defending, told the trial there was no doubt Thomas was mentally ill but said the dispute was over the timing.

Mr Pownall told jurors Thomas had been through “a number of stressful situations”, including his parents’ separation, and there had been “alleged domestic violence”.

The Thomas family company was founded in the 1950s as Thomas Pies, selling sausage rolls, pies and pies across the South Wales Valleys.

In the 1970s it was renamed Peter’s Pies and is now Peter’s Food, based in Bedwas, County Caerphilly.

It was founded by the late Stan Thomas, who passed it on to his son Stan Jr. – Dylan Thomas’s grandfather – and Former Cardiff RFC chairman Peter dies in 2023.

They sold the company in 1988.