Who was Sandra Newton and what happened to her?
SANDRA Newton was a young woman who lived in a small town in the south of Wales.
She fell victim to a monster who also stole the futures of two other young women.
Who was Sandra Newton?
Sandra Newton was killed when she was only 15 years old.
She was out clubbing with her boyfriend on a Saturday night and was last seen walking home in the village of Britton Ferry.
Sandra’s death occurred three months before the double killing of Geraldine Hughes and Pauline Floyd.
It was not until 30 years after her murder that her killer was found and she received justice.
What happened to Sandra Newton?
After leaving a nightclub, she bid farewell and left her boyfriend to walk home.
It was reported that she was a hitchhiker, which is how she fell into the clutches of her killer.
She was found the next day by a passerby, strangled and her body dumped close to a disused colliery.
It was discovered upon examination that she had been raped and strangled to death.
Her killer earned the nickname the Saturday Night Strangler from his methods.
Sandra’s friend, Theresa May, spoke to the BBC and said: “I’ve been going down to her grave for 49 years and it’s hard to believe she’s there,
“My beautiful friend. She had her life taken away from her, her future taken away from her.
“I still think about her now. All these things that we could have and should have done together.
“But after all of those years, she can finally rest in peace now.”
Who committed the Steeltown Murders?
The Steeltown murders were committed by one man, Joseph Kappen.
Joseph Kappen passed away from Lung cancer in 1990 without being brought before a judge and jury to answer for his crimes.
He was eventually found out and convicted 30 years after his last known murder thanks to a breakthrough in DNA testing.
A break in the cold case came when there was a hit on the DNA found on the victims’ personal belongings.
The DNA matched a car thief in Wales, however, the car thief would have been a child at the time of the murders.
This discovery eventually led to the courts allowing the body of Joseph Kappen to be exhumed.
When samples from his femur and teeth were tested, it came back as a positive match to the 30-year-old DNA.