The Heirs of Owain Glyndwr (30 page)

62

‘I want to ask
you next about your brother, Caradog,' Ben said. ‘Of course, you have known him all your life. You have heard the evidence against him in this case. I'm not asking you to comment on that evidence, or express an opinion about it. But knowing Caradog as you do, how do you react to hearing what has been alleged against him in this case?'

She held her head in her hands for some time, before looking up again to reply.

‘I've been in shock ever since the day I was arrested, and I am in shock now. I have looked at it from every point of view I can think of, and I can't account for it. Caradog is an intellectual, a man of ideas. His version of nationalism is rather more political than mine, I think. His idea of an independent Wales may involve a greater degree of separation from England than mine. But I have never heard him advocate violence to achieve independence – or for any reason. I can't believe what I have heard, even in court during the trial. I have been sitting in the dock in disbelief, and even now I don't know how to make sense of it.'

‘You referred to the flooding of the Tryweryn Valley as something that affected you because of the link to your family. Was that something that affected Caradog, as far as you could see?'

‘Yes. We were both very angry, greatly distressed by it. We demonstrated against it, and helped with a large-scale publicity campaign, all to no avail. Yes, we did feel extremely bitter about it, but even then, I never heard Caradog say anything that made me think that he saw violence as a remedy.'

‘What about the Investiture itself?'

‘As I said before, I felt it was a very crass thing to do, and I am sure Caradog felt the same. But the most I ever heard from him were some colourful remarks about the Royal Family. He never once led me to think that he was interested in taking any violent action.'

Ben paused again.

‘At the same time, you have heard the evidence which has been given.'

‘Yes.'

‘And I must ask you this: did you have any knowledge of any plan in which Caradog was involved to plant a bomb at Caernarfon Castle?'

‘No. I did not.'

‘If you had known of it, would you have approved of, or condoned it?'

‘No. I would not.'

‘What would you have done?'

‘I would have told him that unless he abandoned the idea, I would go to the police and report it myself.'

‘Would you in fact have gone to the police?'

‘Yes, I would, and Caradog knows me well enough to know that I would do it.'

‘Did you know, before this trial began, of any group calling itself the Heirs of Owain Glyndŵr, or its name in Welsh, which I am afraid I am going to forget?'

‘
Etifeddion
Owain Glyndŵr
,' she replied. ‘That would be the name in Welsh. No. I had never heard that name used.'

‘Thank you. Next, I want to ask you about Dafydd Prosser, who you know as Dai Bach.'

‘Yes.'

‘Essentially I have the same questions about him. Please tell his Lordship and the jury how you met Mr Prosser.'

‘I met Dai Bach through Caradog. I never quite understood how the two of them became such good friends. They are like chalk and cheese. Caradog is an intellectual, very reserved, aloof even, in his manner. Dai Bach is quite the opposite. It's not that he isn't clever. He is. But he is an extrovert, a rugby player, the kind of man who will talk to anyone and get on with them. I know Caradog met him when he was doing some work for Plaid Cymru at some point, and the two of them hit it off instantly, even though Dai Bach was living over in Bangor. They spent a lot of time together in the evenings, and Caradog would bring Dai Bach to the house for dinner quite often. He was living on his own, and we weren't sure how well he was taking care of himself. To be honest, I rather took pity on him. We both thought he would probably subsist on beer and baked beans if we didn't feed him a few times a week.'

There was some laughter. Turning around slightly, Ben saw Dafydd Prosser smiling and nodding in the dock.

‘It's true, aye,' he said, loudly enough for everyone to hear. A warning look from the judge was enough for him to raise a hand in apology and sink back into his seat.

‘Did you ever discuss questions of nationalism with Dai Bach?'

‘Oh, yes, of course. But I think Dai Bach got whatever ideas he had from Caradog. He hung on Caradog's every word, and took his cue from him. He looked up to Caradog almost like an older brother.'

‘Did you ever hear Dai Bach advocate violence to gain independence for Wales?'

‘No.'

‘Did you ever hear him advocate violence for any purpose, such as disrupting the Investiture?'

‘No. Dai Bach came with us to rallies and demonstrations, and he was quite capable of shouting rude things at police officers. He could get very excited about rugby, but as far as I know he always took that out on the opposing loose-head prop. I never knew him advocate violence for any political reason, and again, I have been sitting through this trial in disbelief.'

‘But again, you have heard the evidence?'

‘Yes.'

‘So, my question is: were you ever aware of any plan involving Dai Bach to construct a bomb or to plant a bomb at Caernarfon Castle?'

‘No.'

‘Did you ever hear that he was involved with the Heirs of Owain Glyndŵr?'

‘No. Never.'

‘And again, if you had been made aware of those things, what would you have done?'

‘I would have told him that if he didn't give it up, I would go to the police myself and report it.'

‘Again, would you in fact have gone to the police?'

‘Yes, I would.'

Ben turned to Mr Justice Overton.

‘My Lord, I am now going to turn to other matters. I wonder whether we might have a short break?'

‘Yes, very well, Mr Schroeder. Twenty minutes, members of the jury, please.'

‘So far, so good,' Barratt observed, as they were leaving court.

‘Yes,' Ben agreed. ‘But it's what's coming next that will tell.'

63

‘Please tell the court
when you first met Trevor Hughes.'

She had prepared herself with a glass of water and a handkerchief. Ben saw that some of the confidence she had shown during the first part of her evidence had ebbed away, and her face was pale.

‘In 1961. I went to the
Tywysog
book shop not long after Trevor had taken it over,' she replied.

‘A bit louder, please, Mrs Hughes,' Ben said. ‘It's a large courtroom and it's important that his Lordship and the jury hear what you say.'

‘Yes. I'm sorry.'

‘That's all right. The
Tywysog
, of course, the jury will recall, is the book shop in Palace Street.'

‘Yes. It was at the end of October 1961. Trevor had just bought the shop from Madog. I called in one day.'

‘Why?'

‘Out of curiosity, mostly, I think. I wanted to see who could possibly have replaced Madog. Madog was an institution. He had been at the
Tywysog
for ever, or so it seemed anyway.'

‘So you knew the book shop well before Trevor arrived?'

‘Oh, yes, everyone knew the
Tywysog
. It was a landmark in Caernarfon. Caradog spent a lot of time there over the years, looking for books to buy, or just chatting with Madog. Books are such a big part of his life. It was difficult for him to stay away from there for long. I didn't go half as often as Caradog, but if I was shopping in town I would call in and browse for a few minutes. When Madog announced that he was selling up and retiring, it was like we were losing part of the town.'

‘So you went in and introduced yourself to Trevor?'

‘Yes.'

‘And what happened?'

She smiled.

‘That's a good question. I wasn't sure at the time. But something happened between us. We didn't say anything to acknowledge it, but it was there.'

‘Looking back now, did you fall in love?'

‘Yes. We did. There and then. I'm sure of it.'

‘What did happen at that first meeting?'

‘I heard him speaking to someone else. He spoke Welsh rather – well, uncertainly, as if he didn't have much confidence. It was only to be expected, really. He had lived in England for so long and he hadn't used his Welsh for a long time. He was doing the best he could, but I could tell that he was having trouble with the local accent in Caernarfon.'

‘And what did you do?'

‘I deliberately spoke to him slowly, in a very formal, almost literary Welsh. Spoken Welsh is very different from its written form. If I'd spoken to most people in Caernarfon as I did that day, they would have laughed at me. But it seemed to work. He responded to me. I think he was grateful I had taken the trouble. And oddly enough, to this day, I still speak Welsh with Trevor quite differently to the way I would speak with anyone else, even though he has no problem understanding Caernarfon Welsh now.'

‘How did you meet again?'

‘Caradog invited him home to dinner one evening, quite soon after our first meeting. Caradog had been in the shop and he had dragged Trevor out for a pint when he closed for the day. That wasn't unusual for Caradog. He quite often brought people he found interesting home for dinner – to be cooked by me, of course – often with no more than half an hour's warning.'

‘I'm sure that must have been a challenge.'

She smiled. ‘I got used to it over the years.'

‘And how did you find Trevor on that occasion, your first dinner at home?'

‘It was very strange. We were listening to Caradog holding forth as usual, and Dai Bach weighing in and agreeing with him as usual, and we were joining in, too. But it was as though we had our own private conversation going on in the background, a conversation only we could hear, consisting mostly of smiles and glances. I had the feeling that I was smiling all the time, and I was sure Caradog must have noticed. We shook hands when he left, and I think we both knew by then that something special had happened.'

‘How did it progress from there?'

‘As soon as Caradog brought anyone home for dinner, they became a family friend, and family friends were always invited back, so I saw quite a bit of him at home. After a while it became normal for him to be there, and after dinner he would often come into my music room and listen to me play, sometimes for hours on end. He would just close his eyes and listen. It meant so much to me, because no one else in my family had much of an interest in music.'

‘Did you continue to call into the
Tywysog
?'

‘I called into the shop as often as I could. Before long, I was there most days. I didn't stay too long, but I tried to call in almost every day.'

‘So you started going out together?'

‘Oh, yes. At first we went out for coffee or a drink after he closed the shop. Then we went out for a meal sometimes. After a few months, he started to look for classical concerts to take me to. That took some doing. There wasn't much going on in the Caernarfon area. We went to Chester, and to Aberystwyth once, and sometimes we even went down to Cardiff to hear the orchestra, which brought back happy memories for me. Eventually, we became lovers.'

‘As far as you could judge, how did Caradog feel about your relationship with Trevor?'

‘He seemed very happy for me. He seemed to like Trevor, and everything he said was very encouraging.'

‘And did there come a time when Trevor asked you to marry him?'

She laughed.

‘As a matter of fact,
I
asked
him
,' she replied. ‘I told him it was an old Welsh custom for a woman to propose to a man.'

‘Is that an old Welsh custom?' Ben asked.

‘There's no reason why it shouldn't be,' she replied. There was some laughter in the jury box, and even a smile on the bench.

‘In any case, yes, we agreed to get married.'

‘You were married in Caernarfon in a quiet ceremony in April 1963.'

‘Yes.'

‘And your son Harri was born in May 1965.'

She bowed her head.

‘Yes,' she replied softly.

64

‘Before I come to
what happened on the evening of 30 June and the early morning of 1 July, let me ask you this. In all the time you have known Trevor Hughes, have you ever had any reason to believe that he held any extreme nationalist views?'

‘No.'

‘In all the time you have known him, have you ever had any reason to believe that he would be prepared to use violence to protest against anything going on in Wales?'

‘No.'

‘What were his feelings about nationalism and events in Wales as far as you could tell?'

‘You have to understand. Trevor is from a Welsh family, but he had spent most of his life in London, and I am not sure that his feelings have ever run as deeply as Caradog's, or even mine. He came with us to all the rallies and demonstrations; he worked for Plaid Cymru with us at election time; he did all those things. When we talked about Wales over dinner, which we often did, he always agreed with Caradog, but I never knew how much of that was simply politeness, because Trevor is a very polite and considerate man. It's one of the things I like most about him. I don't know how deeply he really feels about Welsh questions. I'm not saying his feelings aren't real; I'm sure they are. But you couldn't call him an extremist.'

‘Did you ever see him act violently when you went to the rallies and demonstrations?'

‘No. I don't know quite how to say this, but Trevor is the kind of man who wouldn't need to resort to violence.'

‘What do you mean by that?'

‘There is an air of confidence about him. He has a natural authority. It's hard to describe. There is just something about him. We had some tense moments at demos, of course, but he had a way of calming things down without even raising his voice. It is the way he holds himself and deals with people. He can get people to talk or back away, and so he can defuse situations which might get out of hand otherwise. I have seen him do it any number of times, but I still can't explain exactly how he does it.'

‘You know, of course, from the evidence given at this trial, that in April of last year he went to Belfast with Caradog and Dai Bach?'

‘Yes.'

‘Did you know about that at the time?'

‘I knew they were going to Ireland, yes. I didn't know they were going to Belfast, and I certainly didn't know they had plans to meet anyone.'

‘What was your understanding about that trip?'

‘Trevor told me…'

Evan Roberts had sprung to his feet.

‘My Lord, I must object to that question. It calls for hearsay.'

‘I am not asking it to prove what actually happened in Ireland,' Ben replied immediately. ‘This witness has no knowledge of that. I am asking it only to show her state of mind, what she knew or didn't know. It is not hearsay for that purpose.'

‘I agree,' Mr Justice Overton said. ‘You may answer, Mrs Hughes.'

‘Trevor told me that they felt they had all been working too hard, and they could do with a few days away to relax, have a few drinks, and so on. I had the impression that Ireland was his idea. It is a popular choice if you live in North Wales, because you are so close to the ferry at Holyhead.'

‘So you approved?'

‘It seemed like a good idea to me. They had been working hard, and I thought a break would do all of them good. I was glad that Caradog had agreed to go. It is hard for him to wind down, and I thought it might help.'

‘Did you know where in Ireland they were going?'

‘I assumed they would stay in Dublin. I'm not sure whether Trevor told me that, or whether it was just what I assumed. I may just have taken it for granted. Most people do stay in Dublin, if they are just going for a few days.'

‘I want to ask you now about the events of the evening of 30 June and the early morning of 1 July last year. What were you doing on that day?'

She sighed deeply.

‘It was a normal day, just a normal day. Harri had nursery school. Trevor dropped him off on his way in to the
Tywysog
. I had one pupil in the morning, an elderly lady whose house I went to once a week for a piano lesson, and I had two children in the afternoon who came to me, one for piano, one for cello. I made myself a sandwich for lunch in between and snatched a few minutes of practice for myself. After the second lesson, I picked Harri up from nursery, took him home and fed him, played with him until bedtime and put him to bed. That was my day.'

‘Did you have any plans for the evening?'

‘No. There was one final demonstration scheduled in the
Maes
. There had been one almost every evening for a couple of weeks as the day approached. But they were running out of steam. A lot of people had decided to leave town for several days as a final protest, so there didn't seem a lot of point. They had held a rehearsal that day at the Castle, I think, either afternoon or early evening, so the police were going to be out in force. In any case, I didn't have the energy to do it again, and I had no one to look after Harri. Trevor said he would show his face there for a while. He was going to meet Dai Bach. They would attend the demo, probably have a pint or two, and after that I was expecting Trevor to come home.'

‘As far as you knew, where was Caradog that evening?'

‘Working at the Castle, I assumed.'

‘Did there come a time during that evening when you received a telephone call?'

‘Yes.'

‘From whom?

‘From Dai Bach.'

Ben glanced briefly at Gareth, who nodded.

‘Do you remember what time that was?'

‘I wasn't watching the time, but I am sure it was somewhere between 11.30 and midnight.'

‘Had Trevor returned home?'

‘No.'

‘Were you at all worried?'

‘No, not really. When you get going with Dai Bach over a couple of pints, it can turn into a bit of a long evening. So I wasn't worried about Trevor. But I was surprised when Dai Bach called, because I had assumed they were together.'

‘What did he say to you?'

‘He said something about having to meet a friend with his suitcase because he was going away for a few days. He said Trevor had agreed to pick him up in the car to drive him to Bangor for his suitcase, but he hadn't come. I offered to help.'

‘Had Trevor said anything about driving Dai Bach to Bangor?'

‘No, not a word. If he was going to do that, he would have to come back home to pick up the car, and I would have expected him to look in and tell me where he was going. I looked outside and the car was there, so I knew Trevor hadn't taken it.'

‘Were you worried at that point?'

‘I wasn't worried, exactly. I just didn't know what was happening. I thought there had probably been some mix up over the time, but I didn't have any way to contact Trevor.'

‘What did you decide to do?'

‘Dai Bach sounded very anxious, for some reason. It seemed strange to me. It wasn't that he was going away for a few days. As I say, a lot of people were doing that. It was more his tone of voice. Anyway, since he sounded a bit upset, I thought the simplest thing would be to drive him myself. It's not that far to Bangor. I knew I could take him over there, pick up the suitcase, and drop him off in the
Maes
within the hour, if the traffic wasn't too bad and there were no police roadblocks. We weren't expecting the police to close the town centre to traffic until later in the morning.'

‘And did you do that?'

‘Yes. I woke Harri and put him in his seat in the back of the car with a couple of toys, and drove to the
Maes
. Dai Bach had asked me to meet him outside the Castle Hotel, which I did.'

‘Did you ask him about what was going on?'

‘Yes. I asked him where Trevor was. He said he didn't know. He said they had got separated during the demo. He was expecting Trevor to meet him with the car, but he never came. Beyond that he didn't say that much at all.'

‘Were you worried by now?'

‘I'm not sure I would say worried. I did sense that something was not quite right. I did wonder what had happened to Trevor, but I wasn't really worried about him. Trevor can look after himself. I was mostly concerned for Dai Bach. He was on edge, quite agitated. That's not unusual in itself for Dai Bach, but this was different.'

‘Did you drive to Bangor?'

‘Yes. But that was another surprise. We drove to Bangor, but not to his house. Instead, he directed me to a garage.'

‘Before he directed you, did you know where the garage was?'

‘No. I had never been to that street before.'

‘Did you ask him about why he wanted to go to the garage?'

‘Yes. He said he used it for storage, and that was where he had left his suitcase.'

‘Did you think anything about that?'

‘Again, it seemed a bit odd. But by that time, I had had enough. I just wanted to take him back to Caernarfon and go home. Harri was awake again by the time we got to Bangor, and he wasn't happy about not being in bed, so I was trying to calm him down as well as concentrating on driving.'

‘Did you see the suitcase when Dai Bach collected it from the garage?'

‘No. I was turning round to attend to Harri. I was aware that he was putting the suitcase in the boot, and I saw him slam the boot door shut. Then he got back into the car and we drove back to Caernarfon. I'm not sure we said another word until we arrived back.'

‘Where did you drop him?'

‘When I turned off the Bangor Road towards the
Maes
, he asked me to turn down New Street, and we stopped just before the corner of Chapel Street.'

‘Then what happened?'

She did not respond for some time.

‘You will have to excuse me,' she said. ‘I'm not feeling well. Could we stop for a while?'

Ben looked up at Mr Justice Overton, who nodded.

‘We will rise for lunch,' he said. ‘Two o'clock, members of the jury, please. Mrs Hughes, you know that you are not allowed to speak to your counsel or solicitors until you have finished giving evidence?'

She nodded. ‘Yes.'

‘Very well. Two o'clock.'

‘She will be all right,' Eifion said, as they left court. ‘It's just that you're getting to the really painful part now. Her memory still has gaps, and it really hurts her to talk about it. But she's a strong girl. She will get through it.'

‘I hope you're right,' Ben replied.