The murder of Mike O'Leary: The painstaking investigation of catching a Welsh killer without a body
On the night Mike O'Leary went missing in January 2020, his family received a text from his phone.
It read, "I'm so sorry x".
From that moment on, Mike’s eldest son Wayne knew something wasn’t right.
"Dad was a proud Welshman. I didn’t believe for a minute that he would send me a message like that in English – especially if this was the last message he was ever going to send” said Wayne.
This is the remarkable story of how a text message and missing person enquiry turned into a complex and challenging murder investigation, which involved police sieving through thousands of hours of CCTV and tonnes of earth in the hope of finding one crucial bit of evidence.
Although CCTV footage eventually led detectives to a prime suspect, there was still no sign of Mike O'Leary.
So, how do you solve a murder without a body?
A new ITV documentary No Body Recovered, which airs on Thursday 29 July at 9pm, follows the investigation team, as they attempt to solve just what happened to Mike O’Leary.
With exclusive access to the detectives, crime scene investigators and forensic specialists, it follows the meticulous murder investigation in the days, weeks and months that followed Mr O'Leary's disappearance.
In the days after he was reported missing, there was still no sign of Mike O'Leary and the team grew increasingly concerned for his welfare.
After tracking Mr O’Leary’s work phone to a derelict farm owned by local builder, businessman and friend Andrew Jones, detectives turned their attention to him.
For Detective Chief Inspector Paul Jones and senior investigating officer on the case, Andrew Jones was their worst nightmare as a suspect.
"First of all he’s somebody with no previous convictions, never come to police attention, apart from he’s a very successful businessman.
"But he’s a builder, he has access to machinery, access to ongoing building sites, building works, foundations, his capability to dispose of a body is - I would say - probably the most difficult one to investigate."
The team begin their searches of acres of land and numerous buildings on the farm, desperate for clues.
A police sniffer dog discovered two shirt buttons in gravel which, following examination, revealed a tiny trace of blood.
It was invisible to the naked eye, but DNA analysis on this blood proved the blood belonged to Mike.
Eventually, Andrew Jones admitted meeting Mike O'Leary on the night he went missing, and is the last person to have seen him.
But without a body, detectives cannot prove that Mike is dead - and are unable to charge Andrew Jones with murder.
Officers start trawling through more CCTV in the hope of finding further evidence where they discover footage of Mike's truck being driven to the river side.
Mobile phone data suggests it is Andrew Jones driving. Another CCTV camera shows a cyclist making the return journey a short time later, heading in the direction of the derelict farm.
Detectives are convinced it is Andrew Jones on the bike after having ditched his murdered friend’s truck.
"But... it’s only the start of the enquiry", DCI Jones added.
"A lot of people don’t understand that once you charge somebody that’s the beginning of it. We haven't located Mike, we still haven't tied up a lot of loose ends... there’s just so much more to do."
Coupled with coronavirus restrictions and a devastating storm, the next seven months was a challenging time for the investigation team as they searched tens of acres of land, river beds and 70 tonnes of rubble from Jones’ builders yard, in a desperate search for more evidence.
“Nobody can remember anything like it during their time in the force, but one thing was certain – nothing was going to stop this investigation. The team were determined that they were going to do everything within their power to give answers to the family and Covid-19 wasn’t going to stop us,” said Llŷr Williams, Deputy SIO on the investigation.
Eventually, the team found a piece of Mr O’Leary’s small intestine in an oil barrel at Jones’ home address, near the remains of a fire, that had been captured on Jones own CCTV camera at his builders yard.
Tracking his movements through digital analysis, phone tracking, CCTV and the use of health apps, they built a timeline of the killing and Jones’ efforts in getting rid of the body and the evidence.
ITV Cymru Wales documentary team were given exclusive access to tapes of Jones being questioned by detectives, where he refuses to reveal what he has done with Mike’s body saying: “I want to go home to see my family that’s all.”
DCI Paul Jones, described Jones as "an evil individual."
"He’s been a habitual liar throughout this investigation. He’s changed accounts numerous times."
Jones will spend the minimum of 30 years in prison for killing the man who had been his friend for a quarter of a century, but he still refuses to say what he has done with the body.
“We will never know exactly what he has done with Dad – that’s something that we think about all the time,” said Mike's son Wayne.
“What he did to Dad, there is no way of undoing what he did – there are no words.
“That day in the court – he looked at us and then put his head straight down – coward. The way he has tried to deceive everybody – he thought he was so clever doing what he did.”
No Body Recovered airs 29 July on ITV at 9pm
The programme will be available on catch up via the ITV Hub.