Bone find revives missing woman riddle

The discovery of bones in a pub's outbuildings could turn into a double-murder inquiry after claims that two women went missing from a Welsh village about the same time.

The discovery of bones in a pub's outbuildings could turn into a double-murder inquiry after claims that two women went missing from a Welsh village about the same time.

Forensic scientists arrived in Ystradgynlais, near Swansea, yesterday to establish whether the remains are those of Barbara Maddocks, landlady of the Aubrey Arms, who vanished in 1973. Detectives were also searching archives following village gossip about the alleged disappearance of one of her friends, named locally as Esther Lewis or Williams.

Police launched a search and dug up a roundabout and part of a road after Mrs Maddocks' disappearance but found nothing. Her husband, Bill, who died of natural causes eight years ago, told detectives he had been visiting friends and that when he returned to the pub, she was gone.

Locally, it was thought that she had returned to her native Australia after a row. However, if the remains, discovered during building work in the beer store, turn out to be hers, attention could also be brought to the second disappearance.

"We're not ruling anything in or out at the moment," said Dai Davies, spokesman for Dyfed Powys police. "There have been reports that a second woman, a friend of Mrs Maddocks, went missing at roughly the same time, so we're checking our records. At this stage, these are claims coming from the media and village gossip."

Scientists from the Home Office Forensic Science Laboratory in Chepstow arrived at the scene with an "environment profiler", described by police as an expert in establishing the provenance of the remains. They are thought to be human but no formal statement has been made by detectives.

The Maddocks' son, Hywel, who took over the running of the pub, was not available yesterday. The pub was closed while the forensic examination was under way. Mr Maddocks was said by staff to be on holiday in Cyprus. "He has been told about the discovery by one of his relatives," said one. "Naturally, he is pretty upset and doesn't want to talk about it."

Mrs Maddocks was 47 when she vanished. Villagers said the marriage did not appear to be a happy. One said: "Bill wasn't a very nice man and made Barbara do all the hard work. You can imagine all the talk at the time but Bill insisted he knew nothing about it."

Mr Maddocks senior told police at the time that he had been visiting friends at Cwmtwrch near by and that Mrs Maddocks had gone when he returned an hour later.

But a cleaner working in the pub did not see her leave. Nor did Hywel, who was upstairs at the time.