00:00:04
[music playing] NARRATOR: Sisters
worried because they can't get hold of their mum.
00:00:11
One of them, Sophia Newton. The police arrived, and
we followed them upstairs. And then they turned around
to the top of the stairs
00:00:18
and said that she was there. And we had to go out because
it was a crime scene. NARRATOR: What has happened?
00:00:24
The Newtons appear a
picture perfect family. As far as anybody would
be able to tell, a really
00:00:29
normal tight-knit family. NARRATOR: But as police and
paramedics raced to the scene,
00:00:36
details emerge of a couple at
war, Kelvin and Assia Newton. Most of his temper seemed
to be directed towards Assia.
00:00:46
She was the focus
for everything. NARRATOR: In South
Wales, has murder come calling at a family home?
00:00:54
[theme music] [music playing] One hot, still July
morning in summer 2013, Kelvin Newton dropped off
his middle daughter, Sophia,
00:01:29
for work and headed
towards the home that Sophia shared with
her mother and two sisters.
00:01:34
On the afternoon
of the 14th of July, Kelvin was seen entering the
house where Assia was living.
00:01:43
And he knew that she was
on her own in the house because he had just
taken Sophia to work.
00:01:50
NARRATOR: The couple's youngest
daughter was on holiday. The eldest had
recently moved out.
00:01:54
The CCTV footage from
the neighbor's house shows him going in
and then leaving with just an 18-minute gap.
00:02:06
NARRATOR: Later that night,
the first signs for Sophia Newton something was wrong.
00:02:11
My dad dropped me to work. And my mum was supposed to be
picking me up at 10 o'clock.
00:02:15
And she wasn't there,
which wasn't like her. So I tried ringing her. There was no answer.
00:02:19
So I rung my older sister. She answered the phone
and said that she couldn't get hold of her either.
00:02:25
Nobody could get any
contact from Assia. And everybody became
very concerned about it.
00:02:34
NARRATOR: Sophia
and her sister went together to the
family home, where they were unable to get in.
00:02:39
In the end, we
said, we're going to have to ring the
police because we couldn't get through.
00:02:43
NARRATOR: Meanwhile, on a
lonely side street in Bridgend, a pedestrian
noticed a car parked
00:02:48
up, lights on, a man inside-- Kelvin Newton. TONY KENT: Kelvin was
in an industrial state,
00:02:54
having made an attempt
upon his own life. The attempt seems to
have been a serious one.
00:02:59
He had taken 40 tablets, and
he had slit his own wrists. NARRATOR: Shocked, the passerby
asked what could they do.
00:03:07
They've just come across
a man who needs help. And that he's harmed himself,
he's taken an overdose.
00:03:12
And they're going
to ring the police, or they're going to ring
an ambulance because he's
00:03:15
vulnerable and he needs help. NARRATOR: As Kelvin was
stabilized in hospital and prepped for surgery on
the severed nerves and tendons
00:03:22
in his wrist, police had arrived
at the Newton family home, where Sophia and
her older sister
00:03:28
waited, their
trepidation growing. We thought that she might
have just fallen asleep,
00:03:32
and she hadn't sort of
realized the time or whatever. But then as time went on, and we
were sort of banging the door,
00:03:38
and there was still
no sign, there was-- we thought there may
be some-- she could've, like,
00:03:43
harmed herself in some way. NARRATOR: They would discover
the truth was much worse.
00:03:49
The police arrived,
and they managed to get in through the door. So they went upstairs.
00:03:53
We followed them upstairs. And then they turned around
at the top of the stairs and said that she was there.
00:03:59
And we had to go out because
it was a crime scene. NARRATOR: What had happened
behind these closed doors?
00:04:07
In what neighbors thought
was a perfect family home, what was the truth
of the marriage
00:04:11
of Mr. And Mrs. Newton? When Kelvin Newton first
met Assia Lynn Sullivan, he had little experience
of a loving family life.
00:04:27
He has not one of
the best upbringings. He came from a home
where he had parents
00:04:35
who would frequently drink. There was a history of violence
within his own family home.
00:04:42
NARRATOR: Kelvin's daughter
Sophia witnessed the impact of his troubled childhood.
00:04:47
Dad had suffered from mental
health since a very young age and used to take, like,
loads of different medication
00:04:54
for depression,
antipsychotics, and stuff. NARRATOR: As a young man,
he fell foul of the law,
00:05:01
serving time in jail. JANE MONCKTON SMITH:
At quite a young age, he started to use violence to
solve his problems, you know,
00:05:08
as the people were around him. And I just think it
was a language he was comfortable with
and something that
00:05:14
just carried on in his life. NARRATOR: Assia and Kelvin had
known each other briefly at
00:05:20
school before parting
ways and meeting again a couple of years later. Assia and Kelvin met
at the local rugby club.
00:05:31
Assia was a single mum. Her life was set up quite well. She was quite happy. She was financially
supported by her parents.
00:05:40
She had somewhere to live. NARRATOR: It was 1988. Assia and Kelvin were
both just 19 years old.
00:05:47
Kevin wasn't fazed by the idea
of dating a single mother. In fact, he jumped at the
chance to be a family with Assia
00:05:53
and her son, Daniel. They moved in together,
and they got married. NARRATOR: A big white wedding
at the local golf club.
00:06:02
Within a couple of years, they
were having their own child. Things did move quite
quickly for them.
00:06:09
NARRATOR: In the first
few years of the '90s, the young couple worked hard
to create the perfect life
00:06:13
for their growing family. Kelvin had his own business. My dad used to
do building work.
00:06:19
And he was really successful. He'd done quite a few,
like, celebrities, sort of around the areas,
working on their houses.
00:06:28
NARRATOR: Before
long, he was working on a home for his own family. And initially, things went well.
00:06:34
They found a house up for
auction that needed some work. And it seemed like the
perfect home for them
00:06:40
because Kelvin could then
use his building skills, build a proper
family home for them.
00:06:46
They pretty much
knocked most of it down. So, like, just,
it was the shell. And then he built everything,
like, to make it into a house
00:06:53
then. NARRATOR: The couple's
firstborn was a daughter. Two more baby girls followed
in quick succession.
00:07:01
Kelvin and Assia
were able to give their children all the things
they themselves had never had.
00:07:06
The family owned
quite a lot of land in Pencoed and some horses. SOPHIA NEWTON: We used to
go on holiday at least,
00:07:15
like, abroad at
least once a year. We used to go on,
like, day trips, like, all of us as a family.
00:07:22
Anybody from the
outside looking in would have thought that he had
learned so much from what he
00:07:29
didn't have as a child and
had turned it into something that was just a privileged
life for his children
00:07:37
and for his wife. We were always
aware of the, like, happy times that we used
to have and how lucky
00:07:44
we were for having them
to feel like family times and the places we
used to go and stuff.
00:07:50
NARRATOR: An idyllic
home life and a couple who were prominent members
of the local community,
00:07:55
as Bridgend native Beth Edwards,
now a national news journalist, remembers. BETH EDWARDS: Just your sort
of normal, salt of the Earth,
00:08:04
local family, really. You definitely see Kelvin more
in the community than you would
00:08:11
Assia, whether it was
through his job as a builder, or whether it was tending to
the horses on his dad's farm,
00:08:20
or whether it was in
his role as kitman with the local rugby club. NARRATOR: Rugby was Kelvin's
passion, one he shared
00:08:29
with two of his four children. Daniel and Sophia
seemed to enjoy rugby and sport like their dad.
00:08:38
When my brother
was younger, he played for Pencoed Rugby Club. So my dad took up
coaching and done
00:08:45
his coaching through college. Me and my sister, there was
only 10 minutes between us.
00:08:49
So when I was little, my mum
used to always be with Sameera. And then because I was
a little bit older,
00:08:55
I'd always be with my dad. So he used to take me to rugby. We used to go, and I got the
garden pass and the rugby ball.
00:09:03
Kelvin even signed
up to be the kitman at the local rugby club,
which takes up I think
00:09:08
about three evenings a week-- a huge, huge commitment. This role would include
things like making
00:09:18
sure every member
of the team had their kit ready for match day. And then he would also be
responsible for equipment,
00:09:27
so things like the rugby
balls and cones for training and things like that. SOPHIA NEWTON: Both of us
used to love going down there.
00:09:35
With rugby, it's
the best community you can get because
you feel like a family, and everyone's there
to sort of support
00:09:41
you and look out for you. NARRATOR: The club was at the
center of social life for half
00:09:45
of the family, at least. I can't remember an occasion
where we would have seen Assia
00:09:50
and the other two daughters,
Charmaine and Sameera, at the rugby. NARRATOR: In fact, unlike her
husband, Kelvin, Assia's face
00:09:59
was not well-known in the area. Kelvin didn't like her venturing
too far from the family home.
00:10:05
Assia had a number
of part-time jobs in local shops and so forth. But they were never
full-time jobs.
00:10:15
She would be in one job. And then that
would end abruptly. NARRATOR: No steady job,
rarely seen out socially--
00:10:23
was this by accident or design? An early sign perhaps of
a controlling husband. Kelvin would do things
that prohibited her
00:10:33
from being able
to get to her job, wouldn't give her lifts back
and forth, wouldn't pick her up,
00:10:40
would make her late. And so she never seemed
to find a job that she could stay in for very long.
00:10:49
NARRATOR: Assia's life appeared
to be constrained by Kelvin's idea of how she should live.
00:10:54
You sometimes see in
relationships like this where the men are
abusive and controlling,
00:10:58
they don't want their partners
to have any financial freedom. They don't want
them to have a job.
00:11:02
They don't want them
to have decision-making responsibilities or
anything like that.
00:11:06
They want to keep their
lives as small as possible, keep control of them, and not
allow them to have, you know,
00:11:12
like, a broad interest in life. NARRATOR: For a while, Assia
abided by the rules Kelvin
00:11:19
set for her life. But then, something
happened that shattered whatever fragile stability Mr.
and Mrs. Newton had arrived at.
00:11:27
Daniel fell from
a moving vehicle and received very,
very serious injuries. As soon as my dad used to
drink, he used to turn nasty.
00:11:39
Everything happened,
and then he turned to the bottom of a bottle. [music playing]
00:11:53
NARRATOR: Without
a steady job, Assia was essentially a stay-at-home
mom to her four children.
00:11:58
It was a role she
appeared good at. Mum used to be amazing. She always used to make-- like,
Christmas, it would be, like,
00:12:05
a massive family get-together. She couldn't do
enough for any of us. If we were struggling
with anything,
00:12:11
she'd always be there. Emotionally, she'd,
like, always make-- take us to our appointments,
take us to doctors'
00:12:17
appointments and stuff. We were always-- we
were lucky like that. NARRATOR: Assia's role as a
homemaker was also something
00:12:23
that suited her husband. She was looking
after the children so that also fulfilled
a need in Kelvin
00:12:30
probably to be the
provider, to be the father. This is his identity. JESSICA TAYLOR: To the outsider,
Kelvin appears to be, you know,
00:12:38
this-- he's a provider. He's a good person. He has good relationships. He's got a good business.
00:12:44
It's going well.
It's successful. He works at the rugby club. He's taken on Assia's child
from a previous relationship.
00:12:49
So therefore, you
know, it looks-- he's portrayed as a positive
member of the community.
00:12:54
NARRATOR: Dr. Jessica Taylor,
a forensic psychologist, believes it wasn't
just about Kelvin
00:12:59
restricting Assia's
access to money by getting in the way
of any part-time jobs.
00:13:04
It was also about
restricting her access to the support of colleagues
who knew her well.
00:13:10
If they don't spend
any time around her, you don't get a feel
for if she's OK. She's not able to
disclose to anyone.
00:13:17
She's not able to build
any trusting relationships, where somebody is able
to then say, are you OK?
00:13:21
Is everything OK in
your relationship? Because you don't seem OK. I don't see you around
anymore, and things like that.
00:13:28
It would appear
that the controlling nature of the marriage
was there from day one.
00:13:37
NARRATOR: But did
anyone at the time notice trouble in
the Newton marriage? Some incidents were
hard to explain.
00:13:44
Assia had turned up one
day in the local community with a shaved head. She had told people that she
had done it for charity when,
00:13:54
in actual fact,
Kelvin had shaved her head as a
punishment for something that she had done
wrong in his eyes.
00:14:02
That isn't violence
that is going to be over in five minutes. That violence, she's going to
have to carry around with her
00:14:11
until her hair grows back. She's going to be
humiliated, ashamed. It's so very cruel
and is an extremely
00:14:21
effective control mechanism. He wants to keep her inside
the house under his control.
00:14:30
NARRATOR: Kelvin's ability
to control his wife began to crumble around the
4th of May, a Sunday, in 2008.
00:14:36
On a stormy overcast night,
tragedy struck the Newtons. May 2008 was a real turning
point for this family.
00:14:49
My brother went up to
Bristol on a night out. NARRATOR: Daniel
Sullivan, 21 years old,
00:14:55
who had recently become a
father for the second time. Later on that night,
we were all in the house,
00:14:59
and there was a knock on
the door from a neighbor. He said that he wanted to
speak to my mum and dad.
00:15:04
Called them in
the porch and said that Daniel had been involved
in an accident in Bristol.
00:15:09
NARRATOR: Daniel had traveled
from Pencoed to Bristol in a minibus with his friends.
00:15:14
They'd come to the
traffic lights, ready to go. And someone shouted,
oh, boys [inaudible]
00:15:20
so my brother went to
get out of the back and fell out of the fire
exit door at the back.
00:15:25
And the car hit
him in mid-flight. Daniel fell from
a moving vehicle and received very,
very serious injuries.
00:15:33
He was taken to the hospital. And he was actually
on life support. NARRATOR: Assia, Kelvin,
and their daughters
00:15:39
drove to Bristol, an hour away. They pulled us into a
room with a liaison officer
00:15:45
and told us that he'd been
in a road traffic accident. He-- they were
clearing him-- his,
00:15:51
like, body, blood, and stuff up. And then my mom and dad
had to go and identify him to make sure it was him.
00:15:57
And then they were putting
him into intensive care. We were just all
taking our [inaudible]
00:16:06
to go in to see him. My nan and auntie and that
come up then the next day. And everything was
just sort of-- we
00:16:15
weren't really sure
what-- if it was going to take a
turn for the worse or if he was going
to get better.
00:16:20
But within two days, they had
to make the decision to turn off Daniel's life support.
00:16:26
NARRATOR: The family gathered
to say goodbye to Daniel. They called us all
in and said they were
00:16:30
taking the life support off. We were only allowed about
10, 15 minutes with him before they had to take
him down to surgery
00:16:37
because he was
donating his organs. NARRATOR: For a few weeks,
shock and the practicalities
00:16:42
of dealing with Daniel's death
kept Assia and Kelvin busy. They were just
numb, everything.
00:16:48
You just didn't feel,
didn't feel right. Assia took the decision
to donate his organs.
00:16:56
And as a grieving
mum, it seemed to me that she took a lot of pride
and comfort from the fact
00:17:06
that her son was able to live
on in helping other people. And Assia did some
press interviews.
00:17:16
There was a sense that she
was struggling and wasn't afraid to admit that
she was struggling
00:17:21
with the loss of her son. Whereas Kelvin had
gone to ground somewhat in terms of keeping
it to himself
00:17:31
and being stoic in his grief
and internalizing a lot of it. NARRATOR: The community
rallied around.
00:17:39
The news of Daniel's death
hit Bridgend really hard. And the nature of his
death was a real tragedy.
00:17:48
And it's a type of
thing that people were talking about for weeks and
months after it had happened.
00:17:57
So it really impacted
the community. And the thing is, with
Bridgend, the rugby club
00:18:02
is the heart of the community. And Daniel had been involved
in both Bridgend Rugby Club,
00:18:09
and he'd also played for
his local team in Pencoed. So you had a rugby
community that
00:18:16
came together to grieve
and support Kelvin and Assia and the three girls. NARRATOR: Once the shock of
Daniel's death had receded,
00:18:26
Assia and Kelvin will have
to cope with their grief. It was very soon clear
that both were struggling.
00:18:33
Daniel's death had a profound
impact on the entire family. It was as if from that day on
that my mum had sort of passed
00:18:41
away slightly as well, like
she was never the same person as she was beforehand.
00:18:46
Everything just sort
of crumbled from there on, really, as a family. Assia went into
a deep depression.
00:18:54
She withdrew from the world. I think that Assia prided
itself on being a good mum,
00:19:04
as best a mum that she could be. And she lived for her children. And I think the
death of her only son
00:19:13
gave her one last
piece of hope in life. She'd spend hours
down the grave, like, making sure it was clean,
cutting the grass down there.
00:19:21
She used to spend, like,
hours on end, even at, like, 9 o'clock in
the night and stuff.
00:19:25
She'd stay down there. NARRATOR: Grief
for Kelvin Newton took a different complexion.
00:19:32
Kelvin, throughout this
time, had still been suffering from mental health issues.
00:19:38
He had them under control. He had previously
been a heavy drinker. He had that under control.
00:19:43
He hadn't touched a
drop for 10 years. That all changed. The mental health issues
became far more severe.
00:19:50
He became a heavy drinker again. BETH EDWARDS: He
would regularly drink 10 pints of very strong beer.
00:19:58
And he was unable to
control his mental health issues when he was under
the influence of alcohol.
00:20:05
You could tell with my dad
when he was sort of going to-- when he was getting
nastier and nastier.
00:20:10
And the more bottles
were going down, the more you could
see it in him that he was going to change and snap.
00:20:16
NARRATOR: When Kelvin snapped,
the whole family knew about it. He would smash objects and
smash windows and punch doors
00:20:26
and kick doors. His moving between
depression and almost mania or severe anger started
to dominate the girls' lives.
00:20:39
They became very
frightened of him. And his temper tantrums
became very violent.
00:20:43
And they remember
him throwing things. Could be a cup one time,
but could be a microwave
00:20:49
or a television another time. NARRATOR: But the main
target of Kelvin's temper was not his daughters.
00:20:55
It was his wife. Most of his temper seemed
to be directed towards Assia. She was the focus
for everything.
00:21:06
BETH EDWARDS: Some
of it was subtle. It would be controlling
elements, like putting a voice
00:21:14
app on Assia's phone, so if she
got a text message or a voice call, it would read
out the person's name
00:21:22
who was sending it or calling. Kelvin would always
know who was calling and who Assia was in
conversation with.
00:21:31
NARRATOR: After
Daniel's death, Kelvin began to feel that Assia was
slipping out of his control.
00:21:36
Things had changed
between Assia and Kelvin. They had almost what you might
call an agreement of how they
00:21:46
behaved towards each other. I mean, this wasn't
a written agreement. This was a marriage agreement.
00:21:51
So Assia behaved
in a certain way. Kelvin behaved in a certain way. And as long as nobody
upset that balance,
00:21:58
everything carried along nicely. When Assia became
depressed, she did not respond to Kelvin in the way
that she had previously done.
00:22:10
He then starts to
lose control over her. And the violence escalates. The control escalates
at that point.
00:22:16
NARRATOR: And when Assia
failed to toe the line, the consequences could be dire.
00:22:21
Burns, cuts, scrapes,
little micro violence that could be
hidden quite easily, but which seemed to be quite
degrading and humiliating.
00:22:36
NARRATOR: And yet
outside the home, Kelvin was still the upstanding
citizen, the reliable builder,
00:22:42
the capable kitman. To the untrained eye,
he wasn't an imposing man. He-- he wasn't, you know, the
life and soul of the party.
00:22:52
He wasn't the boast. He was quite quiet
and unassuming. But unfortunately, I think
that was a lot of why it went
00:23:01
unseen for so long,
was because he didn't cut your typical figure
of a violent abusive man.
00:23:11
That's not
necessarily uncommon, where you have this almost
Jekyll and Hyde type character,
00:23:17
where you've got this
positive portrayal outside the home
and something very, very different inside the home.
00:23:21
NARRATOR: But as Kelvin's
drinking increased, so did his violence, until
it reached the point where
00:23:27
Assia Newton had had enough. Assia had been in contact
with Muhammad, the waiter.
00:23:33
He started to flirt with her. And she was very flattered. [music playing] NARRATOR: One day in 2011,
Kelvin Newton committed
00:23:48
an act of aggression
against his wife Assia that could not be
hidden or ignored.
00:23:53
Things really came to
a head when Kelvin set fire to the couch in the house. He was arguing with
my mum over drink.
00:24:03
And my mum went to take
the can out of his hand. And then, the can
spilt on the pillow.
00:24:10
And then he left it
then, and they went up. Me and my younger sister
ran out of the house.
00:24:14
My mum had run out. And then he had stayed in the
house and put out the fire and locked herself in.
00:24:20
The police were called. He was arrested. And I think Assia used
that window of opportunity.
00:24:28
He wasn't there. The police were in control. She had some support to get a
restraining order against him.
00:24:35
That was a big, big
step for her to take and probably a very
frightening step as well.
00:24:41
But with the courts and
the police involved, he did move out of
the family home.
00:24:46
NARRATOR: It wasn't
long before Assia allowed Kelvin
back home, though, where the angry outbursts
remained a regular feature
00:24:54
of family life. On one occasion, he poured
petrol down the stairs. On another, he was
arrested again, this time
00:25:01
for threatening with an axe. There would be periods
where it was worse and then times where Kelvin
seemed to be more in control,
00:25:11
but that there could
be small triggers that would lead him on a spiral
of weeks and months of abuse.
00:25:18
He set fire to the sofa. He welded an ax. And that's extremely serious,
very very, dangerous.
00:25:24
And it's exactly
what we would see as a red flag for
someone who's going to go on to kill their partner.
00:25:30
NARRATOR: Perhaps, Assia
realized the threat that her husband
posed to her life.
00:25:34
Finally, after 23 years
of marriage to Kelvin, she decided she'd had enough. She delivered an ultimatum.
00:25:40
It was either us, like,
as a family or the drink. He didn't reply so
she said, I'll give
00:25:46
you time to think about it. Strangely, not what
we'd expect to see, he took the decision
to not sober up.
00:25:57
He left the family home. He went to live with his sister. NARRATOR: It seemed a
turning point in the story
00:26:02
of Mr. and Mrs. Newton. Mum was sort of happy,
and my dad was happier. They were still speaking
and still in contact.
00:26:09
NARRATOR: The peaceful
period was not to last. Kelvin had no intention of
giving up his wife that easily.
00:26:14
When Kelvin moved out, he only
partially moved out, really, because he still considered
this was his home,
00:26:23
and this was his family. He was always up every day. Used to come to the
house to let the dogs out
00:26:28
and see to the dogs and stuff. And then, if we needed lifts
or anything, he'd do all that.
00:26:34
Kelvin would still come to
the family home every single day by 8:00 AM. He had a key so he
would let himself in.
00:26:43
He would make himself
food and drinks. He would make Assia a
cup of tea every morning
00:26:51
and take it into her
bedroom so he still had access to her private spaces. Dad was paying for the
mortgage and for food.
00:26:59
Mum couldn't afford
it because she was still on benefits at the time. NARRATOR: It's not
clear that Assia
00:27:04
welcomed the daily visits. He's got control from
a distance in that way, but that relationship
is estranged.
00:27:11
But he's still able to just
waltz in whenever he wants. And who's going to
do anything about it?
00:27:15
Because he's going to argue,
I'm paying the mortgage. It's my house. So he still has control over
significant factors in Assia
00:27:22
and the children's
lives, which is a roof over their head, food,
finances, things like that.
00:27:27
He was inserting himself
into their lives in a way that he could without the police
being called or being censured.
00:27:36
While Assia had
wanted a separation, she wasn't really free of him
at all for any period of time.
00:27:46
NARRATOR: If Assia or the
girls wanted anything, they had to go to Kelvin for it.
00:27:50
He, in turn, seemed
to take pleasure from displaying his generosity. Kelvin liked to look after
his family as he saw it.
00:27:59
And he liked to have these
big, extravagant gestures to show what, you know, a
wonderful and loving father he
00:28:06
was. On my birthday, dad paid
for me and my mum to go away. We went out to Tunisia,
me, my mum, and my nan.
00:28:14
Unfortunately,
that was a decision that he would live to regret
because on that holiday,
00:28:20
Assia met another man. When we were out
there, there was a waiter that was in the food court.
00:28:31
And then he got chatting to us. The waiter was
a terrible flirt. It turned out that Assia had
gone for coffee with him.
00:28:42
He started to flirt with her. And she was very flattered. This was fun for her. There was no control of her.
00:28:52
Kelvin was back in Wales, so
she probably relaxed a bit. NARRATOR: Back in
Wales, a few days later,
00:29:00
Assia immediately
told her daughters she needed another holiday. Assia had maintained
contact with Mohammed
00:29:08
through the internet and
emails, chatting online, and had decided to
go back out there.
00:29:16
She was going to [inaudible]
to go back out on her own to sort her head
out and then come
00:29:21
back and have a fresh start. And when she was there,
the waiter man was there. They were in contact then,
while she was over there.
00:29:30
I think she was just
blinded by the fact that she was getting all this
attention that she had not
00:29:34
for years and was hoping that
something was going to happen, like this sort of miracle sort
of thing and this relationship
00:29:41
that she's always wanted. Assia was extremely happy to
have a friend and somebody that
00:29:53
had shown her affection,
light-hearted friendship, and hope and optimism, that
she was an attractive woman,
00:30:03
that she was desirable,
and that somebody could be attracted to her. NARRATOR: Central
to Kelvin's success
00:30:12
and early family life had
been his ability to provide. His money showed his success.
00:30:18
Now he was about to
see his hard earned money given to another man. He could only speak to her
in internet cafes over there.
00:30:25
So he asked her for a
laptop so they could speak when he was at home and stuff. He was manipulating
her and flattering her.
00:30:34
The household did
start to suffer. And it wasn't long
before Kelvin found out. NARRATOR: Kelvin was furious.
00:30:41
It's an interesting reaction
that he has because he reacts almost in a way
of he's betrayed,
00:30:46
but obviously, because
he's abusing her, he has control over her. What he's not
seeing is that he's
00:30:51
using the money in the
first place to control her. They've been estranged
for 18 months.
00:30:55
The only reason there's still
money going into that house is because it's part of the
power and the control over her.
00:31:01
NARRATOR: To Kelvin
Newton, this was the ultimate betrayal, one that
he was determined to avenge.
00:31:07
Once he saw her with another
man, that was it for him. And that is when everything
became absolutely catastrophic.
00:31:23
[music playing] NARRATOR: July 14, 2013,
police find Assia Newton lying lifeless on her bedroom floor.
00:31:35
They had said that it
looked like she passed away. And they have to ring
for an ambulance to come.
00:31:41
Initially, the police thought
that this was a suicide. There were no real
injuries to Assia
00:31:47
apart from the injury
that had killed her. NARRATOR: A red tartan dog lead
was wrapped around the mother
00:31:52
of four's neck and mouth. As officers assessed
the scene, they began to notice clues
that suggested Assia may
00:31:59
not have done this to herself. We had to have interviews
because I was the last person
00:32:03
to have seen my mum and my dad. I said, where's my mum's
car that my dad had borrowed to take me to work?
00:32:11
And that still
wasn't at the house. When they searched for
Assia's car, they found Kelvin.
00:32:16
It was then that Kelvin made
the admission that something had happened at the property.
00:32:23
TONY KENT: One of the things
that he said when he was found was that he did not
mean to kill Assia.
00:32:29
Kelvin went in, and
we can only imagine what kind of an argument
blew up between them.
00:32:34
The subject matter is
almost inevitably going to be his wife's decision to
move on, his wife's decision
00:32:40
that their marriage was over. NARRATOR: Kelvin
would later tell a court that his former
wife had been goading him.
00:32:46
Kelvin claims to the police
afterwards that he had got into an argument with Assia.
00:32:52
And he used a
really, really common defense that you see a lot of
these kind of humiliated men
00:32:59
use. And that was they were having
an argument about Ahmed and she was comparing
Kelvin to Ahmed unfavorably.
00:33:10
What Kelvin told
the jury is that in the course of his
visit to the home, Assi had decided to taunt him.
00:33:17
She told him about his
mental health issues. She told him about his lack of
sexual prowess in comparison
00:33:24
to Mohammed, the
Tunisian waiter. In response, according to
Kelvin, he simply snapped.
00:33:30
He told the jury that
he took that dog lead, and he was trying to wrap
it around Assia's mouth.
00:33:36
He was telling them, I
was trying to gag her. He claimed that everything he
did was an attempt to gag her.
00:33:43
NARRATOR: He would claim
that he shut his eyes and pulled on the
two ends of the lead
00:33:48
until Assia slumped
to the floor. Calvin maintained
that he had never meant to end Assia's
life on that day,
00:33:56
that he had not been
able to control himself. And before he knew it, she
was lifeless and that he
00:34:02
had strangled her to death. NARRATOR: Was this
really what had happened? Knowing how long Kelvin Newton
spent in the house that day,
00:34:11
criminologist Jane
Monckton Smith is skeptical about
his version of events. Within that 18 minutes,
Kelvin had strangled
00:34:21
Assia with a dog lead. He had showered himself,
changed his clothes, tidied up, cleaned gathered
some of the forensic evidence,
00:34:33
and then calmly left the house. The short time frame,
all of the things that he did to try and cover
up what he had done strongly
00:34:46
suggest that he had
actually planned what he was going to do. NARRATOR: Could this
really have been
00:34:52
an argument that escalated? The murder must have
happened very, very quickly after him arriving,
or he wouldn't
00:35:00
have had time to do the
other things he needed to do. If they had got into a fight,
say, that got out of hand,
00:35:07
and he had attacked her,
maybe meant to kill her, but not planned in
advance to kill her,
00:35:15
he probably would have
been in a bit more shock. He probably would have been
concerned about what he had
00:35:21
done and not have
it fixed in his mind the things he needed
to do to forensically
00:35:27
clean himself and separate
himself from what had happened. There's little doubt
in my mind that Kelvin
00:35:34
planned to kill Assia. NARRATOR: What of Kelvin's
attempted suicide? He did take 40 tablets.
00:35:41
He did need to have
his stomach pumped. He did cut his own wrists. He did seem to be making
a fairly concerted effort.
00:35:48
None of this was enough
to actually kill him. I think the reality for Kelvin
of actually killing himself was
00:35:57
maybe too difficult,
maybe a bit more effort than he thought it would take. And maybe he just didn't
really have the kind of belief
00:36:12
that he wanted to
do it after he'd solved the problem of Assia. Once that problem was solved,
a lot of the anger and tension
00:36:21
would have gone. NARRATOR: Once patched
up, Kelvin was forced to face up to what he'd done.
00:36:26
Kelvin's attempt on his
own life was unsuccessful. And as you would
expect, he was arrested
00:36:31
and he was charged
with Assia's murder. NARRATOR: At Cardiff Crown
Court seven months later,
00:36:36
Kelvin Newton took the stand
to plead not guilty to murder. He admitted killing Assia, but
argued that he'd lost control.
00:36:44
Provocation had caused
him to act the way he had. This was manslaughter. His defense said that he had
undiagnosed health conditions
00:36:55
and that it was more
than likely that he suffered from bipolar and
other personality disorders.
00:37:01
NARRATOR: What's more,
Kelvin's defense team suggested he couldn't help being
the kind of husband and father
00:37:06
that he was. Kelvin said that
he came from a home where he had parents who
would frequently drink
00:37:16
and that there was a
history of violence within his own family
home with his own parents.
00:37:23
He was painted very
much by his defense as a victim of abuse himself
and that this cycle had
00:37:32
unfortunately continued, but
that it was out of his control because he had been conditioned
to believe that this is just
00:37:40
the way that a family is run. This is a way that a
husband treats a wife. NARRATOR: He told the jury that
he'd always hoped to get back
00:37:49
together with Assia and had
been heartbroken to discover she'd met someone new. Assia had shared with him
that she was going to Tunisia
00:38:02
and that she was hopeful
for a friendship. She had begged Kelvin
to let her move on.
00:38:11
And she had a diary
which had this written down, words to that effect. Please let me go.
00:38:19
NARRATOR: Would the jury
believe that taken together, the mental health
and the heartbreak,
00:38:24
and Assia's alleged
goading, Kelvin had simply been pushed over the edge? Perhaps they would.
00:38:29
But investigating officers
had discovered a notebook kept by the victim over
many years, which
00:38:34
detailed countless times that
Kelvin had attacked his wife. It emerged that in the
course of their marriage,
00:38:40
he tried to drown Assia. He tried to strangle
her on another occasion. He had beaten her.
00:38:45
You've got so many very
serious acts of violence that she could have
died on any of these.
00:38:50
So that it's not out of
the blue, this behavior, that he then strangles her
and kills her with a dog lead.
00:38:55
He has shown over and over
again that he is capable of it. NARRATOR: On the
27th of February,
00:39:00
after a two-week
trial, the jury was ready to return their verdict. Kelvin Newton was found
guilty of murdering his wife.
00:39:09
Two weeks later, Sophia Newton
sat alone in court to hear her father's punishment.
00:39:15
Sophia had and still
has mixed emotions about the fate of the father,
a father she still loves.
00:39:21
They said 18 years, but
to me, justice will never be done until my dad
passes away because he's
00:39:26
taken my mum's life. When sentencing, Judge
Eleri Rees sentenced Kelvin to 18 years in prison.
00:39:36
So he will be eligible
for parole in 2031. She said that this was a
callous murder borne out
00:39:45
of sexual jealousy, for
which his defense was not to be believed that
he had been provoked.
00:39:54
But he had inflicted
years of abuse upon Assia. And sadly and inevitably,
this had led to her death.
00:40:05
NARRATOR: As Kelvin Newton
serves out his time, his family were
left on the outside,
00:40:09
dealing with the
fallout of his crimes. Everybody's a loser here,
that there's no winners here.
00:40:18
A family that seems to
have a history of tragedy and a mum that
now can't be there
00:40:27
for her remaining daughters
and grandchildren, a man sitting in prison having
to live with what he's done.
00:40:36
I ended up
contacting my dad then and saying, you are the
only person I've got. But if I change my mind
from now or later-- years
00:40:44
down the future that I
don't want contact with you, you're going to
have to accept that.
00:40:49
It's just tragic. It's just tragic. And yeah, there really are
no winners in this case.
00:40:59
[music playing]