THESE six killers were jailed in 2019 for a combined total of 92 years after being convicted of either murder or manslaughter in the Gwent area.

We look back at their crimes and punishment.

John Junior Phillips

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James Jones

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Harvey Huchet

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Newport drugs boss John Junior Phillips brutally killed and tortured a young Cardiff father whilst high on crack cocaine.

Commonly known as JJ, he was the ringleader of a gang who carried out the savage and prolonged beating of Anthony Winter which lasted five agonising hours.

He was found guilty of manslaughter by a jury after a trial of slaying the drug addict as he tried to enforce a £500 debt he was owed.

The 28-year-old Phillips, of Baird Close, Malpas, was jailed for 22 years by Mrs Justice Jefford at Cardiff Crown Court.

Two co-defendants, JJ’s younger acolytes, were also convicted over the killing.

James Jones, aged 19, of Bedwas Close, St Mellons, Cardiff, was jailed for life, with a minimum tariff of 20 years before being eligible for parole, after he admitted murder.

Harvey Huchet, aged 17, of Chapel Wood, Llanedeyrn, Cardiff, was locked up for 12 years after he was also convicted of manslaughter by the jury.

Prosecutor Christopher Clee QC told the court how the 32-year-old Mr Winter was attacked at a flat before he was later fatally stabbed in woodland in St Mellons.

He was lured to an apartment at Munnings Drive in the St Julians area of Newport in November 2018 and later murdered by Jones in Cardiff.

Matthew Jones

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Young father Matthew Jones shook his baby son to death, causing him to suffer injuries likened to a "high-speed car crash".

The 26-year-old rugby player, from Ebbw Vale, was found guilty of killing Cody Rhys Williams-Jones after a three-week trial at Newport Crown Court.

Jones sobbed when the jury convicted him of manslaughter just seconds after clearing him of murdering his 15-week-old son in December 2016.

The judge, Mr Justice Simon Picken, told the former Ebbw Vale and Newbridge wing he had "lost it" in a temper at his frustration in being unable to settle his crying son when the boy was in his sole care.

Prosecutor Paul Lewis QC said Jones, formerly of South Bank, Beaufort, shook Cody so violently his eyes bled and caused him “catastrophic head injuries”.

Described during the trial as a “loving father”, Jones maintained in his defence he was a doting dad and that he had accidentally dropped his son.

Jones was jailed for nine years.

Timothy Higgins

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Learner driver Timothy Higgins mowed down a deaf shopper at a Sainsbury’s car park in a road rage attack over a “trivial dispute”.

The 22-year-old was jailed for five years after a jury found him guilty of the manslaughter of pedestrian Christopher Gadd.

The farmer suffered “massive damage to the skull” in the car park of the Sainsbury’s supermarket in Pontllanfraith in March.

Higgins, formerly of The Glade, Wyllie, Blackwood, had denied the charge.

Prosecutor Owen Williams told Cardiff Crown Court during the trial the defendant deliberately swerved his Land Rover Freelander into the victim the day after he had celebrated his 48th birthday.

Jailing Higgins, the Recorder of Cardiff, Judge Eleri Rees, said: “You deliberately swerved your car over to the wrong side of the road, in your words, to s*** him up.

"The result was catastrophic. This was an impulsive and stupid act that was wholly disproportionate.

“A trivial parking dispute should not have ended in the tragic death of a man."

Ieuan Harley

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Ieuan Harley was jailed for life and ordered to serve at least 24 years in prison for the frenzied murder of a convicted child killer.

The 23-year-old stabbed David Gaut at least 150 times after discovering he had recently completed a 32-year jail sentence for killing 15-month-old baby boy Chi Ming Shek in 1985.

The victim was slayed in a neighbour's flat before having his fingernails removed and being knifed a further 26 times after his death with a screwdriver, leaving him with injuries so gruesome they were kept away from the jury.

Harley, of Punch House Flats, Morgan Street, Tredegar, was found guilty of murder after a trial at Newport Crown Court.

The killing took place in Long Row, Elliot’s Town, New Tredegar in August 2018.

Sentencing him, the judge, Mr Justice Clive Lewis, told Harley: "You carried out a brutal and savage murder.

"He was stabbed repeatedly to his eyes, his face, head, and other parts of his body.

"You stabbed him repeatedly in his throat, cutting his voice box and windpipe.

"You wanted to make him suffer, and you did before finally killing him.

"You discovered on the evening of August 2 that Mr Gaut had killed a child.

“From that time onward you were extremely angry and you intended to confront him and use serious violence against him.”

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