The heir to a pie company fortune who murdered his best friend on Christmas Eve has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for his crime.
Dylan Thomas, killed his childhood friend William Bush, 23, at their home in Llandaff, Cardiff, on December 24, 2023.
His grandfather, Sir Stanley Thomas, the founder of Peter's Pies, whose net worth was estimated to be £230 million in 2013, sat in court throughout the sentencing today.
Thomas stabbed Mr. Bush 37 times with a kitchen kn!fe including to the neck, chest, head, and back and slit his throat in the violent attack.
Thomas, now 24, had been staying at his grandmother's house in Rhoose, in the Vale of Glamorgan, the night before he attacked Mr Bush, when he begged her to take him back to his house, insisting he wanted to walk his dog, Bruce.
His grandmother sat in the car while he went inside, but he returned minutes later, banging on the window covered in blood.
The court heard that Thomas had searched online for the anatomy of the neck before going back to the house.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment today at Cardiff Crown Court and ordered to serve a minimum of 19 years.
Thomas appeared before the court by video link from Ashworth Hospital in Liverpool, where he is being treated for schizophrenia.
The jury also heard Thomas had been arrested for breaking into Buckingham Palace a few months before the attack on Mr Bush.
Thomas told officers he was looking for 'energy fields' between the Palace and Cleopatra's Needle, an obelisk in central London.
In a victim impact statement, Mr .Bush's sister Catrin spoke on behalf of herself and her brother Alex - describing her brother's death as a 'barbaric crime'.
'Will's life was taken away from him on December 24, 2023, in the most barbaric and cruel way,' Ms Bush said.
She continued: 'Will was innocently getting things sorted to return back to Brecon to spend Christmas with us as a family.
'But instead of Will returning home for dinner on Christmas Eve, it was Dyfed-Powys Police knocking on our door informing us that Will had died.
'I cannot put into words how traumatic and awful this experience was, and I still have intense moments of panic when I think about this.
'Myself and Alex cannot begin to comprehend the fear and suffering that Will endured on that day.
'We are truly haunted from the horror of it and this will live with us forever.'
Ms Bush said she did not have the words to describe her feelings towards Thomas for murdering her brother.
'You have shown no remorse or respect during this entire process,' she said.
'I don't know how someone could be so cruel, manipulative, heartless, and evil.
'You inflicted so much suffering on our innocent little brother, Will, and you have taken Will's bright future away from him.
'I hope you'll never be released back into the community and you live out the rest of your years in prison.'
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