Woman said she had a fake skeleton in her flat which turned out to be her husband

A strange admission from a woman which was taken as nothing more than a joke ended up unlocking a crime which went unnoticed for years.

When Leigh Ann Sabine died of cancer in 2015, her things were thrown out at the back of her flat in Beddau, Pontypridd.

However, the eccentric woman’s joke about having a medical skeleton in her home ended up sparking a murder investigation months later.

Around three months after her death, Leigh’s neighbor Michelle James, 45, thought she would play a prank on someone living close by and decided to dig out the skeleton.

Leigh Sabine joked about a skeleton on her property. (Juliet Eden)

She said at the time: “Me and another neighbour wanted to get the skeleton and sit it on a friend's settee to give him a shock when he got home.

“We took two kitchen knives and headed out to the patio but were surprised how well wrapped up the thing was.

“The knife cut through the plastic but then hit cardboard and finally tin foil.

“Suddenly a pool of black sludge poured out, all over my hands and arms. And we were hit by the worst smell you can imagine.

“I started screaming, 'it's a body, a real body'.”

Two policemen then turned up and were sick at the sight of the bag, and its contents.

The disgusting find was only discovered as mother-of-three, Michelle had planned to play a trick on a neighbor but was arrested for murder instead.

It was no plastic body. (Juliet Eden)

Suspecting that she was the one who murdered the body in the bag, Michelle pleaded with them, explaining that the body must be in relation to Leigh.

Upon initial impression, the corpse, which was dressed in a set of pyjamas and bound tightly in 14 layers of plastic was the body of a man in his mid 40s.

Even though it gushed black sludge, police were stumped by how well the gruesome remains had been preserved, and implied that whoever killed the mystery man had done it recently.

The story of the crime was told in a documentary series titled The Body Next Door, which landed on Sky and NOW this month.

Considering the police weren’t sure of who the man was as his fingerprints lead to a dead end, they had to get creative.

If this was Leigh’s doing, it couldn’t have been recent as she was a frail old lady.

It was her husband, John. (Juliet Eden)

However, when a person close to Leigh mentioned that during a call in 1997, she had mentioned hitting her late husband, who she claimed had died of an illness, over the head with a frog ornament, they found a new line of inquiry.

With evidence beginning to line up to the timeline that the man was murdered in the late 90s, such as his pyjamas being discontinued in 1999 and the wrapping containing old plastic bags from supermarkets, all that was left was DNA.

Soon enough, they had a match.

The body in question was Leigh’s late husband, John Sabine who they matched via a relative.

They then sourced the murder weapon and its distinctive shape matched the blunt trauma injuries on John's body.

Their investigation led them to realize that Leigh had murdered John in his sleep, having been resentful that he was remorseful that the pair had abandoned five of their children in a New Zealand care home years before.

The couple abandoned all five of their children to launch a music career. (Juliet Eden)

But it seems that although the preserved him well for 18 years without detection, she knew she’d be found out.

During a visit to a hairdresser when her health was becoming worse, she bragged to people: “People will be talking about me long after I'm gone.”

When asked why, she replied: “Because of the body in the bag.”

Juliet Eden interviewed and photographed Leigh Ann Sabine a year before her death. The author has also written a book about the case, The Frog Murderer, which you can find here.

Watch The Body Next Door on Sky Documentaries and NOW.