'He's eating her': 999 phone call about 'cannibal killer' attack at Welsh hotel
'There was screaming and screaming,' Mandy Miles told the 999 operator. 'Oh my God. It's awful'
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A hotel owner cried out “he’s eating her” in a frantic 999 call after seeing a “cannibal” killer mauling the face of his victim, an inquest has heard.
Mandy Miles was greeted with the grisly scene after hearing 22-year-old Cerys Yemm's screams at the Sirhowy Arms Hotel at Argoed, near Caerphilly in South Wales.
“There's a lad in the room," she told the 999 operator. "He's actually eating her. It's awful. His name is Matthew Williams and he's in Room 7. There was screaming and screaming. Oh my God. It's awful. I went into the room and he's killed her. Oh my God. Is this real?"
The call was played at Ms Yemm's inquest, which heard that Williams, 34, had attacked her with a screwdriver, before attempting to eat her face.
The pair had met shortly before the November 2014 murder, on a night out in nearby Blackwood, Gwent Coroner’s Court heard. Williams was released from prison just two weeks before he killed her.
Ms Miles, 50, rang police to get help after witnessing the incident.
She told the court she had unlocked the door after hearing screams coming from his room around 1am and found the waitress lying on her back with Williams on top of her.
There was “blood everywhere” and described the scene as “like a horror film”, she said, adding that she had tried to talk to Williams but he had not acknowledged her.
“His head was down in hers. He didn't react to my voice. I said 'Matthew do you know what you’re doing?’” she said. “My son said 'are you eating her?' Even though science has shown he wasn't - in my mind he was.”
Police arrived at the hostel 14 minutes after the 999 call and Tasered Williams, who later died.
The court heard that Williams, a paranoid schizophrenic, had been released from hospital two weeks earlier without any medication or supervision despite previously being sectioned twice and complaining of hearing voices, BBC News reported.
His mother, Sally Ann Williams, said his family had tried to get appointments with doctors and the local mental health team before the attack but none were made.
She said he had told her he was feeling paranoid and “the voices were back” in the days before Ms Yemm’s death.
The hearing heard how Williams had spent time in a young offenders’ institution aged 15 and was a “nightmare” when he returned to live with his mother.
He would steal to get money for drugs, was frequently in trouble with police and was eventually taken into foster care.
Williams became paranoid and was eventually diagnosed with drug-induced paranoid schizophrenia but his mother did not believe prison was the right place for her son.
His best friend Rhodri Moore said he had seemed fine when he was first released from jail but deteriorated “after the first couple days”.
He said: "He was taking drugs on a daily basis. He said when he looked at a can of Coke he could see faces. He wasn't very well. He was seeing things, hallucinating. He was annoyed and on edge. Depressed.
“He couldn't get any medication. His mother was trying very hard to get someone to see him. He was willing to be helped. He wanted to be helped.”