Support quality, independent, local journalism…that matters

From just £1 a month you can help fund our work – and use our website without adverts. Become a member today

A boyfriend who killed his vulnerable partner by using a wooden broom handle to inflict internal injuries has been jailed for at least 25 years.

Carl Silcox, 45, phoned police hours after the killing saying he had woken up to find girlfriend Adell Cowan, 43, dead in bed.

Officers arrived at their flat to find Adell had suffered visible injuries to her face and head – and blood-stained clothing and bedsheets were at the scene.

Medical examinations later found Adell had suffered serious internal injuries after being attacked with a wooden broom handle.

On Friday July 7, Silcox was jailed for life at Newport Crown Court – where a judge told him his killing of Adell was “brutal and callous”.

During the trial, prosecutor Gordon Cole KC said Silcox dialled 999 shortly after midnight on October 18, 2020 to say Adell was dead at the property on Dol yr Eos, Mornington Meadows, Caerphilly.

He said: “In the course of that call he said: ‘I woke up and my missus is dead. I’m Carl Silcox I’ve just come to the phone box now. I lost my mobile phone’.

“He was asked if he could go and try CPR to which he replied: ‘She’s dead mate, she’s cold as ice, I don’t know if she choked on her spit or whatever.'”

The court heard that when police and emergency services arrived they discovered Adell had been dead for several hours.

Mr Cole said a Home Office pathologist doctor carried out a post mortem and was unable to identify “any natural explanation for Adell’s death.”

Mr Cole said: “He did note that she had sustained a catalogue of injuries.

“There was bruising and swelling to her face, to her head, to her neck. There were 13 rib fractures, five posterior rib fractures, fractures to her back.

“There was a 2.8cm to 1.4cm tear to her rectum which had continued to cause a 4.5cm tear to her peritoneum lining.

“During that post mortem examination it was revealed she sustained a laceration of her spleen and a split to the lining of her pelvis.

“Dr Jones indicated the defect in the rectal wall occurred at about the time of death and therefore the death of Adell was in a setting of trauma and alcohol.

“Death was described as having occurred in close association with an event that included forcible anal penetration and rectal perforation by that wooden broom handle.

“Despite the fact Adell Cowan was a lady with difficulties, she was vulnerable because of her alcohol dependencies, it’s impossible to ignore the trauma having caused a significant role in the death of Adell.”

“The circumstances point to this defendant having inflicted unlawful violence from which there was a substantial cause of the death of Adell Cowan from the violence, the facial injuries, the ribs, and the use of the broom handle.”

Silcox, of Commercial Street, Aberbargoed, denied murder and manslaughter but was found guilty by a jury after lying that she worked as a prostitute.  

In a victim impact statement, Adell’s niece Starr Richards said the time since her death had been “a living hell for our family.”

She added: “We have been waiting for both answers and justice. Although to some degree we have received some closure we are still no clearer as to why Adell was taken from us.”

John Benson KC, defending, said Silcox had also suffered loss through Adell’s death

He said: “The defendant lived alone and had no friends. The only person he could call a friend was the person who he killed.”

The judge, Recorder of Cardiff Tracy Lloyd Clarke, said: “For reasons unknown you repeatedly and seriously assaulted Miss Cowan, including using a broom handle as a weapon to cause her a very serious and exceptionally painful injury.

“You must have realised you caused her serious injury but you did not call for any medical assistance.

“Instead you must have dressed her and some time and some hours after she had died you called the emergency services.

“Your actions were brutal and callous and you have brought immense grief to those who knew and loved Adell Cowan.”

The judge said Adell was “particularly vulnerable” due to being an alcoholic and during the trial Silcox made “baseless claims” she was a sex worker.

She added: “It is clear she was very much loved by her family and friends.”