IT'S hard to imagine now – on a sun-soaked spring afternoon – the horrors that took place inside.
But no one living in Argoed, in the south valleys, will ever forget at the former Sirhowy Arms Hotel near Blackwood on November 6 2014.
Young shop worker Cerys Yemm was brutally murdered by cannibal – who stabbed her with a screwdriver and then ate her face in his room at the hotel.
Many signed a petition for the “halfway house” to be pulled down with some saying they can't even bring themselves to look at it whenever they walk past.
“It’s like having the Amityville house of horrors right on your doorstep,” one local said.
Current owner Dorothy Keys had much of the interior restructured and said she has no idea where room 7 – the site of one of Britain's most gruesome crimes – actually is.
“To be honest, I don’t want to know,” she told Flying Eze.
‘I can still see the amount of blood'
Cerys, 22, who worked as a shop assistant at a Next store, had joined Williams in his room after several nights out in the days before.
It was there that Williams, 34, who had been released from prison just two weeks before and was high on drugs, brutally murdered her and ate her face.
Hotel staff heard a woman's screams around 1.20am before former owner Mandy Miles burst in on the sick killer.
She found Williams chewing one of his victim's eyeballs, having already bitten off part of her face. Her body lay on the floor.
At the time, Ms Miles described the evil killer's own face as being covered in blood, his eyes black.
She would later say: “I can still see the amount of blood and the stillness of her, there were no signs of life at that point. I said to Matthew: ‘Do you know what you’re doing to that girl?’ He said: ‘That’s no girl.’”;
Cerys suffered 89 injuries in the attack. An inquest would later rule she died of “sharp force trauma” after being stabbed with a screwdriver.
In a recording of her 999 call, Ms Miles can be heard screaming, crying and shouting: “oh God, oh God”.
She said: “He has put a screwdriver through her face and is eating her…
“There was screaming and screaming. Oh my God it is awful.”
Williams died from cardiac arrest after a police officer shot him three times, including in the face, with a 50,000-volt Taser when faced with the horrific scene.
Boyfriend's warning
Cerys's mum Paula Yemm said her daughter came home at 4am on November 1 2014 after a night out, then left early that day and didn't return until late.
She told her she was going for a pub meal on November 5 and told her at 12.15am she was on her way home – though Paula suspected this to be a lie.
Hours later she was told her daughter had died.
He has put a screwdriver through her face and is eating her… There was screaming and screaming. Oh my God it is awful.
Mandy Mileshotel owner
Paula also claimed Cerys's boyfriend had met Williams in prison and told her to stay away from him, describing her would-be killer as a “nightmare”.
Williams' mum, Sally, told the inquest her son had been “given no support” or medication for his mental health problems on being released from prison on October 23 2014.
He had previously been treated for schizophrenia. She said he had deteriorated quickly as he awaited GP appointments in the days before the murder.
Williams had spent his adult life in and out of prison.
At his inquest in 2017, the coroner ruled he died suddenly as a result of taking drugs and struggling against police restraint, reports the BBC.
Horrified beyond words
Like many journalists, I covered this grotesque story at the time and was horrified beyond words as the gruesome details of the killing emerged.
Cerys’s mum Paula, unsurprisingly, wanted the building pulled down and launched a petition, signed by most locals in Argoed.
Instead, it was decided by the owner to put the property up for auction following a refurbishment from top to bottom of the three-storey building to turn it from a hotel to a luxury nine-bedroom home.
Six of the bedrooms were given en suite bathrooms, two new kitchens were built and office space was created.
At the rear, a large garden was newly-landscaped with car parking spaces.
And in November 2022, eight years after the horrific murder, the former hotel, now renamed as Meadow View, sold for £270,000 at auction – £25,000 above its guide price.
The man who bought the property died just months later, after the suffering a heart attack.
Leon Bidgway, who lives opposite the infamous property, told Flying Eze: “He bought the house for himself and his family but he hadn’t been there long before he had a massive heart attack. Unfortunately, he died.
“I must admit, I was surprised anyone wanted to live there after what happened, but the place had been completely renovated and smartened up so you wouldn’t know it was once a pretty run-down hotel.
“This guy and his family were told about the property’s history, so it can’t have bothered them too much.
“Most people living around here would have preferred the building to be demolished, to be honest, because we didn’t want to be reminded every day of the terrible things that happened that awful day in 2014.”
Leon continued: “But I guess the owner felt differently. To be fair, once the refurbishment work was done, it looked completely different inside and out.
Most people living around here would have preferred the building to be demolished, to be honest, because we didn’t want to be reminded every day of the terrible things that happened that awful day in 2014.
Leon Bidgwayneighbour
“I try very hard not to think about the murder now because living so close to the property has not always been easy since it happened.
“I just don’t want to go there in my head now.”
Following the auction buyer’s death, Meadow View sold again – to three generations of a family who still live there.
Two were told of the property’s dark history when they first viewed it on its return to the market around 18 months ago.
Current owner, Dorothy Keys, told us how her family have “never felt unsettled”; living at the property.
“There has never been a bad atmosphere in the house or anything like that,”; said Mrs Keys, an 81-year-old retired office worker.
She lived in South Africa before coming to the UK in 1998 with her family.
“All we were told was that the murder happened in room seven, but because the place was refurbished and many walls were knocked down and bedrooms and bathrooms were moved around, we have absolutely no idea where room seven was.
“To be honest, I don’t want to know where room seven was.
“It is a wonderful house to live in. It’s so peaceful here and there’s plenty of room for us to live together without getting under one another’s feet.
The Keys family includes her daughter and two grandsons, one of whom recently graduated from university.
They all moved to Argoed from their former home in west Wales.
“The boys love it here because there’s so much space. We love living here and we are very glad we bought it,” Ms Keys continued.
“I know, given its history, that might surprise some people. If I think about it, my thoughts go to the poor young woman’s family, and also to the family of the perpetrator. I feel very sorry for them all.”;
But others in Argoed still believe the property should have been demolished in the wake of Cerys’ death.
One local, who asked not to be identified, said: “I was one of the first to sign her mother’s petition to have the place pulled down.
We love living here and we are very glad we bought it
Dorothy Keysowner of old hotel
“The manner of this beautiful young woman’s death was so evil that it seemed to me that the place where she died had to be demolished.
“Seeing it every day as I do literally makes me feel sick. It is a reminder daily of the unimaginable horrors that took place under that roof.
“The details were just so sickening. I cannot understand for the life of me why anyone would choose to make that building their home now.
“I know Mandy, the housekeeper at the time, and my heart goes out to her.
“She has never been the same since that awful day. She lives in a little cottage behind the house and she’s put up huge iron gates at the bottom of the drive so people don’t bother her.
“She’s kind of shut herself off from the world, especially journalists, because the memories of what happened are just too much for her.
“No one should ever have to witness what she witnessed.”
Another local, who also asked not to be named, said: “The property is a living reminder to all of us around here of the terrible tragedy.
“It should have been locked down immediately and I will never be able to get my head around why it is still standing.
“I walk past it most days and I have to look in the other direction. It’s like having the Amityville house of horrors right on your doorstep.”
