A peculiar confession from a woman that was initially dismissed as a jest ultimately revealed a crime that had gone unnoticed for years.
When Leigh Ann Sabine passed away from cancer in 2015, her belongings were discarded behind her apartment in Beddau, Pontypridd.
However, her eccentric comment about having a medical skeleton in her residence led to a murder investigation months after her death.
Approximately three months after Leigh’s passing, her neighbor Michelle James, 45, decided to play a prank on someone nearby and retrieved the so-called skeleton.
She recounted: “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 arrived and were nauseated by the sight of the bag and its contents.
The gruesome discovery came to light because Michelle, planning a prank on a neighbor, was instead apprehended on suspicion of murder.
Believing she was the perpetrator, Michelle explained to the authorities that the body must be connected to Leigh.
Initially, the corpse—dressed in pajamas and tightly wrapped in 14 layers of plastic—appeared to be that of a man in his mid-40s.
Despite the oozing black sludge, police were puzzled by the preservation of the remains, suggesting the murder was recent.
The crime was explored in a documentary titled The Body Next Door, now available on Sky and NOW.
Since the man’s fingerprints provided no clues, the police had to get inventive.
If Leigh was responsible, it couldn’t have been recent due to her frail condition.
A lead emerged when an acquaintance recalled Leigh mentioning in a 1997 call that she had struck her late husband, who she claimed died of an illness, with a frog ornament.
Evidence aligned with the timeline that the man had been murdered in the late 90s, including discontinued pajamas from 1999 and old supermarket bags used in the wrapping—leaving DNA as the final piece.
Soon, a DNA match identified the body as Leigh’s late husband, John Sabine, confirmed through a relative.
The murder weapon was later identified, its shape consistent with the blunt force injuries on John’s body.
The investigation revealed Leigh had killed John in his sleep, resentful of his remorse for abandoning their five children in a New Zealand care home years earlier.
Despite preserving his body for 18 years without detection, Leigh seemed aware she would eventually be discovered.
During a hairdresser visit as her health declined, she boasted: “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, who interviewed and photographed Leigh Ann Sabine a year before her death, has authored a book on the case, The Frog Murderer, available here.
Watch The Body Next Door on Sky Documentaries and NOW.