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Forensic Assessments

South Wales Police

Forensic assessment · v1.1.0 · updated 1 November 2026

Response status
Asked for clarification or fee → Replied, nothing disclosed
Last contact
31 October 2026
Next date on file
None on file
Earlier version
v1.0.1, published 20 October 2026 on the Legal Wiki

Since last assessment

18 October 2026 to 1 November 2026

Our reading: Since 18 October 2026, 16 emails are on file: 7 sent, 9 received (2 with content, 7 automatic acknowledgements). The latest reply moves the response status from “Asked for clarification or fee” to “Replied, nothing disclosed”. Most material: 21 October 2026, received, correspondence (no disclosure): The force responds to request 1189/26 (a preservation notice) by setting out the FOIA section 8 tests for a valid request; no information is provided (response PDF text included). Nothing here changes the earlier current finding unless stated above; this is a log of contact, not a finding about any person.

  1. Receivedcorrespondence (no disclosure)

    The force responds to request 1189/26 (a preservation notice) by setting out the FOIA section 8 tests for a valid request; no information is provided (response PDF text included).

  2. Sentchase

    The requester follows up on 1188/26, FOI 1264/26, FOI 719/26.

  3. Sentchase

    The requester follows up on 1040/26, 1188/26, FOI 1040/26.

  4. Sentchase

    The requester follows up on 1188/26, 1189/26, FOI 1040/26.

  5. Sentchase

    The requester follows up on 1188/26, FOI 1040/26, FOI 1189/26.

  6. Receivedotherref 1188/26 (review of 719/26)

    Internal review response 1188/26 sent as a redacted PDF with the review procedure; the PDF is password-protected and no password has been supplied, so its contents are not read.

  7. Sentclarification givenref 1264/26

    Further search terms for FOI 1264/26 (operational records, Nov-Dec 1988).

  8. Sentclarification givenref 719/26

    Further search terms for FOI 719/26: historical and descriptive names for the farm.

  9. Sentclarification givenref 1188/26

    Internal review 1188/26: the redacted response PDF of 26 Oct 2026 is password-protected and no password came with it; asks for the password or an unlocked copy.

7 automatic acknowledgements
  1. Automatic acknowledgement of the internal review email.

  2. Automatic acknowledgement of the email on 1040/26.

  3. Automatic acknowledgement of the email on 1189/26.

  4. FOI 1264/26

    Automatic acknowledgement from the South Wales Police FOI team for FOI 1264/26 (non-personal operational records), warning of a backlog and possible delay beyond 20 working days.

  5. FOI 1264/26

    Automatic receipt for the nomenclature supplement; the FOI team warns of a backlog and possible delays beyond 20 working days.

  6. 719/26

    Automatic receipt of the 719/26 follow-up, with a warning that a high volume of requests and a backlog may delay replies beyond 20 working days.

  7. 1188/26

    Automatic acknowledgement (bilingual) of the 31 Oct 2026 email on internal review 1188/26; no content.

The assessment as last published

Carried over unchanged from v1.0.1 (20 October 2026). Links point inside this site.

Page ID: 1558 · Title: South Wales Police — Forensic Assessment · Evidence status: Not yet labelled — see the Editing Protocol · Version: 1.0.0 · Editing Protocol

Email dialogue evidence: every email exchanged with South Wales Police about Great House Farm is catalogued word for word, by thread and date, at South Wales Police — Email Correspondence Catalogue (continued in Part 2 and Part 3).

Chronology and catalogue links — assessed 10-10-2026: Use the Institutional Involvement Roadmap (1877–2026) for the date-ordered institution/people/evidence sequence. The reported 1988 Cadw-to-Minister spot-listing letter has its own catalogue placeholder at GHF-E152; the original has not been attached to that page as at 10-10-2026. A placeholder records an evidence gap; it does not establish the letter’s contents or misconduct.

Forensic Assessment — South Wales Police

Scope: policing records connected with the eviction/demolition episode and later reporting; not civil title adjudication.

Current evidence

The project has a confirmed negative FOI outcome under reference 719/26. That is a search result, not proof that no historic operational record ever existed. 🕒10-10-2026

Forensic control test

Identify the specific incident, operational record class, command/force area, retention rule and any transferred or destroyed records. Separate police operational decisions from the civil court authority under which possession was enforced.

Current finding

As at 10-10-2026, the material reviewed does not establish policing misconduct. This is not a finding that the historic police role or every operational act has been established or excluded. The current work concerns historical-record recovery and the evidential status of reports/footage about the 1988 episode.

Human action

Seek the search methodology and retention/disposal explanation behind FOI 719/26, and cross-check any surviving court warrant, press footage or contemporaneous account before alleging operational excess.

Acceptance: a defensible police-record search/retention trail and any relevant incident references are logged.

Cross-institution records route: the NPCC’s September–October 2026 correspondence searched accessible national/ACPO holdings and referred the requester toward individual police forces; it does not substitute for this force’s local operational records search. Compare the NPCC forensic assessment, especially GHF-E106-R49 and GHF-E106-R51, with South Wales Police’s own FOI 719/26 record (R38) and the linked press evidence below. A national nil return and a local nil return are separate searches.

South Wales Police — chronological evidence map

This map separates the date of the event from the date/type of the source. Newspaper reports are evidence of what was reported, not automatic proof of every reported detail; testimony of named family members is labelled separately and linked to their Testimony pages. Select each source title to open the evidence page.

Event / record date Appearance documented Direct source and qualification
29 April 1988 (event date inferred from contemporary report dated/circa 30 April) First bailiff eviction attempt. A press report states five bailiffs and around 15 police officers attended; a South Wales Police spokesperson is reported as saying officers were there to prevent a breach of the peace, not to assist bailiffs. GHF-E090-N07 — “Chainsaw farmer vows to fight on”. The newspaper title/date is approximate; the article states “yesterday” about the events.
30 April 1988 (publication date; same incident, not necessarily a second deployment) South Wales Echo search extract reports a dozen police officers were on the farm as bailiffs tried to evict the family. This is a short archive search-result extract, not the complete article. GHF-E090-N15-02 — South Wales Echo extract · search-extract evidence page.
September 2026 (Branwen’s recollection recorded then) Branwen’s recollection of the November 1988 removal, Sep 2026 (GHF-E114; Branwen testimony), states the men detaining her appeared to be soldiers. It does not identify them as South Wales Police, and the account remains uncorroborated. GHF-E114 — Branwen testimony. Contextual lead only; not evidence of SWP deployment. 🕒10-10-2026
16 July 2026 (FOI response) South Wales Police reports no information held for the requested period 1900–1993 about police attendance at, or support for bailiffs at, the property. 🕒10-10-2026 Reply register R38 — FOI 719/26. A nil return concerns records held/search results; it does not erase the contemporary press reports.
29 September 2026 (FOI response) South Wales Police states it does not hold the requested information about named individuals. Reply register R39 — FOI 1040/26.
29–30 September 2026 (SAR administration) Additional subject-access correspondence is recorded, but its personal-data contents are not reproduced on the public Wiki. R12 · R46. Procedural appearance only; not substantive evidence about 1988 conduct.

Unresolved boundary: the current published material still lacks the local force’s underlying 1988 operational, incident, custody and deployment records. The late-November possession and demolition reports should not be used to infer police attendance unless a specific source identifies the officers or force. The national NPCC search is a separate records route; compare the NPCC forensic assessment. 🕒10-10-2026

Records-access register appearances — direct row links

Rows below match the institution’s name or an alias in the reply register’s sender/reference or recorded description. A match shows an appearance in the records trail, not necessarily an act by this institution.

Date Correspondence / register item (click to open) Reading rule
16 Jul 2026 R38 — South Wales Police FOI. 719/26 . Register row contains a name/alias match; inspect the linked row to distinguish sender, recipient and incidental mention.
29 Sep 2026 R12 — South Wales Police, subject access team. Register row contains a name/alias match; inspect the linked row to distinguish sender, recipient and incidental mention.
29 Sep 2026 R39 — South Wales Police FOI. 1040/26 . Register row contains a name/alias match; inspect the linked row to distinguish sender, recipient and incidental mention.
30 Sep 2026 R46 — South Wales Police, SAR concerning the 20 Aug 2026 request Register row contains a name/alias match; inspect the linked row to distinguish sender, recipient and incidental mention.

Related navigation: FOI & Public-Authority Reply Register · Records Access Chronology · Evidence Library

Page version & change log

Current version: 1.0.1

VersionDate (UTC)Editor (human or agent name)ChangeSource / evidence
1.0.12026-10-20T22:01Zthe editorsSurname removed from Branwen’s name in our own text (first name only, public naming rule). Quoted documents and correspondence unchanged. Nothing else changed.Public naming rule / Master Change Log (3923)
1.0.02026-10-18T15:29Zthe editorsFooter standardised; earlier log rows carried into this table; no content changeEditing Protocol, 18 Oct 2026
2026-10-18 (rollout date; exact time not separately recorded)OpenAI-assisted maintenance agent (GPT-6)Installed this page-local append-only change log and agent instructions. Existing page content was not intentionally rewritten.User-directed site-wide changelog standard. Saved via WordPress API; public rendering of this page not yet independently checked.

Agents and editors: follow the Editing Protocol.

Case file

This file is built for a future reparations claim. Facts are as the records show them; interpretation is labelled “our reading”. Items marked “not checked” have not been compared with the original record.

(a) Conduct timeline

34 dated interactions, oldest first; 20 automatic acknowledgements are left out. Quotations are verbatim from the institution’s email; where the reply’s substance was an attachment, the email subject is quoted instead.

Show the timeline
DateDirectionReferenceTypeVerbatim
14 May 2026receivedLPB/26/0781redirected elsewhereSubject: Our Reference: LPB/26/0781
20 May 2026receivedLPB/26/0781redirected elsewhereSubject: Our Reference: LPB/26/0781
29 May 2026received—redirected elsewhereSubject: Automatic reply: FORMAL DISCLOSURE NOTICE & LITIGATION HOLD: Historic Significance, Planning Approvals, and Displaced Family Tenancy Records for Great House Far
29 May 2026received—redirected elsewhereSubject: RE: FORMAL DISCLOSURE NOTICE & LITIGATION HOLD: Historic Significance, Planning Approvals, and Displaced Family Tenancy Records for Great House Farm, Llandough
7 June 2026sent—requestSubject: FOI/EIR Request – 1988 Police/Bailiff Involvement in Dispossession at Great House Farm (Ty Mawr), Llandough (Ref: Buckler/Williams Family, BP Properties)
16 July 2026received719/26not heldSouth Wales Police provides you the right to request a re-examination of your case under its review procedure (copy attached).
2 August 2026sent719/26chaseSubject: Follow-up – FOI Request 719/26 (Great House Farm / 1988 Dispossession)
7 August 2026received719/26correspondencePlease could you provide me with a contact number so that I can call you to offer some explanation.
7 August 2026sent719/26owner’s account; date confirmed from correspondenceReply the same day giving a contact number (number withheld here) and inviting a message to be left.
20 August 2026sent—requestSubject: Freedom of Information Request – Records relating to the deaths of William Buckler (1990) and [name] (1983)
16 September 2026sent719/26owner’s account; date confirmed from correspondenceAsked whether a voice message had been left; none was found; asked for replies by email.
17 September 2026received719/26correspondenceI do not have a contact number for you, so I have not left any message.
17 September 2026sent719/26owner’s account; date confirmed from correspondenceReply pointing to the 7 August email that carried the contact number.
17 September 2026owner719/26owner’s accountOwner’s account: the police said they would phone; later they said no contact number had been left, although it had been. Date to be confirmed from correspondence — the emails of 7 August and 17 September 2026 above match this account.
27 September 2026sent719/26internal review requestSubject: Internal review of 719/26 (no records held) and overdue request of 20 August 2026 — Great House Farm, Llandough, 1988
28 September 2026sent—requestSubject: Subject access, crime-recording request, and search note on 719/26 — Great House Farm, Llandough, 1988
29 September 2026received1040/26not heldSouth Wales Police provides you the right to request a re-examination of your case under its review procedure (copy attached).
29 September 2026received—fee or clarification demandSubject: Subject Access Request
29 September 2026sent—clarification givenSubject: Re: Subject Access Request
30 September 2026received—fee or clarification demandBefore we search our systems to locate your requests, would you please be able to provide more information on your request you stated was made on 20/08/2026 regarding the death of 2 individuals?
10 October 2026sent—requestSubject: FOI/EIR request — non-personal operational records concerning Great House Farm / Tŷ Mawr, Llandough, November–December 1988
13 October 2026receivedFOI 1264/26fee or clarification demandPlease search the relevant South Wales Constabulary / predecessor-force and successor holdings, including any transferred records available to the Force, for existing non-personal records that refer to the site or the events associated with its possession and demolition.
13 October 2026sentFOI 1264/26clarification givenSubject: RE: FOI 1264/26 - non-personal operational records concerning Great House Farm / Tŷ Mawr, Llandough, November–December 1988
13 October 2026sentFOI 1264/26clarification givenSubject: Re: FOI 1264/26 - non-personal operational records concerning Great House Farm / Tŷ Mawr, Llandough, November–December 1988
16 October 2026sentFOI 1264/26preservation noticeSubject: Re: FOI 1264/26 - non-personal operational records concerning Great House Farm / Tŷ Mawr, Llandough, November–December 1988
21 October 2026received—correspondence (no disclosure)Section 1(1)(a) is the duty to confirm or deny that the requested information is held, and Section 1(1)(b) is to the duty to communicate the requested information to the applicant.
21 October 2026sent—chaseSubject: Re: Internal Review 1188/26 of FOI 719/26
21 October 2026sent—chaseSubject: Re: RESPONSE Freedom of Information 1040/26
21 October 2026sent—chaseSubject: Re: RESPONSE Freedom of Information 1189/26
21 October 2026sent—chaseSubject: Re: Subject Access Request
26 October 2026received1188/26 (review of 719/26)otherSouth Wales Police provides you the right to request a re-examination of your case under its review procedure (copy attached).
29 October 2026sent1264/26clarification givenSubject: RE: FOI 1264/26 - non-personal operational records concerning Great House Farm / Tŷ Mawr, Llandough, November–December 1988
29 October 2026sent719/26clarification givenSubject: Follow-up – FOI Request 719/26 (Great House Farm / 1988 Dispossession)
31 October 2026sent1188/26clarification givenSubject: Re: RESPONSE Freedom of Information Request 1188/26

(b) Inconsistencies and gaps

“Not held” answers set against the duty below

Missed deadlines

Promises not kept

(c) Quarantined-name links

Records on the quarantine register (Kissed Frogs) that sit in, or came from, this institution’s holdings. None is treated as settled.

No quarantined-name record on the register is linked to this institution’s holdings.

(d) Duty and liability — our reading

Liability indicators (our reading): strong

Duty
FOIA 2000; Data Protection Act 2018 (Part 3 for law-enforcement data, UK GDPR Art. 15 for subject access); the Management of Police Information code and APP on retention and review of records.
Indicators the duty was not met
a discrepancy in its own correspondence; missed statutory deadlines; “not held” answers.
Evidence still needed to confirm
the institution’s retention schedule and disposal record for the series in question; the catalogue or file list it searched; any internal review or complaint outcome.
Likely extent of exposure if confirmed
A records-management or complaint finding; correspondence that is inconsistent with its own earlier messages goes to handling, and wider exposure depends on what the records, once found, show.

(e) Evidence still needed

Versions

1.1.02026-11-01Moved to the Forensic Assessments webapp; dated “Since last assessment” section added; response status re-read.
1.0.12026-10-20As published on the Legal Wiki.

Small print: dotted links explain a word (see the glossary); amber-shaded links list every name the records use for the same thing.