Matthew Battenbough stabbed and beat Leanne Williams to death using a knife, scissors, and frying pan
13:17, 27 Sep 2025Updated 13:25, 27 Sep 2025
This is the moment a man who subjected a vulnerable woman to a brutal and murderous assault was arrested.
Matthew Battenbough had carried out a “savage and merciless” attack with a knife, scissors and frying pan on Leanne Williams in her flat in Swansea before covering her half-naked dead or dying body with towels and then abandoning her.
Swansea Crown Court heard sexual intercourse had taken place but it wasn’t possible to forensically determine whether it had been consensual or not, and whether it had taken place before, during, or after the bloody attack.
The court heard it was pure chance that 47-year-old Miss Williams had encountered Battenbough in a Townhill street on February 24 this year as she walked to the local shops. The pair then went back to Miss Williams’ flat where they smoked the crack cocaine the defendant had “traded” for jackets he had just shoplifted from a nearby Matalan store. You can read our coverage of the sentencing hearing on this court blog
Leanne Williams(Image: South Wales Police / Family photograph)
In the days after the murder, homeless Battenbough was caught on CCTV at various locations around Swansea city centre, and changing his clothes in a tent pitched near The Strand.
He was arrested on March 1 some 17 miles from Swansea in the village of Cwmllynfell after apparently going to see his parents. For the latest court stories sign up to our crime newsletter
The 34-year-old defendant has never given an account of what happened in the flat, or why he did what he did to Miss Williams, a woman described by her family as “beautiful, strong, and kind” and who loved nature and animals.
Matthew Battenbough being arrested in Cwmllynfell for the murder of Leanne Williams at her flat in Townhill(Image: South Wales Police)
The defendant was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 20 years and 114 days.
Judge Paul Thomas KC said the defendant must serve the minimum term before he can apply to be released but it will be for the Parole Board to determine if he is safe to be let out at that point, at a later date, “or indeed, if ever at all”.
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