Words by Wales Producer Alex Littlewood and report by Wales Reporter Rhys Williams
Warning: Some may find the details in this article distressing
A daughter has spoken of the horror of watching her mother’s murder on a doorbell camera after a man forced his way into the home of a 69-year-old grandmother.
Today, a jury sitting at Caernarfon Crown Court found Dean Mears, 34, guilty of the murder of Catherine Flynn after four hours of deliberations.
The grandmother, known by everyone as Cathy, lived alone and was in bed when she was attacked and killed by Mears, who broke into her home in Rhyl last October.
The pensioner suffered from serious health issues and needed to use a wheelchair. When Mears, a scaffolder who was high on drugs, approached Cathy’s house, her doorbell camera triggered a message on her daughter Natasha Flynn-Farrell’s phone.
Natasha watched him break in and then listened in horror to the sounds of the attack on her mother. Remarkably, she remembered the app had to stay open for the footage to be recorded. That footage became the key evidence in this case.
She told ITV News she just “had to watch it play out” and knew she “had to stay on it for it to be recorded.” Describing what she saw and heard, Natasha said: “It was horrendous, it was sickening.”
‘Our Queenie’
Cathy grew up in Liverpool, but had lived in Rhyl for the last 25 years. The grandmother and great-granny loved her home and would spend hours in the garden when not with her family.
Her daughter Natasha told me that Cathy had “the loveliest of souls” and “was the best woman you could ever meet” showing “generosity with everyone.” Natasha called her ‘Queenie’, “because you can’t get any higher than the Queen. She was my everything, my queen, my Queenie.”
For her brother Jim Lundon, Cathy “wasn’t just my sister, she was my friend” and was “the kingpin of the family.” He says that even though she had become “so tiny, so skinny, so frail in later years,” Cathy was still “always looking after people” and “her grin was the size of the moon.”
Natasha feels there is far too much violence against women and girls. She wants to do all she can to support other families impacted by violence. Jim told ITV News that Mears is a “coward” and would “not have attacked a man” the way he did Cathy.
Cathy had only returned home a few weeks before she was attacked after being in and out of the hospital for the last few months. Natasha says that although she “had lost even more mobility, she was getting her strength back” and had “fought through her illness.”
Cathy’s family spoke to ITV News Wales Reporter Rhys Williams about how her murder has affected them
The attack
At 10.27pm on the evening of October 24, 2024, Cathy was in bed when Dean Mears quickly approached her front door. Her doorbell camera captured him violently kicking the front door twice, before he moved to the front window and smashed the glass. The camera continued to film, and the sound of the attack was recorded.
Natasha Flynn-Farrell says as she watched the footage, it “felt like it was going on forever” and she was “screaming down the phone – get out, get out of the house.”
Cathy Flynn is heard begging not to be hurt – “please don’t,” she screams. With Mears repeatedly demanding, “where are the keys?” Seconds later, fifteen loud thuds can be heard.
The prosecution said these thuds are the sound of the defendant murdering Ms Flynn by “repeatedly stamping upon her face and neck having dragged her out of her bed”.
Andrew Jones KC, for the prosecution, said this was an “outburst of violence so severe” it left Cathy with injuries often only seen in car crashes. The jury was told the attack “shattered all of her facial bones.”
Dean Mears was only inside Cathy’s home for about a minute before he tried to escape by jumping back through the front window.
As soon as Natasha saw him jump out of the window and run away, she made sure the video was recorded and called the police. Her’s was the first call the police received.
What happened to her mum and what she saw has changed Natasha. She says she “can’t go to sleep at night without it playing on my mind” and is now nervous all the time.
The defendant
Dean Mears worked as a scaffolder, and he had a history of using cocaine, ketamine and cannabis. Before this attack, he had no history of violence.
He denied he had murdered Cathy Flynn, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter, on grounds of diminished responsibility. His defence concentrated on his mental state during the attack.
Mears had a history of mental health challenges. In December 2023, he had presented to his GP surgery complaining of long-standing low mood and impulsivity and said he had tried to take his own life.
From the witness box, in his own defence, he said: “I accept what I have done, but I had no intention to hurt anyone that night.” He said that he could not remember going into her house and added: “I wish I did have answers, but I don’t.”
He told the court he could not remember anything about his attack on Cathy. When asked if he had known Cathy Flynn or had a grudge against her, he said “no. I did not.”
The jury heard from two psychiatrists about Mears’s state of mind during the attack.
Dr Andrew Shepherd, for the defence, outlined mental health conditions he believed Mears had. These included depressive disorder, adjustment reaction disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as substance misuse.
He also explained why Mears might not remember the attack.
Dr Shepherd said: “When people who are unaccustomed to violence, then act in significant levels of violence, their mind often shuts down and pushes against what they’re doing.”
For the prosecution, Dr John Sandford said he did not think there was anything to suggest a “significant mental disorder at the time of the offence, beforehand, or after”. Dr Sandford also told the jury he did not think Mears was psychotic during the attack.
In his closing speech to the jury, Richard Pratt KC, representing Dean Mears, explained there were “many questions unanswered” about the attack and the defendant had several recognised mental health conditions.
Mr Pratt KC told the jury that if they believed “that there was this underlying mental condition” and that it could have caused a violent outburst, then they “do have an explanation” for the attack on Ms Flynn.
He continued that if the jury found Mears guilty of manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility, they were “not exonerating him of all responsibility” and that they would still be finding “him guilty of a very serious charge.”
The investigation
Within minutes of police receiving the doorbell footage from Natasha, two officers had identified Dean Mears as the attacker. Those police officers had arrested him the previous night for breaking into another house in Rhyl.
A few hours after he had attacked Cathy Flynn, Dean Mears was arrested at his grandmother’s house by North Wales Police officers with tasers drawn.
At the property, they found a bag of blood-stained clothing. As well as the doorbell footage, his fingerprints were found in Cathy’s house and friends of his said he told them he had done “a terrible thing”.
While being interviewed by police, Mears would only answer “no comment” to every question about his attack on Cathy.
The Senior Investigating Officer in this case, Superintendent Lee Boycott, says Dean Mears has “never shown one once of remorse, contrition or regret over what he has done” and the reason for the attack “may only ever be known by Mears himself.”
Boycott described the footage as “the CCTV of a murder taking place” and said, “it still sickens me to this day to hear the attack”. He believes it is remarkable that Natasha Flynn reacted in the way she did.
“To be so quick think and have the presence of mind to make sure the footage was recorded was really, really important to this investigation.”
Today, Cathy’s family reacted to the jury’s verdict by cheering, jumping for joy and crying together.
Natasha says she is “glad the jury have seen through Mears’ lies” and that “justice is severed.” Jim believes Dean Mears is a “coward” and what he has done is “a cowardly act.”
Judge Rhys Rowlands told Mears: “Your killing of Mrs Flynn was truly horrific. You broke in. You went upstairs, passing the stair lift she used, because of her limited mobility.
“You dragged her out of her bed, you demanded ‘where are the keys?’. You repeatedly stamped on her head, face and neck, causing the most catastrophic injuries.
“In my view, you were high on drugs, you went to the wrong address…I take the view that this is a particularly serious matter.”
Mears will be sentenced on June 20.
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