A little after 10pm, but certainly before 10.30pm, Anne Jeffreys opened the back door of Commerce House and let out Spot the family dog.

The rear of Commerce Place was quiet and Mrs Jeffreys noted nothing untoward before returning indoors while Spot went about his business.

Within minutes however, the peace was shattered.

Spot barked furiously, Mrs Jeffreys said in her statement.

As everything was so quiet outside I shouted to the dog: Whats the matter boy?

The 61-year-old was alone in the house, but was not one to be shaken easily.

It was Anne who, on July 13, 1895, had reached agreement with land-owner Lord Dynevor and finally signed the lease for the vacant plot that would one day house the shops of Commerce Place.

The lease remained in Annes name until she signed it over to her husband Morgan on August 29, 1903, and it was Anne who would remain the named defendant in the 20-year-old legal dispute with the Dynevor Estate which saw the Jeffreys family refuse to pay a penny in a rent until ordered to do so after a bitter High Court battle with Walter FitzUryan Rice, the seventh Baron Dynevor, in July 1915.

She went to the door to see what had so riled the dog, but could see nothing out of the ordinary in the darkness.

I could see nothing so I called the dog to come in, she said.

Spot then came in, so I forgot everything about it.

To find out more about the unsolved murder of Thomas Thomas in Garnant, Carmarthenshire, visit: murderatthestar.wordpress.com