Horrifying case of woman who joked about having a joke skeleton in her garden that was actually her husband

When the neighbours of recently deceased Leigh Ann Sabine went to retrieve what they thought was a plastic skeleton from her garden they had no idea about the chilling murder case which would unfold.

For years Leigh had told her neighbours in the Welsh village of Beddau, Pontypridd that she had an old medical skeleton in her flat, a nod to her previous work as a nurse.

After she passed away in 2015 the 'skeleton' was amongst the Leigh's belongings dumped in a communal garden near her flat, with her neighbour Michelle James deciding to retrieve the object and use it as a prank on another neighbour.

What happened next is a true crime case that sounds like it's been ripped from the pages of a horror story.

Leigh Ann Sabine had long joked about having a medical skeleton in her flat. (Juliet Eden)

After locating what she thought was the skeleton wrapped in plastic sheeting, Michelle and another neighbour began to open it - only to discover the skeleton was actually a dead body.

Currently the subject of a three-part Sky Documentary series, The Body Next Door uncovers the true of story of Leigh and the disappearance of her husband John Sabine, who was last seen alive in 1997.

Following the discovery, Michelle would be initially arrested as a murder suspect, unless DNA tests proved the remains belonged to John.

The confirmation that the body belonged to John led police to delve deeper into Leigh's life.

Police would later discover that John and Leigh had previously lived in Australia, and welcomed five children together - before abandoning the brood at an orphanage in New Zealand.

A chilling murder case would be uncovered after her death. (Juliet Eden)

After further investigation into the pyjamas found on John's body and shopping bags used in the wrapping police deduced that he had died in the late 90s, there was also signs of blunt force trauma to the head. However they still couldn't determine an exact date and cause of death.

Until a former friend of the Sabine's came forward with some damning evidence.

Recalling an unnerving phone call between herself and Leigh in 1997, the woman said recalled the former nurse claiming that she'd 'battered' John with a stone frog as he was 'getting on her nerves'.

The woman hadn't thought much about the conversation until the discovery of the body, with the phone call being enough to link Leigh to her husband's murder.

Police would later recover the ornament, which revealed traces of John's blood alongside Leigh's fingerprints.

Leigh would claim John had died from an illness. (Juliet Eden)

Now officers were finally able to put together a case and motive for John's death, theorising that Leigh had murdered her husband in his sleep and then hidden his remains in her flat until the time of her death.

As for the motive, authorities believed Leigh had grown resentful to John over his regrets about abandoning their children.

As for the responses of their children, daughter Jane Sabine would later go on record saying: "I have no doubt my mother was capable of murder."

Juliet Eden interviewed and photographed Leigh Ann Sabine a year before her death. The author has also written a book about the case, The Frog Murderer, which you can find here.

You can watch The Body Next Door on Sky Documentaries and NOW.