It’s the dying days of September 1913, the guards at Ruthin gaol opened one of the cell doors to find a most peculiar sight. Instead of the prisoner lying in their bed, they found nothing. Save for a small hole dug into the wall of the cell. I say peculiar and not unusual as this was not an unusual incident, for the jail. And for the individual who was now at large in the Welsh countryside.
This is the extraordinary tale of a man who made a mockery of the British justice system, and how he met his bloody end. A man who was hated by many, and admired by a few. A man whose final escape attempt in 1913 caused a media sensation, with newspapers from around the country reporting on the incident, with his subsequent death and funeral enshrining him into folklore. A man who went by many names. This is the tale of John Jones, Little Turpin, the Welsh Houdini, or as he is most commonly known. Coch Bach Y Bala.
In this documentary we aim to ask the question. Who was John Jones, how did he gain such notoriety and how he became a folk legend.