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When a holiday park owner dashed to a caravan following reports armed intruders had burst in, what she found seemed "odd". On her arrival, the victim's wife was sat calmly on the sofa, engrossed in her phone. It remains unclear what was going through the wife's mind as she sat there scrolling through her messages, but her plan to murder her husband had just gone badly awry. And the man with whom she was having an affair had vanished into the night. The ensuing police investigation unveiled an astonishing tale of the murderous plot which unfolded that night - a story which even detectives say has "all the makings of a TV drama", reports Wales Online . On the evening of September 20 last year, Christopher and Michelle Mills were in their caravan at the Argoed Meadow camping and caravan site in Cenarth near Newcastle Emlyn. They had enjoyed a meal and watched a documentary about the Titanic on the television, and by around 11.30pm they were getting ready for bed. Then there was a knock at the door. Many of the people with pitches on the site knew each other, and though it was late, it wasn't unheard of for neighbours to drop by from time to time. Join the North Wales Live Whatsapp community now When Mr Mills answered the knock, he was met by two men dressed in dark clothes, donning balaclavas, and wielding handguns. Mr Mills would later describe the men as looking like how you might imagine IRA terrorists to look. The first intruder immediately struck Mr Mills in the face with his weapon and shouted "Get back!" before a struggle ensued on the caravan's floor. During the scuffle, Mr Mills attempted to gouge the eyes of one of the men and managed to grab the gun being brandished by the second man, turning the weapon on the attacker. He then squeezed the man's gun hand to activate the trigger. The weapon "clicked" but did not fire. Mr Mills later told the trial of those accused of conspiring to murder him that he was "fighting for my life" as he grappled with the intruders. In the midst of the fight, Mr Mills called out to his 46-year-old wife, asking her to give him a knife. Rather than hand him a weapon, she stepped outside to get a signal for her phone. After a violent struggle, Mr Mills managed to disarm both intruders who then fled from the caravan and disappeared into the darkness. He had no idea who the intruders were or what they wanted, but assumed they were robbers possibly after his Mini Cooper S car parked outside. In her 999 call, Mrs Mills told the police she had no idea why the incident had occurred but suggested it could be linked to her husband's military background. Mr Mills joined his wife on the phone and told police they needed to send an armed response. The site owner, who resided nearby, was alerted to the incident and quickly rushed to the caravan where she discovered the couple. Mrs Mills was found sitting on the sofa in the lounge area, focussing on her phone. In response to the situation, numerous police units were dispatched to the scene, including firearms officers, dog handlers, and a helicopter. While ground and air units initiated a search of the surrounding countryside for what were suspected to be armed robbers on the loose, other officers proceeded to the caravan where they confiscated the two handguns that Mr Mills had taken from the intruders. Once the crime scene was secured, Mr and Mrs Mills were escorted to Newcastle Emlyn police station where they provided statements about the recent events before being allowed to return home to Llangennech near Llanelli in the early hours of September 21. At this point, Mr Mills still believed he had been the target of an attempted robbery, while his wife was aware he had narrowly escaped what was intended to be a lethal ambush. Meanwhile, the two intruders were discovered hiding in bushes near the caravan site after the police helicopter's thermal imaging camera detected them and directed armed officers and dog handlers to their location. The two men - former servicemen Geraint Maverick Berry, 46, and Steven Thomas, 47 - were arrested on suspicion of aggravated burglary and transported to Aberystwyth police station. Berry's mobile was confiscated, and it was the contents of this device that would dramatically shift the direction of the investigation. Christopher Mills had dedicated 28 years to the British Army before transitioning to Alabare, a charity devoted to aiding homeless veterans. It was through his charitable work that he encountered the woman who would become his wife and later conspire to have him murdered. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox Michelle Mills was employed by the mental health charity Links, which collaborated with Alabare. The couple began dating before tying the knot in 2018 and settling down in Llangennech. Mr Mills subsequently left Alabare for Help for Heroes, while his spouse transitioned from Links to Alabare, initially as a support officer before swiftly ascending to the role of manager for the South Wales region. Colleagues later reported that she occasionally voiced complaints about her husband Christopher, with one colleague suggesting she seemed discontented with her life. One of the veterans affiliated with Alabare was Berry, a former soldier residing at the charity's accommodation at Clos Coffa in Clydach, located in the Swansea Valley . In the summer of 2024, Michelle Mills and Berry embarked on a clandestine affair, a relationship Mills herself would later confess was inappropriate given their professional ties and her awareness of Berry's mental health vulnerabilities. Following his arrest, extensive text messages found on Berry's phone revealed that shortly after the affair began, the pair began professing their love for each other and their desire to be together in the future. They also discussed killing Christopher Mills. In their text conversations, they discussed various methods of getting rid of Mr Mills, from putting foxgloves in his salad or antifreeze in the gravy, to smothering him with a pillow, adding ground-up sleeping pills to his drink, or arranging a "hit" on him. Berry suggested in one text message that they could watch Mr Mills die together and then continue with their weekend. Mills claimed in the texts to have "boys" who would do the job for him, and when she expressed concern that she or Berry might get "tied" to what had happened, Berry assured her they would not. Berry also discussed ways of making the death look like suicide, and asked Mills about the gas supply at the Cenarth caravan. Mills told Berry she needed "him [her husband] gone one way or another" so she and Berry could "move forward" together. During their text exchanges, Mills made a series of allegations about the physical and emotional abuse she said she was suffering at the hands of her husband - and Berry would respond with messages saying he hated Mr Mills and wanted him dead. That summer, Berry purchased two second-hand BB airsoft handguns from a military and survival equipment stall in Swansea Market. He later approached the stall owner to inquire about acquiring a Glock gun with a suppressor and live ammunition, and even asked if he knew how to rig a Mini Cooper S to explode upon ignition. The stall owner declined to assist him. During the subsequent trial, the stall owner testified that Berry had claimed to be an ex-Royal Marines sniper who had killed "thousands" during his service. The stall owner noted that it was common for former servicemen to frequent his stall and often exaggerate their military exploits, describing them as "braggadocios". He dismissed Berry's claims about his military career, labelling him "a bit of a fantasist but mostly harmless". It was into this scenario that Thomas, a former RAF serviceman from Neath suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, entered. He moved into the same veterans accommodation in Clydach as Berry. Shortly after moving in, Thomas discovered his brother's body following his suicide, an event that, by his own admission, "ruined" him. Following his brother's death, he began spending more time at his sister's house and less time in Clydach. Thomas has described Berry as "intimidating". On the evenings of August 28 and 29, Thomas drove Berry to the Cenarth caravan site - on the first trip they were joined by another unidentified male, while on the second it was just Berry and Thomas in the car. The purpose of these trips to west Wales remains unclear, as does what Berry did at the site. According to Thomas, he thought he was giving Berry a lift because Berry planned to "give someone a hiding" in response to an alleged act against a family member. Thomas claims he stayed in the car on both occasions. Then came the night of Friday, September 20 . That evening, Thomas left his sister's house to collect Berry from Clydach. Berry instructed Thomas to wear dark clothing before texting Michelle Mills to inform her he was en route. She responded by saying she was encouraging her partner to drink in the hope he would fall asleep. Their vehicle was detected by automatic number plate recognition cameras as it travelled from Swansea to Cross Hands, then onto the Newcastle Emlyn area. Upon arrival in Cenarth, Berry texted Mills to let her know they had arrived. Berry then gave Thomas a balaclava and one of the airsoft guns he had previously bought. Then Berry knocked on the caravan door. The exact plans for Mr Mills that night remain unclear, but the contents of Berry's rucksack provide some insight - two gas masks, wrist and ankle restraints made from cable ties, and a fabricated suicide note supposedly penned by Mr Mills to his wife. In the note, he apologised "for everything I have done to you" and stated "by the time you get this letter I'll be gone because I can't live with myself cause every time I look at you I can see I have hurt you". Whatever the plan was, it didn't go as expected. As Berry and Thomas made their escape into the night, Michelle Mills texted Berry to inform him that the police had been called and advised him to flee. She assured him her husband hadn't recognised him and promised she wouldn't say anything. She also instructed him to erase all communication with her, and professed her love for him. Following the arrest of Berry and Mills and the examination of Berry's phone, the robbery investigation escalated into a conspiracy to murder investigation. Mills was apprehended at the family home in Maes Ty Gwyn the day after the botched ambush. Upon arrest, she told officers "I'm going to prison for this, aren't I?". Mills, Berry and Thomas were all subsequently charged with conspiracy to murder which they denied, leading to a trial at Swansea Crown Court. In her testimony, Mills maintained that the text exchanges with Berry were an "elaborate fantasy" and an "escape" from her real life. She asserted she never wanted her husband harmed or killed, instead, she simply desired a divorce. She labelled Berry a "fantasist" and claimed she never believed his "tall tales", but admitted he made her feel secure and described him as being "like a teddy bear" who "didn't have it in him to hurt anyone". She refuted the suggestion that she had been inciting Berry's jealous side or attempting to "wind him up" with fabrications about her husband's behaviour, knowing her lover was "smitten" with her. Berry opted not to testify. In his testimony, Thomas claimed he was oblivious to any murder plot and did not know the identity of the person in the caravan. He acknowledged driving to Cenarth and participating in the incident at the caravan but stated he had been intimidated by Berry at a time when he just wanted solitude to mourn his brother. After three hours of deliberation, the jury found Mills and Berry guilty of conspiracy to murder, while Thomas was acquitted. The jury also convicted Mills of attempting to pervert the course of justice in relation to a statement she gave to police in the aftermath of the incident. Berry and Thomas had previously pleaded guilty to possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence before the trial commenced. All three defendants are set to be sentenced on December 19 . Following the verdicts, Dyfed- Powys Police detective inspector Sam Gregory said digital evidence had proved pivotal in a case she described as having "all the makings of a TV drama". She explained: "The communication between Mills and Berry that we were able to retrieve made it clear that since the end of June 2024, the pair had embarked on a secret relationship. In a short period of time, Berry, encouraged by Mills, became increasingly occupied by hostile thoughts about her husband, and the pair had communicated a number of ways in which they could kill him. "Despite these conversations, Mills claimed she thought these plans were just fantasy and that their ideas would never be acted on. "Berry and Mills had previously discussed using gas to kill Mr Mills, while making it look like he had taken his own life. Berry had asked Mills where the boiler was, and he and Thomas carried gas masks that would have protected themselves while Mr Mills suffocated. "No explanation has been given by any of the three defendants for the fake suicide note or the gas masks in the rucksack. What's clear is that these were not being used to frighten Mr Mills – they were there to set up a fake suicide. "I am pleased that Michelle Mills and Geraint Berry have now been found guilty of conspiracy to murder, and that they will be suitably sentenced for their part in their plans to kill Mr Mills. "While this case has all the makings of a TV drama, at the heart of it was a very real conspiracy to take someone's life, and there were potentially fatal consequences to the planned attack on September 20. "Mills and Barry had plotted not one, not two, but three attempts to take Mr Mills' life, and I have no doubt that they would have continued to come up with these plans had they not been caught that night. They will now face the consequences of their actions." She added: "I would like to thank all the officers and staff who worked on this investigation, and gathered strong evidence to secure these convictions, as well as Mr Mills for his integrity and cooperation throughout the criminal justice process.". Find crime figures for your area
