The work of a former Western Mail journalist is being used by relatives of victims of famine and genocide in Russia.

People suffered under the regime in place in the Ukraine 70 years ago, and their descendants are trying to piece together what happened at the time.

Journalist Gareth Jones, who was murdered by Chinese bandits in 1935, travelled through Russia and the Ukraine in the early 1930s.

He revealed to the world the starvation experienced by millions of people under the rule of Stalin.

It is estimated that between 7m and 10m people died between 1932 and 1933 - but at the time Gareth's revelations were denounced by fellow journalists and his eye-witness accounts were dismissed as "a big scare story".

Now relatives of those who died are using the Internet to access his reports, which have been published by his niece, retired GP Dr Margaret Colley, and his great-nephew Nigel Colley, on the website http://colley.co.uk/garethjones.

Those trying to find out about the tragedy were aware of Gareth's articles, but could only read them once they were published on the website. Now they are now hoping to publish an anthology of his work.

Born in Barry in 1905, Gareth had worked as an aide to former Prime Minister David Lloyd George before joining the Western Mail.

However his life was violently cut short on the eve of his 30th birthday, when he was murdered by bandits while travelling in Inner Mongolia in 1935.

Do you have a story about the regional press? Ring 0116 227 3122/3121, or
e-mail pastill@nep.co.uk