A PLAQUE has been unveiled in memory of an Usk murder victim.

Members of the Usk Conservation and Environmental Group, friends and fellow poets joined together at a community field in Usk to commemorate the life of former member and acclaimed poet Anne Jackson.

A ceramic plaque in memory of Mrs Jackson was designed and made by Chepstow potter Ned Heywood and bears the words of a poem written by Mrs Jackson.

It was placed in the Owain Glyndwr Field and reads; ‘In Memory of Anne Cluysenaar 1936-2014. Inspirational poet.

‘She is free of nothing but a past, a future held by gravity, and the pull of distant stars.’

Graham Harris, treasurer and secretary of Usk Conservation and Environmental Group read one of Mrs Jackson’s poems and others followed with a selection of personal poems and Mrs Jackson’s own.

Two roses were then planted beside the memorial.

Mrs Jackson was one of the most significant writers in Wales who wrote under the name Anne Cluysenaar.

Belgian-born, she was killed aged 78, at the farm she shared with husband Walt Jackson in Wentwood, near Llantrissant, on November 1 last year.

Her step-son Timothy Jackson pleaded guilty to stabbing his stepmother five times with a kitchen carving knife and stamping on her head.

He was found guilty of her murder at Cardiff Crown Court on March 26 and sentenced to 19 years in prison.

Mrs Jackson, who lived in Monmouthshire for 25 years, published her last collection of poems in 2013.

Mr Harris said: “Anne was a respected and supportive member of the group. She is missed greatly.”