Length of Cord (MTJ6)
This was also the same nylon as that attached to the gun PH/2 and cord found at Cooper’s home address.
‘Head’ Rucksack (MTJ8)
Positively identified as stolen in the burglary at 5 Roebuck Close Milford Haven in April 1986. Brown polypropylene fibres found at this point of entry matched other scenes.
Duracell Batteries (x2) (MDS4), Torch casing (MAR1) and Light Section (BJJ2)
There was black tape on the torch casing which matched tape recovered from Cooper’s home. White cloth inside the casing matched white cloth inside the buried box containing cartridges and a separate piece of cloth found in Cooper’s summer house. The weave was observed as being relatively uncommon.
Balaclava (MTJ14)
Found discarded on the Sardis robbery trail. Hairs recovered from the inside and outside of the balaclava were subjected to Mitochondrial DNA testing and compared with head hair samples from Cooper. Crucially, there was a match between Cooper’s sequencing and the sequencing of the hairs from the balaclava. Cooper’s Mitochondrial DNA sequence was relatively uncommon. Furthermore, green fibres were adhered to the balaclava that were identical to a green fibre on tapings from the conservatory window at the rear of ‘Westwinds’, the Sardis robbery, a green fibre taping at the point of entry to ‘The Nook’, Crossways, Milford Haven, and green fibres adhering to a green/purple fleece jacket (MTJ/29).
Green/purple fleece jacket (MTJ29)
This jacket was found on the robber’s trail between the balaclava and a black handbag positively identified by the victim of the Sardis robbery. The jacket had green fibres adhering to it identical to the green fibres on the balaclava; the inference being that Cooper had abandoned it as he fled the scene. Cooper’s wife, in witness statements, stated that the jacket was identical to the one she brought back from America for her husband. In evidence during the Huntsman trial, however, she changed her mind. Cooper, in police interviews, told the officers that he had tracksuits in 1995 that his wife had brought back from the US. He added that they had subsequently been stolen from him. However, in evidence during the Huntsman trial, he maintained that those tracksuits had been burned on a bonfire. He denied the jacket belonged to him.
Puma trainers (MTJ28 and DGG1) – size 9
Footmarks on the trail from ‘Westwinds’, Sardis, were similar to the soles of those Puma trainers abandoned on the Sardis robbery trail. Footmarks in the field opposite ‘The Nook’, Crossways, Milford Haven were also of a similar size and pattern to the Puma trainers, but limited in their value as there was no fine detail. Cooper maintained in evidence that he wore size eight shoes. The Brasher boots worn by Cooper to commit some of the burglaries were size nine. A pair of size nine Wellington boots was recovered from Cooper’s house. From the point where the Puma trainers were found, it was a short distance downhill to a disused railway line, now a public footpath, and Cooper’s home address. This was the route he took as he fled the scene of the Sardis robbery. The laces on the Puma trainers had been cut, it is likely that as he fled the scene he pulled the knife from the ‘buck’ knife holder which was then discarded, and cut the laces on the trainers, which were again discarded. The knife was never found; having dumped his sawn-off shotgun the knife would have probably been his weapon to use against any pursuer.
We had now detailed the connecting evidence and behaviour from his Huntsman convictions and already there were some startling similarities with the Ottawa offences, so we needed to continue the exercise. We turned our attention to Scoveston Park.
Scoveston Park
Richard Thomas was born in 1927 and was 58 years old at the time of his murder. Helen Thomas was born in 1929 and was 56 years old when she died. Neither of them had married and they lived together at Scoveston Park. Both Scoveston Park and Cooper’s home address are at the geographical centre of a two-mile radius, which includes all the burglaries and the Sardis armed robbery. After the fire, the post-mortem evidence revealed that Richard Thomas would have died instantly from a gunshot wound to the lower abdomen. He had also sustained glancing gunshot wounds to the head. There was no evidence of smoke inhalation, indicating that death had already occurred before the fire took hold. Due to the damage caused by the fire, Helen Thomas’ body had fallen through from the bedroom above. Under her clothing were items of bed linen, a piece of foam mattress, together with a length of knotted rope probably used to tie her up. Similarly, there was no evidence of smoke inhalation. Forensic scientists discovered a blanket on the half landing where Richard Thomas’ body had been discovered. The conclusion was that the blanket bore all the hallmarks of having been dragged through mud and vegetation bearing a heavy object. Blood belonging to Richard Thomas was found splattered on off-cuts of plasterboard in an outbuilding. Further examination revealed the presence of two lead cartridge pellets in the plasterboard and one embedded in the blood-splattered plaster on the wall. The conclusion is that Richard Thomas was killed in the outhouse and his body dragged on the blanket into the main house. The hypothesis is that this was a robbery that escalated into murder. The perpetrator had gone to Scoveston Park intending to commit burglary in the knowledge that Helen Thomas was alone in the house. He was disturbed, possibly by the late and unexpected arrival of Richard Thomas and events spiralled into murder. Evidence demonstrates that Richard Thomas was an owner of at least one shotgun, yet no weapons were recovered at the house, leading to the conclusion that the killer stole his gun or guns. No spent cartridges were found at the scene.
Furthermore, a cartridge box (AJM/216/6 and 7) recovered at Cooper’s home address had handwriting on it, which could have belonged to Helen Thomas, though this was not conclusive. The cartridge box was found with other items of stolen property, including a shotgun, buried under the duck run at Cooper’s home. Also recovered from the same location was ammunition identical to cartridges recovered from Scoveston Park. Shotgun wadding found on the Dixon’s bodies was similar to wadding contained in other cartridges recovered from his home address.
Cooper’s alibi was now dubious; he had told his family to tell the police that they were all in the house together on the night of the murders, when in fact this was not true. His daughter Teresa now cast doubt on his alibi and related an instance when her father came home with his hair flat to his head and sweating. He quickly went up stairs and washed and then told her to say they had been in all night if asked. Teresa could not remember if this was the night of the Scoveston Park murders and its value was limited but I had no doubt that it was the very night in question.
The Dixons
At the time of their murders, Peter Dixon was 51 years old and his wife 52. They lived in Oxfordshire and regularly spent time in the summer at Howelston Farm Caravan Site in Little Haven. They arrived at the caravan site on 19 June 1989. They were last seen alive by fellow campers at about 9.30 a.m. on 29 June 1989, approximately an hour before they were murdered, walking out of the caravan site in the direction of the coastal path. At around 10.30 a.m. a number of witnesses heard gunshots in the vicinity of the coastal path. Five shots were heard, comprising two sets of two followed by one final shot. The evidence of the Home Office pathologist, Bernard Knight, confirmed that Peter Dixon was shot three times and Gwenda Dixon twice in an execution style killing. The three wounds to Peter Dixon and the two wounds to Gwenda Dixon were inflicted by a double-barrelled 12 bore sawn-off shotgun fired at close range. On 5 July 1989 at about 3 p.m. their bodies were found by police officers approximately six hundred yards from the caravan site. The bodies were situated in a clearing, in thick vegetation between the coastal path and the edge of the cliff. Their bodies had been hidden by branches and uprooted plants from the nearby area. Peter Dixon’s NatWest cash card and wedding ring were missing. No spent cartridges were found at the scene. Gwenda Dixon’s body was naked from the waist down. Blue acrylic fibres were recovered from the belt, shorts and body of Peter Dixon and the sweatshirt and body of Gwenda Dixon. Fibres were also recove
red from the branches used to conceal their bodies. Peter Dixon’s hands were tied together behind his back.
Enquiries at NatWest revealed that Mr Dixon’s cash card was used on four occasions after his death. The new video evidence of John Cooper on Bullseye, filmed less than a month before the murders, had an uncanny resemblance to the artist’s impression and suspect seen at the cashpoint. We know that on 5 July 1989, Cooper sold a man’s gold wedding ring to a jeweller in Main Street in Pembroke. This location is less than fifty yards from the NatWest cashpoint used by the murderer on 29 June 1989. We also knew that Cooper frequented Pembroke to sell stolen jewellery. In the 2008 interview it can be shown that he told lies about this ring. Furthermore Adrian Cooper related an instance when he took his father’s car to drive up to Little Haven at the time of the murders to see what was happening. Cooper found out and went berserk, suggesting that the car had a bald tyre. Adrian felt his reaction was disproportionate. Cooper had known that Adrian was out in the car but only reacted when he was made aware that his son had been to Little Haven.
Milford Haven Attack
At approximately 7.00 p.m. on Wednesday 6 March 1996 three teenage girls and two boys from the Mount Estate walked towards woodland and across a field via a stile, which was situated near a school. Having entered the field they walked into the woods through a barbed wire fence, stopping to play on a rope swing. They then planned to cross the river through an area called Black Bridge before heading up to North Road in Milford Haven. When they got to the river it was high tide and too deep to cross so they turned back and re-traced their steps. As they re-entered the field, they saw someone with a light or torch coming towards them. As the man approached them, he pulled out a gun and ordered them back down the field telling them to lay on their stomachs on the ground and to put their faces on the grass. He then struck a boy, Steven, on the head with the gun. The man then grabbed a girl, Jayne, by her hair and dragged her a few feet away from the others, warning them not to look. The man then took out a knife, told her to stop crying, before lifting up her top and fondling her breasts. He then undid her trousers, told her to take one leg out and to be quiet. It was at this point that the man raped Jayne. She was then told to get dressed, and they were all told not to tell anyone what had happened because he knew where they lived. Before he left, the man asked the teenagers for money before approaching Susan who was still lying on the ground, and indecently assaulting her by pushing up her bra and fondling her breasts and between her legs. He repeated his threat that if they told anyone, he would kill them. He then fired the gun as he left. No spent cartridge was recovered. The man was confident in controlling multiple victims in an isolated rural location. The offence involved robbery and had a strong sexual element and he used a double-barrelled sawn-off shotgun. He didn’t commit murder, but the circumstances were very similar to the Dixons’ attack. Perhaps on this occasion the offender would have found it too difficult to shoot all his victims. The youngsters though were left in no doubt he would have used the gun. The words and threats used were very similar to those used by Cooper during the Sardis robbery. The two male victims at Milford Haven were into field sports and described the weapon as a side by side shotgun which had a lanyard clipped to the barrel and butt. Their description bears a very strong resemblance to the Sardis gun PH/2. All the youngsters involved in this attack later took part in a voice recognition identification procedure. Three of the five young victims selected the voice of the defendant, John Cooper, as the person who had been their assailant.
At this point the Ottawa case was based on these connections, allowing us to make the following conclusions.
In relation to the three Ottawa offences, our position was that Cooper carried out the attacks using a shotgun. There was clear evidence that the weapon used in both the coastal path murders and the Milford Haven attempted robberies and sexual assault was a double-barrelled sawn-off shotgun. There was evidence from Cooper’s previous offending to link him with shotguns generally. There were clear similarities in the way the shotgun was used in the Sardis armed robbery and some of the Ottawa offences. On 15 April 1995, Cooper burgled a house, ‘The Cotswolds’ in Sardis. A shotgun and cartridges were among the property stolen. The cartridges were found in a biscuit box during a search of Cooper’s home, buried under his duck run. On 1 March 1996, five days before the Milford attack, Cooper burgled a house at 23 Castle Pill Crescent in Steynton. A double-barrelled Bruno shotgun and cartridges were stolen. This shotgun was recovered at Cooper’s home address, preserved in oil, wrapped in cloth and buried in a pipe. The stock had been modified in an identical manner to the Sardis shotgun PH/2. It was clear this gun had been preserved so that it could be recovered at a later date. Castle Pill backed onto a field near to where the attempted robberies and sexual assaults took place. Adrian Cooper indicated that his father possessed various shotguns during the period covered by the offences. He once saw the sawn-off barrels of a side-by-side shotgun in a room normally kept locked by Cooper. He stated that Cooper also had a single barrelled shotgun and an over-and-under double-barrelled shotgun. He stated that Cooper shortened the single-barrelled shotgun by sawing the barrel and shaving the stock before fashioning a strap, which he attached to the gun. This is very similar to the appearance of the gun (PH/2) used by Cooper in the Sardis robbery.
On 22 November 1996, Cooper robbed Sheila Clark at gunpoint in her home in Sardis. The shotgun (PH/2) was recovered after being discarded in a hedgerow. The shotgun bears an uncanny resemblance to the gun described by the two male victims of the Milford Haven attack. Cooper burgled a house called ‘The Cranny’ on two occasions. On the first occasion he attempted to break into a locked gun cabinet, and on the second occasion he stole a packet of 12 bore shotgun cartridges.
It was clear that Cooper stole keys from his victims. It was our position that at the time of the Scoveston Park murders, Cooper stole Richard Thomas’ car keys. Mr Thomas’ keys were missing. A key, found amongst many other recovered on the ground near a shed at Cooper’s home address, fitted Norton Farm (AJM/445). Why was he in possession of a key to a property owned and visited by Richard Thomas on the day of his murder? On 5 November 1992, Cooper burgled 9 Hazel Grove, Llanstadwell. House and car keys were stolen which were recovered in his cesspit. On 26 January 1995, Cooper burgled School Cottage in Waterston. He stole a car key that was later found in the boot of his own car. On 21 November 1995, Cooper burgled 29 St Marys Park in Jordanston. He stole a pair of Chinese-made padlocks that were later found in his cesspit. On 22 December 1995 Cooper burgled 89 Honeyfields in Neyland. He stole car keys that were later found in the boot of his car.
We believed that Cooper had taken ropes to the scenes of both the coastal path and Scoveston Park murders. Peter Dixon’s wrists were tied together behind his back. A length of knotted rope, which may have been used to tie Helen Thomas, was recovered underneath her charred body. There was clear evidence that Cooper had used ropes in the offences for which he had already been convicted. During the course of the Sardis robbery Cooper tied the victim’s hands behind her back in a similar manner to Peter Dixon, with rope that he had brought with him. Adrian Cooper confirmed that his father always had lengths of rope in his shed. Sixty lengths of rope were found at his property, some with loops tied in them, similar to the ones recovered from Peter Dixon and the victim at Sardis. When Cooper burgled 43 Hazelbank in Llanstadwell, he cut a hole in a hedge at the rear of the property and rope and wire-cutters were found nearby.
It was clear that Cooper targeted lone females, and Glyn Johnson was of the view that he might have been a ‘peeping Tom’, a view I increasingly shared. At Scoveston he deliberately entered the house at a time when he believed that Helen Thomas was alone. There was evidence from his previous offending to show that he targeted lone females in their homes. When Cooper committed the robbery at Sardis on Sheila Clark, he did so when her husband was away and she was alone. On 31October 1996 Cooper burgled a house at 28 Castle Pill Road, Steynto
n. At the time of the burglary, the female occupant of the house was present and alone.
Initially it was thought that a man’s shirt found around the neck of Helen Thomas was a gag, but I think this unlikely because Scoveston was so far away from a road that any screams for help would not have been heard. It is far more likely that it was used to cover her head to prevent her from recognising her attacker; Cooper was a man she knew well. During the rape of Jayne, the attacker covered her face with her top. During the gunpoint robbery at Sardis, Cooper placed a pair of jeans over the victim’s head.
The fact that fibres were recovered from body tapings of all victims suggests that Cooper wore woollen or knitted gloves at the time of the coastal path murders and the Milford Haven attack. It was clear that during the Huntsman offences Cooper wore woollen gloves. On 18 November 1994, Cooper burgled a house at 19 Castle Pill Crescent. He left woollen glove marks at the scene. On 22 December 1995, Cooper burgled a house at 89 Honey Fields. He left woollen glove marks at the point of entry and inside the house. During the investigation of the robbery at Sardis, the police discovered black/blue fibres and woollen glove marks at the point of entry. Fibres were also found at the point of entry at a number of burglary scenes that matched; therefore linking the offences.
The Pembrokeshire Murders: Catching the Bullseye Killer Page 19