Shotgun murderer given four life sentences

John Cooper found guilty of four killings in 1980s that rocked rural west Wales A former farm labourer has been given four life sentences for four shotgun murders that rocked a quiet community in west Wales in the 1980s. John Cooper, a prolific burglar, was convicted of killing holidaymakers Peter and Gwenda Dixon as they walked the coastal path in Pembrokeshire in 1989. Cooper, who was described in Swansea crown court as a “cold and calculating” killer, also murdered millionaire farmer Richard Thomas and his sister, Helen, in 1985 before setting fire to their remote Pembrokeshire farmhouse to try to cover his tracks. In addition, Cooper, 66, was found guilty of carrying out two sex attacks on teenagers in 1996, again in Pembrokeshire. Swansea crown court was told he carried out the killings and attacks for “pitiful financial gain” and “sexual gratification”. The murders of the Dixons, who were from Oxfordshire, became particularly notorious. One theory of the time was that they might have been murdered by the IRA, after an arms dump was found nearby. But after Dyfed-Powys police launched a cold case review in 2006, fresh scientific tests pointed to Cooper as the killer and sex attacker. The jury was told that Cooper was a burglar and robber who was jailed for 16 years in 1998 for a string of offences in the area. He was depicted as a clever and cunning outdoorsman who used hedgerows as “safes” to hide the valuables he stole and cut escape routes through fences and fields and to evade capture. He was proud of his survival skills and followed what he claimed was an “SAS handbook”. Peter Dixon, 51, and his wife, Gwenda, 52, were walking on the Pembrokeshire coastal path in the summer of 1989 on the last day of their holiday when Cooper pounced with his double-barrel shotgun. He sexually assaulted Mrs Dixon and forced marketing manager Mr Dixon to reveal his bank card pin. The bodies of the Dixons were found near the village of Little Haven, six miles from the scene of the unsolved murders of Richard and Helen Thomas, 58 and 54. They were gagged and shot three days before Christmas in 1985 at Scoveston Park manor. After the killings, a fire was set to destroy evidence, the jury heard. In 1996 Cooper carried out a double sex attack after finding a group of teenagers in a field near his home at night, the court heard. Wearing a balaclava and carrying a sawn-off shotgun, he raped one of the girls at knifepoint and indecently assaulted a second girl. During the cold case review, traces of blood shown to be Mr Dixon’s were found on a shotgun owned by Cooper. Traces of Mr Dixon’s blood were also discovered on a pair of shorts worn by Cooper. Crime Wales Steven Morris guardian.co.uk

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