Cold Case Files
A picturesque coastal spot. Four brutal unsolved murders. A two-decade investigation. Who was terrorising Pembrokeshire?
The Case:
They were once described as ‘everything you’d expect of an everyday English family’, and Peter Dixon and his wife Gwenda, seemed very happy. They had two grown-up children – Tim and Julie – and for the past 15 years had spent every Summer on the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales. Gwenda, 52, a keen badminton player, worked as a secretary for her local social services department and Peter, 51, was a marketing manager who enjoyed running.
In the Summer of 1989, the couple had been staying at Howelston Camping and Caravan Park. It was the first time their daughter hadn’t joined them as she’d gone on her first trip aboard with friends. Tim hadn’t been able to come that year either.
Gwenda and Peter had left their tent at the end of June to head for a stroll on a footpath near Little Haven, before they intended to pack up and return home to Oxfordshire.
Only they never made it home. While family and friends waited desperately for news of Gwenda and Peter, in the hope they would be found safely somewhere, a gruesome discovery was made.
A member of the public had reported a swarm of flies at a clifftop – a local Pembrokeshire beauty spot – and when officers from Dyfed-Powys Police arrived, there was reportedly ‘a pungent smell of death’. When Peter and Gwenda’s bodies were discovered, they were lying under twigs and bracken that had obscured them from view.
Mrs Dixon was naked from the waist down and appeared to
have been sexually assaulted. Mr Dixon was a few yards away, face-down with his hands tied behind his back with a length of polyethylene rope.
Both had gunshot wounds, which had been administered at close range, and locals had reported hearing loud bangs on 29 June. At the time, it had been put down to farmers working in the area.
As news of the Dixons’ devastating end spread, no one could understand who would want to hurt this kind, familyorientated couple.
INVESTIGATIVE LEADS?
Peter’s gold wedding ring was missing, as was his wallet, which included his NatWest bank card. The police ascertained that the killer must have forced the father-of-two to give up his PIN number.
Further investigations showed the card had been used in Pembroke on 29
June – the suspected date of the Dixons’ murders – and Carmarthen and Haverfordwest in the following days.
A member of the public reported seeing a man wearing shorts acting suspiciously as he withdrew cash and a sketch of the suspect was made.
The police had a number of theories, but no solid leads as to who had committed this atrocity. There were other unsolved crimes in the area too, including the tragic death of brother and sister, Richard and Helen Thomas, who were shot with a sawn-off shotgun and died in a fire at their threestorey Scoveston farmhouse back in December 1985.
The facial composite of the man withdrawing cash after the Dixons’ death was circulated, but it didn’t lead to any arrests or convictions. It must have been an incredibly painful time for the loved ones of the deceased’s families.
The police didn’t give up their search though…
‘Locals reported hearing loud bangs on 29 June’