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New drama The Pembrokeshire Murders, on screens for three nights this week, highlights how a game show finally helped solve a 20-year mystery…
It was one of the nation’s most popular gameshows, but Bullseye
– hosted by late comic Jim Bowen – also provided a crucial piece of evidence that helped nail a cold-blooded killer. And new TV true-crime drama The Pembrokeshire Murders will give a glimpse into how monster
John Cooper (played by Keith Allen) was brought to justice for two double murders and a horrifying sex attack.
When DSI Steve Wilkins (played by Luke Evans) joined Dyfed-Powys Police force in 2005, he was determined to solve two cold cases that had haunted Wales since the 1980s.
The first was the double murder of farmer Richard Thomas and his sister, Helen, in December 1985. The pair were bound and shot, before their house was set on fire. Then, in June 1989, tourists Peter Dixon, 51, and his wife Gwenda, 52, were murdered while walking the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path. They’d been tied up and robbed, before being shot.
HORRIFYING ATTACK
While reinvestigating these cases, detectives also came across another unsolved crime from 1996, which involved a horrifying attack on a group of teenagers that occurred near to the site of Richard and Helen’s murders. The teens had been cornered by a masked gunman who raped a 16-year-old girl and sexually assaulted her 15-year-old friend. No suspect was ever pinpointed, but Detective Wilkins wondered if armed robber John Cooper might be the culprit.
By then, Cooper had been in jail for seven years, after being sentenced in 1998 to 16 years for 30 burglaries
and a robbery with a shotgun – similar to that used in all three unsolved cases. Detective Wilkins said, “We hadn’t had any other robberies in the area since he’d been sent to prison. He was due for parole, but if this was the man, and he was released, my worry was that he’d kill again.”
DNA TESTS
The detective had to track down forensic material from the three cases, and while the initial investigation took place, Detective Wilkins was able to keep Cooper in prison – but eventually he was released in January 2009. However, DNA tests found blood and fibres from Gwenda Dixon on a pair of her shorts recovered from Cooper, which he’d kept as a trophy. Fibres found also linked him to the attack on the teenagers, and Peter Dixon’s blood was found on Cooper’s gun, which had been used in the previous Thomas murders.
But in a breakthrough moment, it was Cooper’s appearance on Bullseye, recorded in May 1989, a month before the Dixon murders, that helped implicate him. In it, he discussed his love of the countryside and showed an intimate knowledge of the area where the Dixons were killed. Footage retrieved from TV archives would later show that his mullet haircut and moustache at the time were identical to the artist’s impression of the murder suspect. Along with the DNA evidence, it led to Cooper finally being tried for the crimes.
The vital DNA evidence meant he was re-arrested and jailed for life in May 2011. The now 76-year-old received a whole-life order, meaning he will never leave jail. Detective Wilkins said, “People who kill like he did, execution-style... they enjoy it.”
● The Pembrokeshire Murders airs on ITV at 9pm from 11 January
❛ HE WAS DUE FOR PAROLE – MY WORRY WAS THAT HE’D KILL AGAIN ❜