John Cooper (serial killer)

John William Cooper (born 3 September 1944) is a Welsh serial killer. On 26 May 2011, he was given a whole life order for the 1985 double murder of siblings Richard and Helen Thomas, and the 1989 double murder of Peter and Gwenda Dixon. The murders were known in the media as the "Pembrokeshire Murders" or the "Coastal Murders". Cooper was also sentenced for the rape of a 16-year-old girl and a sexual assault on a 15-year-old girl, both carried out while a group of five teenagers were held at gunpoint in March 1996, in a wooded area behind the Mount Estate in Cooper's hometown of Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire.

Cooper had a history of criminal activities, including thirty robberies and violent assaults. Footage from the television game show ''Bullseye'' in May 1989, in which he appeared as a contestant, was later used as evidence against him, comparing his image with a sketch of a suspect in the Dixons' murder.

Cooper was sentenced to 14 years in 1998 for robbery and burglary. He was released from prison in January 2009. Because of subsequent developments in DNA and forensic science, the police carried out a cold case review in April 2009 and were able to identify Cooper's shotgun as being the murder weapon. Further DNA evidence was provided by forensic scientist Professor Angela Gallop. The police collected further evidence against him and Cooper was arrested again in May 2009. He was convicted, on 26 May 2011, for the double murders and sexual assaults and sentenced to four life sentences without the possibility of parole. For the brutality of his crimes, Cooper was also handed a whole life order, meaning that he will never leave prison alive, with presiding judge John Griffith Williams saying "the murders were of such evil wickedness that the mandatory sentence of life will mean just that." He is serving his time in an undisclosed prison. Provided by Wikipedia