_
...two, one.
Good evening. We are live in Pembrokeshire,
where there have been dramatic developments
involving two of Wales' most baffling crimes.
Decades on, these two double murders are being reinvestigated.
Detective Superintendent Steve Wilkins
is the man leading this reinvestigation.
Developments in DNA analysis have revolutionised
cold case reviews.
As a team, we have brought these processes to bear on these
two investigations, and they have had a significant impact.
And do you think it's the same local man responsible
- for all four murders? - I do believe that, Jonathan.
Thanks to the advances in DNA forensic science,
we are now in a much stronger position
to catch the person responsible.
- Happy? - That went quick.
- Not so bad, was it? - No. Thank you.
CREDITS
_
Prisoner Intelligence say that Cooper's new favourite place
is the library.
His specialist subject... DNA.
The news item worked.
He's worried we've found something.
Oh, a date for the diary.
Dyffryn Prison's governor has given us our dates for the interviews.
A month from now.
Monday, June 30th to Wednesday, July 2nd.
We've got three days to get inside his head,
find out the exhibits that give him night sweats.
Rambo, we should find out if there are any psychologists out there
who have interviewed him. We want their insights.
Right you are.
Boss, that was Pembroke Dock Police Station.
Andrew Cooper was found collapsed
by the railway tracks last night outside Fishguard.
He was taken to Withybush Hospital.
He claimed he overdid it on his pain medication.
By the railway tracks?
Apparently, he's adamant he wasn't trying to kill himself.
He checked out of the hospital this morning.
Tried to kill himself?
Didn't try very hard, did he? He's still breathing.
John...
Anyway, guess what?
The police want to interview me.
That stuff on the news. I'm their bloody suspect.
- Why you? - Well, it's the same as before, hm?
Cos it's easier to frame an innocent man
than it is for them to do their job.
Now, you'd better be on your toes. They might wanna talk to you.
Talk to me?
What about? I don't know anything.
When they come knocking, that's exactly what you tell them.
And don't go running off to Adrian cos you feel sorry him. He's a rat.
And anything you say to him will go directly back to the police.
I'm coming!
Hello, Andrew.
Hello.
Sorry to bother you. I heard you'd been in hospital.
How are you doing?
I'm fine.
Well, I just wanted you to know
that if you feel like you need some support,
we can sort something for you.
I don't need anything like that.
You don't have to worry about me.
Dr Harry Stephens...
...is a forensic psychologist from Liverpool University.
Now, he interviewed Cooper for a book about violent offenders.
He's the only person to have gone on record
as saying that Cooper is a psychopath.
He also told us that,
like most psychopaths, Cooper is a narcissist
and we should treat him accordingly.
Like royalty.
Er, pamper him into a false sense of security.
Nige, we need you to find a suitable station for the interviews.
Sterile, clean, quiet holding cells.
And make sure the custody sergeant is very charming.
Yes, boss.
Dr Stephens also recommended that one of the interview team
be a woman.
Yeah, apparently, Cooper has a very low opinion of female intelligence.
And a woman opposite him might make him drop his guard.
- Are you up for that, missus? - Let me at him.
That's settled, then. You and Rambo in the room.
- What about you, boss? - I don't think it's clever.
We know he's seen me on TV. I'm the face of the investigation.
That could rattle him.
No, I shall sit in the cheap seats with you lot on video link.
Hey, here's to our interview team, then.
Rambo and Bimbo.
Oh...!
I'll ask you again, John.
Regarding the murders of Peter and Gwenda Dixon,
were you the person responsible?
He starts off cooperative.
Then, when your man gets heavy-handed,
down comes the portcullis.
So, we keep it non-confrontational.
Er, maybe even avoid any direct questions about the murders.
If we can't talk about the murders,
how are we supposed to get anything useful out of him?
You talk about the exhibits.
That's what this is all about,
trying to draw out which ones he's worried about,
which ones he thinks might bear a trace of his or his victims' DNA.
Jack?
Someone's keen.
I've got a trial for the county.
No way!
Ah, that's great.
Well done, Wilkins Junior!
Do you think you can come along?
- No, it's OK. - No, no, no.
Bollocks. I'll be there.
Well done, son!
- Food? - Aye.
All right?
Yeah.
I'll see you in sunny Ammanford.
Steve Wilkins.
Hello, boss, this is Control.
Cooper has left Dyffryn Prison. ETA Ammanford 09:00.
They're all set up for you.
I found the kitchen, boss.
Thanks.
Yep?
He's here.
Good morning, John.
I hope you had a comfortable journey.
Oh, yes.
Business class.
See, it doesn't cost anything to be polite.
He takes the bait.
He's old.
He still looks strong, though.
All right, boss.
Morning.
Good morning, John.
Where's the big cheese, then, the one off the telly?
Detective Superintendent Wilkins won't be joining us, John.
Oh, he likes to watch, does he?
OK, John...
...1978.
The year you won Spot The Ball.
£94,000
That's about £800,000 in today's money.
Your life was good at the time.
You bought Big House Farm at Rosemarket.
Your wife told Huntsman
you also took your brothers and their families to Spain.
- I certainly did. - You didn't take Adrian.
Why was that, John?
I don't know.
Maybe he was ill with his asthma.
You've been talking to him, have you?
No, John.
We have his statements from Huntsman.
So, John...
...things were going well.
You were buying and selling properties.
But then the money worries started.
Well, an estate agent tricked me out of a lot of money.
My solicitor lied to me.
When you come into a bit of money,
well, the cockroaches come out of the woodwork.
It can't have been easy,
moving from Big House Farm, making the adjustment
from owning your own place to renting at 28 Rose Meadow Lane.
A man doesn't sit around moping.
He's got to get out there, got to get grafting.
Between 1978 and 1983, you spent over £125,000.
That's £35,000 more than your winnings on Spot The Ball.
Well, you've got to speculate to accumulate.
Is that when you started gambling?
What, £3 or £4 a week?
A 50p round robin?
I'd hardly call that gambling.
Adrian told Huntsman you bet £1,000 on one race.
He misremembered.
April 20th, 1983.
Clareston Hall, Freystrop.
Your first conviction for burglary. Is that your idea of grafting, John?
I don't like your tone.
Oh, don't shut down, John boy.
John...
if you don't want to talk to us, we'll respect that.
You can go back to Dyffryn Prison today.
I'm not a thief.
Well done, Rambo.
OK. You told Huntsman
that you visited Scoveston Park for the first time in August 1984,
when you went to meet Richard and Helen Thomas
about working on their land. Is that correct, John?
I know what Adrian told Huntsman about Scoveston Park.
About me telling him and his mother to lie to the police
about us all being in that night, the night of the fire.
That the truth was, according to him,
that I came home late smelling of a bonfire.
Now, you say you haven't spoken to him. Fair enough.
But there's something I want to get off my chest.
Everything that comes out
of that boy's mouth is lies.
Has been ever since we didn't take him to Spain.
When me and Pat got back...
he was a different boy.
He was surly.
He was disobedient.
Bunking off school.
Smoking wacky baccy.
Forging cheques. Stealing money... off us.
And all because we didn't take him on holiday.
As a father...
I take no pleasure in saying this.
But the truth is, the real truth, the night of the fire...
the murders...
Adrian was the one who came home late.
He's pointing the finger at his own son?
Piece of filth.
You know, I've been across the table from wife-beaters,
rapists, paedophiles.
- And I let him get to me. - And you made something happen.
When he feels under threat, he blames Adrian.
That's something to keep an eye on.
So...
- tomorrow... - Huntsman.
With particular emphasis on our prime exhibits.
There you go, look at that.
Now, John, I want to ask you about some exhibits
found by Operation Huntsman.
Some of them pertain to one particular robbery,
the so-called Sardis robbery, for which you were convicted.
Wrongly convicted.
For the tape, I am showing Mr Cooper a photograph
of Huntsman exhibit BB/109, a black glove.
Do you recognise this glove, John?
I haven't got the foggiest.
I had a bit of an accident last night.
I can't see a thing without them. Sorry.
I know you're on a tight schedule.
We know you had a problem with your glasses during Huntsman.
We got your prescription from Dyffryn Prison.
Just in case.
I don't actually wear gloves.
Adrian's the glove-wearer in the family.
For the tape, evidence photo of Huntsman exhibit MTJ/14.
Black balaclava.
Do you recognise this balaclava, John?
Do you remember that Huntsman found head hairs inside it
that were forensically tested
and confirmed to be yours?
Yes.
And yet you said it wasn't yours.
That... was a mistake.
I was wrong. I think that was mine.
Ten years in prison, a man gets into a lot of thinking.
He remembers things that he hasn't thought about for ages.
And one of the things I do remember,
and it was about 20 years ago,
was I did used to have a black balaclava
just like that one that I used to wear
when I went fishing with a boat that I had.
Well, remembering that, everything slotted into place.
There's only one explanation that makes any sense.
I didn't lose the balaclava.
It was stolen.
By the same individual who did the robbery
that I was wrongly convicted of.
OK, John.
On we go.
Huntsman exhibits...
PAS/1, a sawn-off shotgun,
and PH/2,
a sawn-off shotgun with customised shoulder strap.
Do you recognise these shotguns, John?
You're trying to trick me.
This gun is mine.
This one is not.
Huntsman found this gun, wrapped in oilcloth,
buried underneath the duck run at your home.
Why did you bury it, John?
I didn't want Adrian to find it. Didn't want him hurting himself.
And this gun, PH/2,
was found with the glove and balaclava under the hedge
close to the scene of the Sardis robbery.
I'm aware. Huntsman must have told me about a hundred times.
If you look closely, John,
you will see that both guns have the same modifications.
Sawn-off barrels and sawn-down stocks.
Screws in both barrels and stocks
for a shoulder strap.
John, how do you account for the fact that
the very same distinctive DIY modifications
- were made to both shotguns? - Coincidence.
Stranger things have happened, right?
And while we're on the subject...
I want to talk about the gun that Huntsman found under the hedge.
For the tape.
Here we go again.
During the Huntsman trial, and I remember this very clearly
because I thought it was very strange at the time,
the prosecution barrister handed me the gun on more than one occasion.
Well, what I'm saying is, if my DNA is on that,
that's the reason why.
His time in the library was well-spent.
He's digging his own grave.
Today was a result for us.
The lengths he went to
to distance himself from the Sardis exhibits means we are bang-on.
His story about the gun being handled in the trial.
The balaclava being stolen 20 years before, in 1988,
the year before Coastal Path.
He wasn't just telling us the man who stole the balaclava
did the Sardis robbery,
he was saying the man murdered the Dixons.
Today, he confirmed what we'd always suspected.
And he gave us something new into the bargain.
When he killed Peter and Gwenda Dixon...
he wore that balaclava.
And PH/2 is, without a doubt, the murder weapon.
What exhibits shall we send back for re-testing, then, boss?
The Sardis robbery gun and the balaclava.
Don't bother with the duck run gun.
- Save that money for something else. - What about the glove?
He said Adrian was the glove-wearer. That's got to mean something.
Put it in.
Don't all call me a twat at once...
Twat!
...but what's the point in re-testing
when we already know they'll come back negative?
Testing for trace DNA is like battleships. It's a guessing game.
The boffins can't see what they're looking for.
They test small areas they think are most likely
and hope for the best.
But there's always bits that haven't been tested.
So...
tomorrow is our last day with him.
I'm happy to risk a bit of confrontation.
Rambo, I want Ella to lead.
Right.
Hey, don't leave me hanging!
John, do you think the man in the drawing
bears any resemblance to yourself as you were in July 1989?
No, not at all.
Even the detective who came round the house said as much at the time.
Detective Rees. The one who used to drink with you?
Yeah.
So, John, how did you look in July 1989?
- Haven't you got any photographs? - No, John.
Which is why we'd appreciate your help.
- I don't remember. It was 20 years ago. - 19, actually.
Sorry, John, let me get this straight.
You can't remember how you looked back then,
but you're confident that this sketch, made at that time,
doesn't resemble you at all.
I'm sure.
Because I know I didn't have hair that long.
- You never had collar-length hair? - I don't like it on my neck.
What about the clothes the man in the drawing's wearing, John?
I don't go in for shorts.
Shorts were more Adrian's thing.
Stick with the shorts, Ella.
The witness who saw this man using Peter Dixon's stolen cash card
said that the shorts he was wearing were khaki coloured.
Did you ever own a pair of khaki shorts, John?
Yes.
But they were more bathers
than shorts.
They were shorter. Those are long shorts.
Mine were short shorts, more like bathers.
Adrian used to wear them more than I did.
He was always borrowing my clothes.
These are the only shorts that Huntsman found
at 28 Rose Meadow Lane.
No khaki, and they're all a lot shorter
than the ones in the wanted photo.
What about bathers?
- He said that more than once. - Bathers.
Shorts. Swimming trucks. Trousers. We did the lot.
He said Andrew wore them.
That's his tell.
Something about those shorts worries him.
Why?
And where the hell are they?
Mrs Patricia Cooper?
Detective Superintendent Steve Wilkins.
This is DI Ella Richards.
Can we come in for a minute, please?
Come in.
You won't find anything.
Well, you lot took everything of John's nine years ago.
Not us, Mrs Cooper.
You used to work at Ocky White's, didn't you, Mrs Cooper?
I was the best seamstress they had.
These were taken the year your husband won on Spot The Ball?
1978?
- Yes? - Yes.
A professional photographer came to the house.
Do you have any later photographs of the two of you, Mrs Cooper?
No.
We weren't big on family photos.
1978, that was the year you went on holiday to Spain, right?
Yes.
Do you mind me asking, why didn't you take Adrian with you?
I don't remember.
Are you finished?
Thank you.
What's wrong with you?
I had the police round.
Asking about an old khaki pair of bathers of yours.
What's that about?
- Did they find them? - No.
They took all your clothes when you were arrested. You know that.
I want you to get hold of Adrian. Find out if he's got them.
I don't have a number for him.
Well, Shirley's daughter, she's a receptionist in the hospital.
She'll give it to you. You're his mother.
You're telling me...
to get in touch with Adrian?
Yes!
Forensics said they took it apart, tested every nook and cranny,
every millimetre of the shoulder strap.
Yeah, they also said re-testing it for DNA
would be a complete waste of Ottawa's money and their time.
That's not their call to make.
Where are we with the forensics budget?
17,000 left.
Out of 350,000.
Jesus...
Honestly, boss, I'm not convinced we're getting
the best possible bang for our buck here.
I think we should have a sit-down with Dr Gallop.
Make sure we're not getting sidelined by some big London job.
Is that metal I can see through the paint?
It's where the finish has worn off. That thing was made in the 1940s.
- And that's the manufacturer's finish? - Yeah, we assumed.
Obviously, we've not seen the thing in the flesh.
Assumed?
Really, Lynne? Glyn?
Did Huntsman recover any paint from Cooper's home?
Yeah, six pots in the shed.
Nige, get the Huntsman shed file.
Any of them black?
Yeah.
JAW/100.
JAW/100...
I want that taken out of storage.
Your team have been on this case for 18 months now
and all we've got to show for it is
a partial for Peter Dixon's DNA on a piece of rope.
With respect, we're seeing this a lot.
This obsession with DNA at the expense of...
...well, other, less fashionable avenues of analysis.
Ottawa's insistence that we focus solely on DNA
has put my team in a straitjacket.
No. No, no, no. We asked you to prioritise DNA,
but not to the exclusion of everything else.
But that's the impression you gave my colleague.
Dr Gallop...
...let's say we remove the straitjacket.
How would that change things?
Well, it would allow us to widen our search,
look for other types of evidence.
Now, we're agreed that the killer wore gloves, yes?
We look for textile fibres.
Fibres are circumstantial.
- We need hard proof. - Yes, but...
if we can find enough fibres linking culprit to victim,
it could tell an equally compelling story
about the circumstances of the crimes.
Maybe even get you over the charge threshold with the CPS.
OK.
Let's go for it.
All right.
We have one other request.
We believe...
that this is the Coastal Path murder weapon.
Yeah, PH/2.
I heard you'd asked the team to have another look.
Yes, but this is a different request.
Among the items recovered by Huntsman
from the shed at Cooper's home
was this 750ml tin of Anvileen satin black metal paint.
I think Cooper painted the barrels of the gun
to make it less visible at night.
Hm.
The murders were in 1989.
Anvileen didn't manufacture this particular paint until 1995.
So, if PH/2 is the murder weapon,
there could still be trace DNA under the paint.
Well, that's more than six years.
During which the gun would've been cleaned,
rained on, exposed to the elements.
Are you sure this is the best use of what's left of your budget?
I'm sure.
All right.
_
Hello?
Hello, Adrian.
- Hello? - How did you get my number?
Nice to hear from you, too!
What do you want?
Just to find out how you are.
I heard you were in hospital.
Why did you go and do a silly thing like that?
It was nothing.
A mistake.
I thought I could come and see you.
It's not a good time.
I'm doing the place up.
It's a bombsite.
So, come to mine, then.
Ah, boss. Ollie Wakefield from the CPS called you.
Great.
Ollie, Steve Wilkins.
Listen...
Ottawa needs a favour.
The governor at Dyffryn Prison
refuses to delay Cooper's second parole hearing.
And I think a word from the CPS might persuade the man
to see some sense.
The case, it isn't there, Steve.
You know what the prison services will say. No hard evidence.
- I'm sorry. - Ollie, if he is released
back into the community and he hurts someone,
"institutionally incompetent" will be a happy memory
when we are up to our necks in public inquiries.
You're that convinced he'll kill again?
He's a serial killer.
Serial killers don't...
They can't stop.
Steve, inevitable mutterings have started.
There's talk of shutting Ottawa down.
Hi, Ma.
What happened to you?
An accident at work.
_
I thought you might be peckish.
Are you still visiting him?
Every week.
Is he gonna live here with you when he gets out?
I'm his wife.
Where else is he gonna live?
He's a bit worked up at the moment.
The police are bothering him again.
Oh, yeah?
Actually...
it's a silly thing.
You don't have an old pair of khaki bathers of his, do you?
Still running things, even from in prison.
It wasn't true what I said earlier about an accident at work.
He did this to me.
The same year you had those stupid photos done,
he broke my back.
He didn't break your back.
A year ago, I was fit and strong, working in Ireland, hod-carrying.
One morning, it was like I was struck by lightning.
Nine hours of surgery.
Rods and screws in my pelvis and spine.
I thought it was the work that caused it, but the consultant
told me it was an injury from childhood.
Straight away, I knew it was that punch in the back.
You knew something was seriously wrong when it happened,
but you didn't take me to the hospital
because he was worried someone might be suspicious.
I never knew it was serious.
I couldn't move!
You left me to lie in my own urine for five days.
You didn't even change my sopping sheets.
You brought me plenty of toast and strawberry jam, though!
A couple of weeks later, you left me with nan
and all took off for sunny Spain.
I was 12 years old.
We thought it was better that you rested.
What's wrong with you?
I didn't know.
Don't go, Adrian.
I didn't just call you because he told me to.
I've missed you.
Second time lucky.
I got it?
Congratulations, John.
You're gonna be out by Christmas.
Well done.
Yup. Well...
thanks for letting me know.
I can't believe they're letting him out now.
We're so close.
Are we, though?
I'm gonna put that down to exhaustion and a shit day.
Do you know what I do after a shit day?
What?
I go home...
and I eat a large amount of unhealthy food with my family.
Go home, Steve.
Be with your boy.
Evening!
Jack?
I've got fish and chips!
Hey, it's Jack Wilkins. I'm not here at the moment.
Just leave a message and I'll get back to you.
Finally!
You know, I'd appreciate it if, once in a blue moon,
you'd answer your phone or responded to a text.
Have you been drinking, by any chance?
Yeah, I've been celebrating!
Celebrating what?
I made the county team.
Thanks for being there for me today, Dad!
Shit...!
Jack!
Leave me alone.
There's no need for that.
I'm sorry, Jack.
You made such a big deal about us spending more time together.
But you just can't do it. You're so fucking obsessed with your work.
You're a shit dad.
Hey, now, come on. That's not fair.
Look, I'm sorry I forgot about the trial.
I'm sorry I'm not a perfect dad.
It's no excuse.
I took my eye off the ball, OK?
OK.
Have you eaten?
Yeah.
Right, well...
get some kip.
This is last chance saloon, guys.
Cooper will be home in a week.
We have got to go over everything.
I mean, not having a photograph of Cooper
that we can compare to the artist's impression,
it's a hole in our case.
Nige, Glyn, doorstep his and Pat's relatives.
Tell them that we need family photographs for our records.
Yes, boss.
I'll drive.
Andrew...
What about Pat?
He'll be housed somewhere else, right? She can't live with him now.
They've been married a long time, Andrew.
If he was gonna do something to her, he'd have done it by now.
You don't know that.
He's been in prison ten years. Who knows what that's done to him?
She's still scared of him.
I went to see her.
She called me.
I thought...
I thought she wanted a mother-and-son reunion.
But she was just following orders.
He wanted her to find out if I had an old pair of bathers of his.
Does that mean anything to you?
Do you have them?
I wouldn't wear anything of his.
Get down there, Jack!
Come on!
Corner.
Right, on it!
Yes!
Go on, son!
Yes!
- So, the scout was there again today. - He was? Did he speak to you?
He's gonna give me a ring after the weekend.
- Thanks for being there today, Dad. - Oh, my pleasure, sunshine.
- I'm sorry I've been a bit of a pain. - Oh, don't you worry about it.
Hey, I'll see you later.
- You're not coming in? - I'd better not.
Is it something to do with work?
- It's one of his old haunts. - You're joking?
I shouldn't go in. Someone might recognise me.
So?
Well, I don't want you connected to me.
It's just a precaution.
It's fine. I'll go in ahead of you.
Aren't you curious to see inside?
Come on, you know you want to.
It's fine. Go on, I'll pick you up in an hour.
A pint of lager shandy, please.
All right, lads?
Excuse me.
Dyfed Powys Police.
Can you identify the man in the picture?
With the 'tache? Aye, that's Johnny Cooper.
When was the photograph taken?
I don't know, the late '80s.
Probably about the time he was on that...
What do you call it? That darts quiz show on telly.
- Bullseye? - Aye. That's the one.
Bullseye, 1989.
You are shitting me!
The year he killed the Dixons,
Cooper was throwing darts on national television.
On ITV!
We've been looking for a photo of the bastard from '89.
And we might well have a whole bloody video.
Jesus Christ...!
Welcome home, love.
What?
Come here.
So, Bullseye was produced by Central Television in Birmingham.
But recordings of old shows are held in an archive in Leeds.
Now, the librarian there
has been going through lists of old contestants
from old shows from the '80s.
And in series nine,
there's two contestants identified as being from South Pembrokeshire.
Now, the episode they were in was broadcast in October '89.
But it was recorded on 28th May.
A month and a day before the Dixons were murdered.
- So, you've got the tapes, then? - Yeah, they've just arrived.
It's a bull's-eye!
And here's your host...
- Jim Bowen! - Good evening.
Welcome to Bullseye.
Can you just fast-forward it to the contestants?
Good.
You've got an unusual hobby, John.
- Oh, yes, the scuba diving. - The scuba diving.
It's the place to do it down there, isn't it?
Well, we've got the coastline, yes.
And there's the shoulder-length hair he never had.
Well, we've got the deep water...
And you can swim over mountains and all sorts.
We hope you all have a good night. Give them a round of applause.
Best of luck, John.
That's five.
'20.
And one.
26.
'36, and takes the first round.
Right, John, it's only £36, but you really could do with this.
What are you having a bath for?
I won't be long!
- I could get in with you. - No, John.
- I'm shy. - Shy?
I've seen it all before, you know?
Come on, missus, let me in.
Can you pause it there, please?
Rewind a bit.
There.
It may not prove he killed the Dixons.
But it proves what he looked like four weeks before.
999, which service?
Hello?
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