John Cooper (serial killer)

In May 2011, after Cooper was convicted of the four murders, it was revealed that police were considering reopening an inquiry into the unexplained death in 1989 of a woman who lived near Cooper and only two miles from Scoveston Park, the site of his 1985 murders.[33][34] Flo Evans, a 72-year-old widow, died soon after Cooper murdered Peter and Gwenda Dixon in 1989, being found fully-clothed in a half-full cold bath in her cottage.[35][34][33][36] Cooper and his wife Pat both knew Evans and would visit her regularly at her smallholding, with Cooper often completing odd-jobs for her.[34] She was unexpectedly mentioned by Cooper in his trial as part of his own defence evidence, and during interviews he discussed how he had been in her house, when detectives were already aware of her suspicious death.[34][37] Her home was in the centre of the area that Cooper committed his burglaries.[38] The family of Evans had long suspected her death was suspicious and not an accident, particularly as she never took baths and as she would not have had any hot water at the time of her death, as no fire had been lit in the kitchen.[34][35] Evans's death was officially recorded as accidental, with it said at the time that she must have slipped into the bath and hit her head and then drowned.[36][38] Police contacted the widow's family after Cooper's conviction to discuss her death, saying there was "connectivity" between Cooper and Evans.[35]

In the 2021 documentary The Pembrokeshire Murders: Catching The Game Show Killer, shown on ITV after the broadcast of The Pembrokeshire Murders, the case of Flo Evans was again discussed. Detective Superintendent Steve Wilkins, who oversaw the investigation and convictions of Cooper in 2011, said that Evans was a likely fifth victim of Cooper.[33] Evans did not lock her door, yet it was found to be locked when her body was discovered.[33] Evans had mentioned to friends days before her murder that she couldn't find her house keys.[36] Items of property were also taken from her house including money and shotguns, which fitted Cooper's modus operandi.[33][38] Cooper regularly burgled the homes of people he knew and reacted violently if disturbed.[36] It is thought Cooper would have known where Evans kept her money.[38] Wilkins said that Cooper "had been at her house on the day she died" and stated that Evans's death should have been a murder inquiry, adding that her death "disturbs me greatly".[33][37]

After Cooper's convictions in 2011, it was revealed that detectives were investigating whether there was any "connectivity" between Cooper and the unsolved murders of a couple who were shot at close range at their remote farmhouse at Llanharry near Bridgend in 1993.[37][39] Harry Tooze, 64, and his wife Megan, 67, had been shot in the head, their bodies dumped in a cowshed and then covered with a carpet.[37] Some similarities with Cooper's known murders were noted, including the fact that both victims were shot at close range and attempts made to hide their bodies.[37] The weapon involved was a shotgun, as Cooper used in his known crimes.[39] It was also observed that there are very few double shotgun murders nationally, and that Cooper was already known to have committed two double shotgun murders.[39] In 2011, the year Cooper was convicted, the case was subsequently re-examined by police.[37] To this day, the case remains one of Wales' most notorious unsolved murders.[37]

In 2011 a forensic psychologist, Clive Sims, claimed to the BBC that the deaths of an elderly brother and sister at their farmhouse in Pembrokeshire in 1976 could be linked to Cooper.[40] Griff and Patti Thomas, aged 73 and 70 respectively, were found dead in December 1976, and their deaths were originally classified as a double murder until it was decided that Griff Thomas must have argued with the sister he had lived with for 70 years, before hitting her on the head with a blunt instrument and setting himself on fire.[40]

Speaking to BBC Wales's Taro Naw current affairs programme, Sims questioned the verdict of manslaughter in the case of Patti Thomas and an open verdict in the case of Griff Thomas.[40] Although it was said that Patti was hit by a blunt instrument, no weapon was ever found.[40] Sims said that the pair were killed by an intruder following a botched burglary, something Cooper was known to have committed in the same area in later years, as in Cooper's 1985 double murder at Scoveston Park.[40] A cash box had been emptied at the house, the bureau had been broken into, and the back door was unlocked.[40] Sims highlighted how it was highly unlikely that a serial killer would start killing at age 40, Cooper's age when he committed his first known murders in 1985, and said that it was highly likely that he started killing earlier.[40]

Over many years, public campaigning has taken place on the basis that the inquest verdicts were not safe and that there was a case for further investigation to establish whether a third person may have been responsible for the deaths. In October 2022, Dyfed-Powys Police detectives began a forensic review into the deaths of the brother and sister. Police have said they were "keeping an open mind" but warned they were unsure what answers - if any - will be provided by the review and that they will continue to keep the family informed of any developments.[41]