In the summer of 1989 a husband and wife on vacation at their favorite hiking spot in Wales fall victim to a vicious killer. Years after the notorious crime, justice prevails but the total number of people murdered by one man, remains a haunting mystery to this day.
Peter and Gwenda Dixon Photo (Source) Herald Wales
Peter and Gwenda Dixon Photo (Source) Newspapers.com
Coastal Path Newspaper Clipping Map of Dixon Murders (Source) Newspapers.com
Peter and Gwenda Dixon’s Tent (Source) Newspapers.com
Peter and Gwenda’s Crime Scene (Source) Newspapers.com
Richard and Helen Thomas Photo (Source) Herald Wales
John Cooper Photo (Source) Wales Online
John Cooper game show image side-by-side with police sketch (Source) Wales Online
Pembrokeshire Coastal Path Map (Source) Google Maps
Pembrokeshire Coastal Path Trail Map (Source) Google Maps
Pembrokeshire Coastal Path Image (Source) Visit Pembrokeshire
Episode Source Material
- Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England): Murder of the loveliest couple, by Caroline Davies and Patrick McGowan.
- Daily Record (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland): Holiday couple shot by sadists, by Gary McWilliams.
- Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England): Holiday killings plea.
- Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England): Son’s plea to cliff killer, by Patrick McGowan.
- Evening Chronicle (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England): Twenty quizzed over murder.
- The Guardian (London, Greater London, England): Police see 20 in hunt for coastal path killer.
- The Guardian (London, Greater London, England): Cash card clue to murder of holiday couple, by Tony Heath.
- Sunday Sun (Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England): Six quizzed in clifftop murder probe.
- The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Clifftop killing forensic test.
- Atherstone Herald (Atherstone, Warwickshire, England): ‘Killer’ sighted in town, by Helen Machin.
- Carmarthen Journal (Carmarthen, Dyfed, Wales): Shoppers aid murder hunt.
- Evening Sentinel (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England): Murders squad plea to holidaymakers.
- Birmingham Evening Mail (Birmingham, West Midlands, England): Couple’s clue to killer hope.
- Evening Sentinel (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England): Families aid murder squad detectives.
- Evening Post (Reading, Berkshire, England): Double murder hunt at town’s railway station, by Tim Boone.
- Cambridge Evening News (Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England): Police reveal new leads on double killing.
- Birmingham Evening Mail (Birmingham, West Midlands, England): Hiker clue in hunt for killer.
- The Observer (London, Greater London, England): Camper sought.
- The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England): Holiday hunt for clue to couple’s shotgun killer.
- Carmarthen Journal (Carmarthen, Dyfed, Wales): Five new leads in Dixon murders.
- Evening Post (Reading, Berkshire, England): Dixons murder hunt stepped up, by Sue Marshall.
- The Guardian (London, Greater London, England): The riddle of smuggler’s bay, by Nick Davies.
- The Birmingham Post (Birmingham, West Midlands, England): Police dismiss SAS link with murders.
- The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England): Man held over 1980s murders, by Sean O’Neill.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): Mad Frankie taunts police over double murder, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): Who killed the Dixons?, by Robin Turner.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): Review of unsolved 1980s double murders, by WalesOnline.
- The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England): Man held over four 1980s murders, by John Bingham and Richard Savill.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): Date set for shotgun murders trial, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): John Cooper denies Scoveston Manor and Peter and Gwenda Dixon murders as trial starts, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): John Cooper trial for two double murders opens, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): John Cooper trial: Cold case review revealed new evidence, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): John Cooper trial: Glove fibres a link to murders, court told, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): Man accused of Pembrokeshire murders ‘used to work for alleged victim’, by WalesOnline.
- Online (Cardiff, Wales): ‘Pungent smell of death’ led to coastal path bodies, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): Jury visits cliff-top murder site, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): Murder accused appeared on TV’s Bullseye, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): Children of shot holidaymakers face murder accused in court, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): Witness tells jury of dad on ‘shotgun walks’, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): Shorts of accused John Cooper ‘had DNA of victim’ jury told, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): ‘Victim’s DNA on murder accused’s shorts’ say experts, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): Pembrokeshire murders trial: Defence plays down forensic link, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): Cooper ‘long suspected of the Dixon murders’, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff,Wales): Pembrokeshire murder trial hears Cooper told police he bought jewellery with spot-the-ball cash, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): Jury hears transcripts of police interviews with suspect in double murder trial, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): Cooper could not explain why murder victim’s blood was found in his home, trial hears, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): Cooper denies son’s claims he would go for walks armed with shotgun, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): Jewellery expert casts doubt on claims Cooper sold alleged victim’s wedding ring, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): Jury in John Cooper trial retire to consider verdict, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): John Cooper found GUILTY of Pembrokeshire double murders, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): John Cooper verdict sees police open files on five other murders, by WalesOnline.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): Two of Wales’ most notorious murderers appeal their convictions, by Robin Turner.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): John Cooper jury profoundly misdirected, appeal court hears, by Clare Hutchinson.
- BBC: John Pope and John Cooper lose murder legal challenges.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): ‘The moment Bullseye revealed the killer’: How shotgun killer John Cooper was caught, by James McCarthy.
- Wales Online (Cardiff, Wales): Detective reveals in TV special how he came face to face with notorious killer John Cooper, by Rachael Misstear.
- Herald Wales (Cardiff, Wales): The Dixon Murders: Did John Cooper work alone?, by HeraldWales.
- The Game Show Serial Killer: Police Tapes(Film). Directed by Sam Eastall and Mark Rossiter.
- Pembrokeshire Visitor’s Website
- Wilkins, Steve. Hill, Jonathan. The Pembrokeshire Murders.
- House of Commons Library. Homicide Statistics by Patsy Richards.
- Herald Wales: The Scoveston Murders: Following the Tracks, by Andy Chandler.