Pembrokeshire murders: Jury visits coastal path

The bodies of Gwenda and Peter Dixon were found hidden off the coastal path in Pembrokeshire in 1989

The jury in a double murder trial has been taken to the Pembrokeshire coastal path where two bodies were found.

John William Cooper, from Letterston, denies killing Peter and Gwenda Dixon, from Oxfordshire, in June 1989.

His trial at Swansea Crown Court has heard the holidaymakers' bodies were found hidden in dense undergrowth near Little Haven.

Mr Cooper, 66, also denies murdering brother and sister Richard and Helen Thomas at Scoveston Park in 1985.

The tour was beginning with a visit to the coastal path at Little Haven where Mr and Mrs Dixon were found shot dead.

The jury is expected to visit Scoveston Park, sites associated with the murder of the Thomases, on another date.

Details have already been given during the Swansea Crown Court trial.

The court heard on Monday that the Dixons were last seen on 29 June 1989 as they took one last walk along the coastal path while their tent dried on a sunny morning before they returned to Oxfordshire.

A search was launched four days later, after the Dixons' son had called the campsite to check on his parents.

The jury was told that the bodies were found after two police dog handlers were led to the scene by what was described as the "smell of death".

The bodies were on what was described in court as a "plateau" on a cliff edge.

Shot

Former Home Office pathologist Prof Bernard Knight told the jury that gunshot wounds he found on the bodies were consistent with a 12-bore shot gun being used from close range, and a degree of precision.

Mrs Dixon was naked from the waist down. She had been shot twice, once in the centre of the back and once in the chest.

A post mortem examination later revealed she had also suffered a "substantial" blow to the head, the court heard.

Mr Dixon, whose arms were bound behind his back, had been shot three times - in the back, the front and in the face, the jury was told.

Mr Cooper is also accused of five robberies, rape and indecent assault relating to an incident in 1996.

He denies all the charges and the trial continues.