News

Flo Evans: Was Cooper responsible?

Published

5 years ago

January 15, 2021

‘THE PEMBROKESHIRE MURDERS’, screened on ITV last week, brought renewed focus on John Cooper’s crimes.

The brutal killer’s crime spree, which started as early as 1961, left at least four dead, thirty homes burgled and two teenagers seriously sexually assaulted.

Many local people worry Cooper who, in 2011, was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison, may have been responsible for more deaths.
In last week’s Herald, we took an in-depth look at two mysterious deaths in Llangolman in 1976.

However, there’s another death far closer to Cooper’s former stomping ground that the victim’s family believe could be connected to ‘The Bullseye Killer’.

Frail 77-year-old Flo Evans died in 1989, the same year the Dixons met their grisly ends on the coastal path near Little Haven.

Flo lived in Jordanston; a stone’s throw from Cooper’s house. Her home was right at the epicentre of Cooper’s burglary spree, which was ended by Operation Huntsman following a violent burglary in nearby Sardis.

During his interviews with Police during Operation Ottawa, Cooper mentioned Flo Evans’ name.

It later emerged that John Cooper and his wife, Pat, visited Flo and that John Cooper did odd-jobs in the pensioner’s home.

Flo liked the couple so much it’s believed she tried to help them secure nearby land for a small-holding.

Days after telling her friends that she couldn’t find her house keys Flo Evans was found dead in her bathtub.

Police reports said she was full-clothed.

At the time, Mrs Evans’ death was believed to be an accident. Investigators found a small cut on her head and concluded she had slipped and fallen into the bathtub, banged her head, and drowned.
Flo’s family never believed that version of events.

Talking to The Sun, Flo’s great-niece Rena Murphy said: “Aunt Flo was very set in her ways, she did things in a particular fashion.
“But the way she was found fully clothed in a cold bath and with no money in the house . . . we knew it was suspicious.”
Flo’s niece, Jean, said “Cooper knew my aunt. He visited her regularly and would have known there was always money in her handbag and more hidden upstairs.
“He lived across the fields from her, and that fits with the way he approached his other victims.
“We could never understand why Aunt Flo was found dead in the bath with all her clothes on.
“She always lit a fire in the kitchen to heat the water before taking a bath, and that fire wasn’t lit.”
“Money was missing, she didn’t have her false teeth in, the TV wasn’t switched off properly, and the front door was open.”
Jean went on: “Hopefully, the police will now reopen the case. It would give us some closure.”
Rena finished by saying: “Even if they never charge him, we will still have the satisfaction of knowing he is locked up for good.”

But that satisfaction hasn’t filtered into the local community.

Rumour and gossip continue to cloud the circumstances surrounding Flo’s mysterious death.
Local rumours place a black bicycle, thought to belong to John Cooper, leaning against a wall at Flo’s home in Rosemarket when she was found. Others claim that Flo was not fully clothed, but wearing just wellies when her body was discovered.

Dyfed-Powys Police refused to comment on speculation about individual pieces of evidence.
A Force spokesperson said: “Dyfed-Powys Police will examine any specific new information containing detailed knowledge or evidence. Any further decisions would be based on the results of the examination of that new material.
“There is no intention to re-investigate any incidents on speculation alone.”
That statement omits to mention one significant factor which led to the success of Operation Ottawa. As a result of Operation Huntsman, the burglaries for which Cooper spent ten years in prison after 1998, much of the material used to convict him of the Scoveston Manor and Coastal Path murders was already in Police possession.

As much as Cooper’s conviction resulted from dogged Police work, it also relied on forensic evidence in Dyfed-Powys Police’s possession for over a decade.

This week, South Wales Police announced a ‘forensic review’ into the 1999 Clydach Murders near Swansea.
It would be fitting for both Patti & Griff from Llangolman and Flo Evans to have their deaths’ forensically reviewed’.
You never know.

A police force’ short of luck’ while investigating the Scoveston and Dixon murders might unearth a wealth of information in the material it already has.
It did once before.

Crime

Woman stabbed partner in Haverfordwest before handing herself in

Published

4 minutes ago

December 4, 2025

Court Reporter

A WOMAN who stabbed her partner during a drug-fuelled episode walked straight into Haverfordwest Police Station and told officers what she had done, Swansea Crown Court has heard.

Amy Woolston, 22, of Dartmouth Street in Milford Haven, arrived at the station at around 8:00pm on June 13 and said: “I stabbed my ex-partner earlier… he’s alright and he let me walk off,” prosecutor Tom Scapens told the court.

The pair had taken acid together earlier in the day, and Woolston claimed she believed she could feel “stab marks in her back” before the incident.

Police find victim with four wounds

Officers went to the victim’s home to check on him. He was not there at first, but returned shortly afterwards. He appeared sober and told police: “Just a couple of things,” before pointing to injuries on his back.

He had three stab or puncture wounds to his back and another to his bicep.

The victim said that when he arrived home from the shop, Woolston was acting “a bit shifty”. After asking if she was alright, she grabbed something from the windowsill — described as either a knife or a shard of glass — and stabbed him.

He told officers he had “had worse from her before”, did not support a prosecution, and refused to go to hospital.

Defendant has long history of violence

Woolston pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding. The court heard she had amassed 20 previous convictions from 10 court appearances, including assaults, battery, and offences against emergency workers.

Defending, Dyfed Thomas said Woolston had longstanding mental health problems and had been off medication prescribed for paranoid schizophrenia at the time.
“She’s had a difficult upbringing,” he added, saying she was remorseful and now compliant with treatment.

Woolston was jailed for 12 months, but the court heard she has already served the equivalent time on remand and will be released imminently on a 12-month licence.

News

BBC apologises to Herald’s editor for inaccurate story

Published

2 hours ago

December 4, 2025

Staff Writer

THE BBC has issued a formal apology and amended a six-year-old article written by BBC Wales Business Correspondent Huw Thomas after its Executive Complaints Unit ruled that the original headline and wording gave an “incorrect impression” that Herald editor Tom Sinclair was personally liable for tens of thousands of pounds in debt.

The 2019 report, originally headlined “Herald newspaper editor Tom Sinclair has £70,000 debts”, has now been changed.

The ECU found: “The wording of the article and its headline could have led readers to form the incorrect impression that the debt was Mr Sinclair’s personal responsibility… In that respect the article failed to meet the BBC’s standards of due accuracy.”

Mr Sinclair said: “I’m grateful to the ECU for the apology and for correcting the personal-liability impression that caused real harm for six years. However, the article still links the debts to ‘the group which publishes The Herald’ when in fact they related to printing companies that were dissolved two years before the Herald was founded in 2013. I have asked the BBC to add that final clarification so the record is completely accurate.”

A formal apology and correction of this kind from the BBC is extremely rare, especially for a story more than six years old.

Business

First wind turbine components arrive as LNG project moves ahead

Published

4 hours ago

December 4, 2025

Tom Sinclair

THE FIRST ship carrying major components for Dragon LNG’s new onshore wind turbines
docked at Pembroke Port yesterday afternoon last week, marking the start of physical
deliveries for the multi-million-pound renewable energy project.

The Maltese-registered general cargo vessel Peak Bergen berthed at Pembroke Dock on
shortly after 4pm on Wednesday 26th November, bringing tower sections and other heavy
components for the three Enercon turbines that will eventually stand on land adjacent to the
existing gas terminal at Waterston.

A second vessel, the Irish-flagged Wilson Flex IV, has arrived in Pembroke Port today is
due to arrive in the early hours of this morning (Thursday) carrying the giant rotor blades.
The deliveries follow a successful trial convoy on 25 November, when police-escorted low-
loader trailers carried dummy loads along the planned route from the port through
Pembroke, past Waterloo roundabout and up the A477 to the Dragon LNG site.

Dragon LNG’s Community and Social Performance Officer, Lynette Round, confirmed the
latest movements in emails to the Herald.

“The Peak Bergen arrived last week yesterday with the first components,” she said. “We are
expecting another delivery tomorrow (Thursday) onboard the Wilson Flex IV. This will be
blades and is currently showing an ETA of approximately 03:30.”

The £14.3 million project, approved by Welsh Ministers last year, will see three turbines with
a combined capacity of up to 13.5 MW erected on company-owned land next to the LNG
terminal. Once operational – expected in late 2026 – they will generate enough electricity to
power the entire site, significantly reducing its carbon footprint.

Port of Milford Haven shipping movements showed the Peak Bergen approaching the Haven
throughout Wednesday morning before finally tying up at the cargo berth in Pembroke Dock.

Cranes began unloading operations yesterday evening.

The Weather conditions are currently were favourable for this morning’s the arrival of
the Wilson Flex IV, which was tracking south of the Smalls at midnight.

The abnormal-load convoys carrying the components from the port to Waterston are
expected to begin early next year, subject to final police and highway approvals.

A community benefit fund linked to the project will provide training opportunities and energy-
bill support for residents in nearby Waterston, Llanstadwell and Neyland.
Further updates will be issued by Dragon LNG as the Port of Milford Haven as the delivery
programme continues.

Photo: Martin Cavaney