Two siblings are found brutally ‘murdered’ in lonely farmhouse… are they the REAL first victims of Bullseye Killer?

WHEN rookie postman Nigel Rossiter peered through the window of the lonely farmhouse, he was horrified to be confronted by the charred remains of an elderly man lying in the kitchen. The 19-year-old had stumbled upon the body of Griff Thomas, with his younger sister Martha later discovered dead at the scene by police. The case has remained unsolved for 50 years – but The Sun can now reveal why relatives believe they have proof they were the first victims of the notorious “Bullseye Killer”, John Cooper. Tragic Griff and Martha, also known as Patti, pictured in their youth in the 1920s Credit: Huw Gibby Huw Gibby, 79, the second cousin of Griff and Martha ‘Patti’ Thomas spoke to The Sun Credit: Jon Rowley It’s been a long battle for justice. When Martha, 70, and Griff Thomas, 73, were found dead at their farm in Llangolman, Pembrokeshire, west Wales, in December 1976, it was initially treated as a double murder. However, police decided weeks later that Griff killed his younger sister, Martha by hitting her over the head with a chair before making a fire and throwing himself on top of it. That conclusion was not accepted by their grieving family and locals who were certain the quiet, elderly, chapel-going siblings were both murdered. Now, the siblings’ second cousin, Huw Gibby, has exclusively spoken to The Sun about how they believe the convicted killer was to blame – and he demands cops finally listen. He has revealed the family believe Cooper was working for the elderly pair on their farm at the time. Cooper – dubbed “The Bullseye Killer” due to an appearance on the darts-based TV gameshow – was jailed in 2011 for four murders, two sex attacks and 30 burglaries. The family are begging Dyfed Powys Police to formally investigate Cooper over their deaths 50 years ago. Cooper, then aged 31 and living in nearby Milford Haven, is understood to have worked repairing farm fences for the siblings. John Cooper was nicknamed The Bullseye Killer after appearing on the popular gameshow prior to being caught by police Credit: WNS Fynnon Samson, the farmhouse in West Wales where Griff and Patti were found dead in December 1976 Credit: Huw Gibby And he would have known they never locked their front door and kept cash in their home to pay farmworkers. An inquest into their deaths the following year found Martha was unlawfully killed, and an open verdict was returned in the case of Griff. Until now, it has been thought Cooper’s first murder victims were Richard and Helen Thomas, who he blasted to death with a shotgun at their farmhouse home in Scoveston Park. It was just a couple of miles from where he lived in on the Pembrokeshire coast, a few days before Christmas in December 1985. After killing the couple, he set their home on fire – just as Griff’s remains were also torched. Then, in June 1989, he murdered Peter and Gwenda Dixon, from Oxfordshire, again with a shotgun at close range, as they walked the coastal path near Little Haven in Pembrokeshire. They had been camping nearby at Howelston Caravan Park, and were preparing to return home when they were killed. All were killed with a double-barrelled shotgun. Griff’s charred remains were found in his kitchen Credit: WNS Martha was battered to death in the suspected double homicide Credit: WNS And in March 1996, Cooper, wearing a balaclava and again wielding a shotgun, terrorised five teenagers at the Mount Estate in Milford Haven, raping one, a 16-year-old girl, at knifepoint and indecently assaulting a 15-year-old girl. Cooper was eventually found guilty of the offences following a cold case review set up by Dyfed Powys Police in 2006 called Operation Ottawa. Cooper’s infamous appearance on the television gameshow Bullseye a month before he killed the Dixons was used as crucial evidence to match him to witness descriptions. Mr Gibby claims he aired his suspicions that Cooper was the killer during a recent meeting with Dyfed-Powys cops amid a fresh review of the investigation into the deaths. But he claims a detective working on the four-year probe slapped him down, saying: “Don’t you dare mention his name.” Mr Gibby told The Sun: “He was furious with me for suggesting what seems to me to be a very logical and reasonable line of inquiry for this review. “He told me that any suggestion that Cooper was involved could jeopardise their new investigation. “But we were in a private meeting and I found his tone and the words he used extremely insensitive and patronising. “I also gave him 12 reasons why I was certain that my relatives had been murdered and had not died in the way the original investigation concluded. “My only motive is to clear Griff‘s name. There is no way on earth that Griff would have killed Patti (the family’s name for Martha).” Those 12 reasons include the fact that Griff, a man who suffered from frailty beyond his years and was crippled by a disease that left him unable to grip objects with his hands, had supposedly lifted a heavy wooden chair and used it to beat his sister to death. Mr Gibby says that locals he has spoken to had never known the siblings to fall out, let alone harm one another physically. Who is 'Bullseye Killer' John Cooper? WELSH serial killer John William Cooper was given four life sentences for a series of grisly murders in Pembrokeshire in the 1980s. Cooper, a diagnosed psychopath, was eventually convicted in 2011 for the double murders of Richard and Helen Thomas, and Peter and Gwenda Dixon, following a cold-case review that started in 2005. Who is John Cooper and where is he now? John Cooper, 76, is a serial killer with a long history of crimes which include 30 robberies and violent assault. He was sentenced to 14 years in 1998 for burglary and robbery but was released in 2009. Through a cold case review, he was arrested and convicted of two double murders dating back to the 1980s. Cooper, who unsuccessfully tried to appeal his convictions in September 2011, is still behind bars in an undisclosed prison. When did Cooper murder four people in Pembrokeshire? Cooper was referred to as the Bullseye Killer because he appeared on the popular game show four years after killing two siblings in Scoveston Park. He murdered brother and sister Richard and Helen Thomas then burned down their house on December 22, 1985. On 28 May 1989, Cooper participated in a recording of the ITV game show Bullseye. Just one month later, he robbed Peter Dixon of £300 and shot him and his wife Gwenda in the face at point blank range. The murders became known as the Pembrokeshire murders. How long was the investigation into the deaths? Cooper infamously evaded justice for around two decades but was finally convicted using the most advanced forensic techniques of the time. On May 26, 2011, Cooper was given a whole life order for the 1985 double murder of siblings Richard and Helen Thomas, and the 1989 double murder of Peter and Gwenda Dixon, following an eight-week trial. His first prison sentence allowed cops to collect further evidence against him to convict. Cooper during his appearance on gameshow Bullseye Credit: Bullseye/ITV Challenge Huw says he’s pushed police to investigate the possible link with The Bullseye Killer Credit: Jon Rowley He said: “It is preposterous to think that Griff would hurt anybody, let alone his beloved sister, who he doted on. “He would not have had the strength to have lifted that chair in any case. It was a very heavy, solid oak kitchen chair. “And why on earth would someone kill themselves in the way they said he did? “They said he lit a bed of fire using newspapers and clothing, then threw himself upon it. Who would choose to die like that? It is plain ridiculous. “I have a copy of a photograph of the murder scene and there is a pool of his own blood by his head. Why would that be there if he had set himself alight? “I believe the pair of them were killed by a third party, most likely John Cooper. “I believe that third party first killed Patti while Griff was buying groceries at a shop down the road, then when Griff returned he too was murdered. “They never locked their front door and everyone in the area knew they kept large sums of cash in the house to pay people who worked at the farm for them. Richard Thomas was shot and killed in December 1985 Credit: WNS Richard’s sister Helen was also killed at their isolated farmhouse – and both sets of remains burned Credit: WNS “Cooper is known to have worked on farms in the area, repairing fences, including my family’s farm.” Mr Gibby, 79, a retired government charted surveyor who later worked with Dyfed-Powys Police handling 999 calls at the force’s headquarters in Carmarthen, has engaged the services of a barrister to push for a thorough reinvestigation of the deaths and a new inquest. “I will never give up fighting for justice for Patti and Griff,” he said. He added: “I have lost patience and faith in this review, so I have engaged the services of my own forensics expert and a fire specialist to conduct an investigation independently. “And meanwhile we are going through the Attorney General to push for a fresh inquest into their deaths.” Cooper had been convicted in 1998 of 31 offences of burglary and robbery and sentenced to 16 years as a result of a police investigation known as Operation Huntsman. During the course of that probe, police began to suspect he may be linked to the two then-unsolved double murders in Pembrokeshire and there were evidential links between exhibits gathered during the Huntsman investigation and the two double murders. New forensic tests on exhibits gathered during the Huntsman investigation pointed to Cooper as the double shotgun killer and sex attacker. Peter Dixon was shot and killed in June 1989 while holidaying with his wife in Pembrokeshire Credit: WNS Gwenda Dixon and her husband are the second set of murders officially linked to Cooper Credit: WNS Little Haven in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, where evil John Cooper murdered husband and wife Peter and Gwenda Dixon Credit: WNS A sawn off shotgun used by the killer Credit: Dragon News A police photofit sketch of John Cooper released by police after the Dixon murders Credit: Rex Cooper was given a whole life order in 2011 for the two double killings Credit: Wales News Service Traces of blood shown to be Peter Dixon’s were found on a shotgun owned by Cooper, thrown into a hedge after a failed armed robbery in November 1996. Traces of Mr Dixon’s blood were also discovered on a pair of shorts worn by Cooper, found in his house. During the trial, he was depicted as an outdoorsman who used hedgerows as “safes” to hide the valuables he stole and to discard items. He also cut escape routes through fences and fields to evade police. Significant fibre evidence also linked Cooper to the two double murders and other offences. There were also strong textile-fibre links with the two girls who had been sexually assaulted in Milford Haven. These included fibres found on the inside of the girls’ clothing that could have come from a pair of gloves discovered in a hedgerow discarded during a robbery and other fibres transferred in the reverse direction, from the clothing to the gloves. Cooper’s home had been thoroughly searched as part of the investigations into the burglaries and the robbery, and a number of items were removed from both inside and outside his home. Other items, including jewellery and gloves, had been recovered from hedgerows in the local area. In December 1976, following the discovery of the Thomas siblings’ bodies, Dyfed-Powys Police launched the double murder investigation and set up an incident room in the heart of the village. The case was led by a celebrated detective who had solved the Cannock Chase murders in Staffordshire, one of the biggest manhunts in British criminal history, Det Ch Supt Pat Molloy. More than 1,200 people were spoken to, with police officers knocking on doors over a five-mile radius. Over the coming weeks, 572 men provided alibis to police that ruled them out of the investigation, but no leads emerged. By late January 1977, the detective concluded that Griff had “probably” killed his sister. Dyfed-Powys Police told The Sun: “We can confirm that a significant amount of complex work has been undertaken as part of the forensic review process, and the family of Griff and Martha Thomas have been updated of the progress made so far.” They continued: “To ensure all available material was obtained, several detailed searches have been conducted by the force in line with an overarching forensic strategy. “Search locations included police stations in Pembrokeshire, our scientific support unit archive at Police Headquarters in Carmarthen, The National Archive of Wales, Aberystwyth, and the Forensic Science Service Archive, in Birmingham.” The searches have retrieved Martha’s handwritten diaries, original investigation documents, fingerprint lifts from photographs, postmortem moulds of the siblings’ hands, and a tapestry. They added: “The family has been updated on the findings from these enquiries, and the limitations faced in reviewing an incident that took place 50 years ago. “We are now at a stage where communication has begun with HM Coroner to keep them informed of the latest position, and to seek advice and guidance on how we proceed. “We will continue to keep the family of Griff and Martha updated on the review, along with any recommendations from HM Coroner.”