At the beginning of the episode, we rejoin the television program featuring DCS Steve Wilkins (Luke Evans) and Jonathan Hill (David Fynn). John Cooper (Keith Allen) gets up and pays close attention as Steve talks about his theory and new DNA technology. When the interview ends, Andrew Cooper (Oliver Ryan) is found by two guards. Steve learns that Cooper has been spending a lot of time in the library and it seems he is studying up on DNA. Steve tells his team that they have been given dates for the upcoming interviews. Steve tells Rambo to see if he can find any psychiatrists who had talked to John so they can find out what they have to say. Ella Richards (Alexandria Riley) tells Steve about Andrew being found by the railway tracks outside of Fishguard.

Andrew claims he overdid it with his pain medication and is denying he was trying to kill himself. He has already checked out of the hospital. Pat Cooper (Caroline Berry) visits her husband in jail and tells him about Andrew but John has no sympathy for his boy. John tells his wife that the police want to interview him before explaining he is the suspect they’re talking about on television. He claims it is easier to frame an innocent man than it is to do their job. He warns Pat that she needs to be on her toes because they might want to talk to her too. Steve visits Andrew at his flat to check on him. Steve offers Andrew support if he needs it but Andrew claims he doesn’t. Lynne tells the team about Dr. Harry Stephens who is a forensic psychologist from Liverpool University.

Stephens interviewed Cooper for a book about violent offenders. He is the only person to have gone on record saying Cooper is a psychopath and he says Cooper is a narcissist. He believes detectives should treat Cooper like royalty and pamper him into a false sense of security. Nigel is tasked with finding a suitable interview station before Steve says they’ll also want a woman to help conduct the interview. That might convince John to drop his guard. Steve wants Rambo and Ella to conduct the interview with John Cooper. Since he has appeared on television, Steve is worried that his appearance would rattle him. After that, Steve coaches Ella and Rambo for the upcoming interview with John. Instead of asking John about the murder, Steve wants them to ask him about the exhibits since that might help them figure out which ones contain his DNA.

When Steve returns home, he finds Jack (Steffan Cennydd) running and preparing for the trial for the county. Jack wants to make sure his father will be there and he says he will make it. Later that night, Jack cleans the dishes while his father looks through the evidence. Moments later, Steve and the others prepare for the upcoming interview. John Cooper arrives and joins his attorney in the interview room. When Rambo and Ella enter the room, John asks them about the big cheese but they say Steve won’t be joining them. Then, the conversation turns to 1978 when John won Spot The Ball. He is asked about not taking his son on the trip to Spain. He says he doesn’t know and his son might’ve been ill with asthma. He later explains he lost a lot of money because an estate agent tricked him out of money and his solicitor lied to him.

He is asked about his gambling habits. When they begin asking him about the robberies, he shuts down and refuses to answer their questions. They keep at it until John turns around and says he is not a thief. He is asked about Scoveston Park and he knows that Adrian told police he told him and his mother to lie to them. John says he wants to get something off of his chest before claiming everything that comes out of Andrew’s mouth is a lie. He goes on to say that Andrew was a different boy once they returned. He was surly and disobedient. He says Adrian was the one who came home late on the night of the murders. Steve and the others can’t believe that Cooper is pointing the finger at his own son. The group gets together later that night and discuss how to move forward.

The following day, John returns to the interview room and is asked about some of the exhibits found by Operation Huntsman. John claims he was wrongfully convicted of the Sardis robbery. Ella shows him pictures of the evidence starting with the black glove. John says he can’t see anything because he had an accident and broke his glasses last night. Ella knows he had problems with his glasses during Huntsman so they got his prescription from Dyffryn Prison just in case. John says he doesn’t wear gloves and that his son is the glove wearer in the family. He is asked about the balaclava and that Huntsman found head hairs inside it.

He remembers that it was confirmed the hair was his but he denied it. He says it was a mistake and that he was wrong. He argues he remembers having a black balaclava and wore it when he went fishing. He thinks the balaclava was stolen and that he didn’t lose it. He says it was stolen by the individual who committed the robbery he was eventually convicted of. When he is asked about the shotguns, he claims they’re trying to trick him. John says one of the guns is his but the other is not. John admits he buried one of the guns because he didn’t want his son to find it and hurt himself. He says it is a coincidence that both guns have the same modifications. John tells Rambo and Ella that he wants to talk about the gun Huntsman found under the hedge.

He remembers the prosecution barrister handing him a gun more than once. He says his DNA might be on the gun because the prosecution barrister handed him the gun several times. Steve believes they got results today and that John is digging his own grave. Steve wants to send the Sardis robbery gun and the balaclava back for DNA testing. Ella reminds him of the comment about Adrian being the glove wearer so Steve agrees to get it tested too. With tomorrow being their last day with John, Steve wants Ella to lead. We jump forward to the next day and Ella asks John about the drawing of the man. John says the drawing looks nothing like him and the detective he used to drink with said the same. He says he didn’t have hair that long although there are no pictures to confirm his claim. He is asked about the clothes but says he doesn’t go in for shorts. Again, he says shorts were Adrian’s things. Steve tells Ella to push the shorts issue and she does.

John admits he used to own a pair of khaki shorts but says they were more bathers than shorts. His shorts were shorter and Adrian was constantly borrowing them. After the interview, the detectives look at the shorts found at John’s residence and all of them are shorter than the ones in the drawing. Steve believes something about the shorts worries John. They decide to visit Patricia. They look for shorts while Pat tells them they won’t find anything. Steve stops to check out the pictures that were taken after John won Spot The Ball. Pat is asked if she had any later photos and she doesn’t because they were not big on family photos. Then, she is asked about not taking Adrian with them to Spain and she says she can’t remember why he didn’t get to go. She asks them if they’ve finished and they leave a few seconds later.

Andrew is awoken in the middle of the night when a dog barks outside. He struggles with his pain. The following day, Pat visits John and tells him about the police visiting and the khaki bathers. He wants her to get in touch with Adrian to see if he has the bathers. She can’t believe he would want her to contact Adrian. Steve learns that forensics took the shotgun apart and tested every nook and cranny so it would be a waste of money to retest it for DNA. Steve says it isn’t their call to make. He learns that they only have 17,000 left in their budget. Steve checks the pictures of the shotgun and asks if any paint was found in John’s home. John wants the can of paint taken out of storage. Later, Lynne (Steve Meo) tells Steve that the team has been on the case for 18 months now and they only have a partial for Peter Dixon’s DNA on a piece of rope.

They meet with the doctor and she says detectives are becoming obsessed with DNA at the expense of less fashionable avenues of analysis. Ottawa’s insistence that they focus solely on DNA has put her team in a straitjacket. Lynne says they asked her to prioritize DNA but not exclude everything else. Steve tells Dr. Gallop that they should remove the straitjacket and she says that would allow them to widen the search. She suggests they might be able to get fiber evidence and get over the charge threshold of the CPS. He shows her the shotgun which they believe is the murder weapon.

He tells her about the satin black metal paint and suggests Cooper painted the barrels of the gun to make it less visible at night. The paint wasn’t made until 1995 so there might be DNA evidence under the black paint. Gallop wonders if that is the best use of their budget but Steve isn’t going to budge. Pat gets her son’s phone number and calls while he is looking at a van to purchase. When he hears his mother’s voice, he hangs up on her immediately. He calls back a few moments later and asks how she got his number. He asks what she wants and she claims she is just checking to see how he is. He says the hospital visit was nothing but a mistake. He doesn’t want her to visit his place so she invites him to visit her place. Steve learns that Ollie Wakefield from the CPS called him.

Steve calls Ollie and tells him that Ottawa needs a favor because the governor at the prison refuses to delay Cooper’s second parole hearing. He believes a word from the CPS might persuade him. Steve is convinced that he’ll kill again and it’ll be on them when he does. Ollie reveals there is talk of shutting down Ottawa. A bit later, Andrew decides to visit his mother at her house. She asks Andrew what happened to him. When he sits down at the table, he finds out from paperwork on the table that his mother is thinking about planning her funeral. She returns with snacks and drinks before Andrew learns Pat has been visiting John and he intends to live with her when he gets out. Pat doesn’t waste any time asking Andrew about the old pair of khaki bathers he might have. Thanks to that question, Andrew realizes his father is still running things from prison.

He admits it wasn’t true what he said earlier about having an accident at work. He says John did this to him. He claims his father broke his back the same year they had those stupid photos made. She doesn’t believe it but Andrew reminds her he was fit and strong just a year before. Andrew was told it was caused by a childhood injury. He knew immediately it was a punch in the back. He reminds her that she knew something was wrong immediately but she didn’t take him to the hospital. She left him to lay in his urine-soaked sheets and didn’t even bother changing them. Andrew gets up and leaves. Next, John learns that he got parole and should be out by Christmas. Steve learns about his parole and complains to Ella about it. Ella tells him that she goes home and eats a large amount of unhealthy food with her family after a bad day.

Steve buys fish and chops before returning to Jack but his son isn’t home. Jack returns home later that night and his dad says he wishes he would answer his phone or respond to his text messages. Jack has been drinking and celebrating because he made the county team. He isn’t happy that his father wasn’t there for him and complains that he is obsessed with his work. Steve admits he hasn’t been the perfect father. Later, Steve meets with his team and tells them this will be their last chance. He is adamant that they need a photograph of John around the time of the murders. Steve meets with Andrew and finds him working on the van he purchased. Andrew admits his mother is still scared of John and he doesn’t know what 10 years in prison have done to him. He says his mother called and he thought she wanted a father and son reunion but she was only following John’s orders.

He tells Steve about the old pair of bathers and says he wouldn’t wear anything of John’s. Steve goes to his son’s game after that. After the game, Steve tells his son about the scout being there and says he is going to talk to him. Jack thanks his father for being there for him. They visit one of John’s old haunts so Steve decides to stay away. Jack tries to convince his father to join him but Steve isn’t sure that would be a good idea. Steve walks around outside a bit before going inside and ordering a drink. Steve looks at pictures on the wall and believes he finds one with John Cooper. The bartender tells him it is John and the photo was taken sometime in the late 80s. Steve learns John was on Bullseye so he calls Ella and tells her. We learn that Cooper was on television throwing darts the same year he killed the Dixon couple.

John Cooper is released from prison while Andrew gets a tattoo and his wife prepares for his arrival. John makes it home and hugs his wife. Steve meets with Jonathan Hill so he can get footage from John’s appearance on Bullseye. The episode likely featuring John was recorded a month and a day before the Dixons were murdered. Steve watches the episode while John tries to settle back in at home. John hears Pat running the bath and he offers to get in with her but she says she is shy. Steve finds out that John looked similar from behind to the drawing during the Bullseye broadcast. 999 gets a call from the Cooper house just before the episode ends.

 

The Pembrokeshire Murders

This was a much better episode. Although each episode has been less than 50 minutes, both have felt a bit longer than that. I guess it is taking longer to digest all of the fine details since we’re dealing with a factual show. This episode delved deeper into the relationship between Andrew Cooper and his mother and father. It obviously wasn’t a happy childhood for Andrew who is still dealing with the scars from the past.

I think this aspect of the show and story is the most interesting. This is likely something we would not have gotten from following the case on television years ago. It is hard not to feel bad for Andrew and I think many viewers with sympathize with the character. John Cooper has now been released from prison but Steve is one tiny step closer to putting him away for good.

The final episode should be good. This episode scores a 7.5 out of 10. Previous recaps of The Pembrokeshire Murders can be found on Reel Mockery.