THE crimes of evil serial killer John Cooper are being retold in ITV’s The Pembrokeshire Murders. The three-part series also reveals the torment the murderer put his son Andrew through. Who is John Cooper’s son Andrew? Not much is known about Andrew, but he left home at 15 due to his difficult relationship with his […]
THE crimes of evil serial killer John Cooper are being retold in ITV’s The Pembrokeshire Murders.
The three-part series also reveals the torment the murderer put his son Andrew through.
Not much is known about Andrew, but he left home at 15 due to his difficult relationship with his evil dad John Cooper.
He has a younger sister Theresa, but very little is known about her.
Originally named Adrian, he changed his name to Andrew to distance himself from his father and there are no photos of him.
In The Pembrokeshire Murders he is played by Oliver Ryan and he is portrayed as having a walking impairment.
There is little information about Andrew and what he is up to now.
Writer Nick Stevens met with Cooper’s son, Andrew, before writing the script for The Pembrokeshire Murders.
Speaking to press about the true crime series, he said: “Meeting with Andrew and spending a lot of time with him, delivered an additional storyline not in the book, which I think enriches the eventual drama.”
Nick had “quite a job” finding Andrew initially, but with the help of ITV journalist Jonathan Hill, he was able to set up a meeting.
He continued: “I was quite apprehensive about the first meeting, here I am a TV writer wanting to burrow into the darkest recesses of this man’s private life.
“And he was never anything but totally generous and open. He saw this as an opportunity to set the record straight, to tell his side of the story.
“He had a score to settle with his absent father and he saw this drama as an opportunity to do precisely that.”
During the 2011 trial, Andrew took to the witness stand appearing as a prosecution witness.
He testified with damning evidence against his dad – who stood accused of double murder.
He said his father would go for long evening walks with a shotgun under his jacket.
Andrew told Swansea Crown Court that his father, a farm labourer from Letterston, would disappear for hours.
Appearing via video link, he described his dad as “very strong”, “very fit” and “loud and aggressive”.
Andrew told the court how his father kept what “looked like other peoples’ possessions”, including photographs of people he did not know, trinkets, and burned jewellery and coins.
When John was originally arrested and interviewed by police, he implicated his son in the crimes – something which disgusted Detective Superintendent Steve Wilkins.
