Man questioned on 1980s murders

John Cooper was arrested at Letterston near Fishguard on Wednesday Twenty year mystery of Pembrokeshire murders

Police are continuing to question a 64-year-old man arrested on suspicion of committing two double murders in Pembrokeshire in the 1980s.

Holidaymakers Peter and Gwenda Dixon, of Witney, Oxford, were murdered on the Pembrokeshire coastal path in 1989.

Police have also been reviewing the unsolved killings of Richard Thomas and his sister Helen at their burnt-out mansion near Milford Haven in 1985.

The man, from Pembrokeshire, has been named locally as John Cooper.

He has also been arrested on suspicion of a sex assault and attempted robbery.

These cases happened in Milford Haven in 1996.

Dyfed-Powys Police said they arrested the man at 0830 BST on Wednesday in Letterston, near Fishguard.

For 20 years, mystery has surrounded the murders.

Dyfed-Powys Police announced in 2007 they were reviewing the cases and did not rule out a connection.

The bodies of Peter and Gwenda Dixon, from Oxfordshire, were found hidden near the cliff path near Little Haven, six days after their disappearance in June 1989.

Police in Pembrokeshire continue to question a local man in connection with two double murders in the 1980s

The couple, who were in their 50s, were killed with a shotgun.

When an explosives cache was found nearby six months later, police investigated possible links with an IRA smuggling operation, as well as another unsolved double murder at nearby Milford Haven four years earlier.

In that incident in December 1985, brother and sister Richard and Helen Thomas were found murdered at their burned-out mansion home, Scoveston Manor, near Milford Haven.

Police investigating the killing of the Dixons found their cash card had been used at a cash machine in Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire shortly after the killings.

Detectives had a description of a man who was believed to have used it.

However, none of the leads led to an arrest at the time.