As time looked to be running out, Steve Wilkins (Luke Evans) made a huge breakthrough in his investigation into John Cooper (Keith Allen) on the latest episode of ‘The Pembrokeshire Murders’.
If you want to avoid spoilers, stop reading this article now.
The episode opened with Steve being interviewed by Jonathan Hill (David Fynn) while Cooper watched on television from prison. We then saw Andrew Cooper (Oliver Ryan) found down by the train tracks and he was alive.
In prison Cooper went to the library where he picked up a book called ‘Traces of Guilt’. Cooper’s reading habits were reported back to Steve and the team, and they were pleased their ploy was working. The team had also been given interview dates and Steve told them to prepare so they could catch Cooper.
DI Ella Richards (Alexandria Riley) informed Steve that Andrew had been found after his ‘accidental’ overdose. Andrew insisted that he wasn’t trying to kill himself, which disappointed his father. Cooper had a tense meeting with his wife Pat (Caroline Berry) telling her not to see Andrew and revealing that the police wanted to speak with him as he was the suspect they’d talked about on the news.
Steve visited Andrew to offer help and support but he received a frosty reception.
Back at the base, the team was briefed about how to get under Cooper’s skin and told that he didn’t believe that women were very intelligent. Steve asked Richards and DS Gareth Rees (Charles Dale) to be part of the interviews and he told the team he would stay away as Cooper had seen him on the news.
Steve returned home to find his son Jack (Steffan Cennydd) out for a run. Jack told his father he had a football tryout and Steve assured him he’d be there to support him. That night Jack washed up and observed his father, who was busy working on the case.
The next day Steve was told that Cooper was en route to the interview. The team hurriedly prepared as they were about to come face-to-face with him. When the call came that Cooper had arrived, the team watched him being checked in via a monitor. Cooper waiting in an interrogation room with his lawyer until Richards and Rees arrived.
Rees took the lead and asked about Cooper losing money he’d won on ‘Spot the Ball’. Richards turned the conversation to his gambling and first conviction for burglary. Her line of questioning upset Cooper and he turned away, refusing to speak any further. Rees tried to win him back over and his tactics worked as Cooper insisted he wasn’t a thief.
Cooper was quick to discredit everything that Andrew had said about him. He tried to explain that Andrew had issues after he wasn’t taken on a family holiday to Spain. Cooper then pointed the finger at Andrew, insinuating that he was the one responsible for the murders.
After the interview, the team debriefed and Richards was annoyed with herself for letting Cooper get to her. Steve assured her she’d done well and they started planning for the interviews the next day.
Back in the interview room, Rees continued to play good cop and Richards showed him a photo of a black glove. Cooper claimed he couldn’t see because his glasses were broken so Richards gave him another pair they had ready. Again, Cooper pointed the finger at Andrew but he put the glasses on and admitted a balaclava was his. That contradicted what he’d previously said so Cooper switched the story claiming it was stolen and used in the robbery.
Richards then showed a picture of the sawn-off shotgun and a black shotgun. Cooper said one of the guns was his but one wasn’t. He then claimed he’d buried his gun to stop his son finding it and hurting himself. Rees pointed out that both shotguns were modified in the same way and Cooper said it was a coincidence. Cooper then turned the talk to the gun that was found under the hedge and claimed if his DNA was on it, it was because a barrister had handed it to him multiple times during the trial.
At the end of the day, Steve told the team he was pleased with what they had achieved in the interview. He believed they had new evidence that linked Cooper to the murders and he told Richards she had to lead on the final day of interviews as he wanted it to be more confrontational.
During the final interview, Richards showed a sketch to Cooper, which he denied was him. Once again he pointed to the finger at Andrew. Richards fixated on the shorts seen in the sketch and Cooper admitted he did has some that were similar but they were shorter. He then told them Andrew used to borrow his clothes all the time. Following the interview, Steve realised the shorts were of importance and they needed to find them.
Steve and Richards went to visit Pat so they could search the house and see if they could find the shorts. Pat insisted they wouldn’t find anything as everything had been collected during the original investigation. Steve asked Pat about the portraits of Cooper and her in the living room, and asked if she had any later photos of them together. She said she didn’t. Steve then asked why Andrew didn’t go to Spain with them and she claimed not to remember. Steve and Richards left, and Pat reached for her cigarettes.
Pat paid another visit to prison to see Cooper. She told him the police were looking for the khaki bathers/shorts he’d mentioned during the interview. In a panic, Cooper told her to contact Andrew and see if he had them.
Steve was told they were eating up their budget with forensic tests that were turning up nothing. In the photo of the gun, Steve noticed the paint was worn off in places and he asked for a pot of black paint to be taken out of storage.
Steve went to the forensics lab to question why they hadn’t found anything. He asked them to retest the gun again and see if the black paint they had in evidence was used to paint the barrels of the gun, making it harder to see at night.
Andrew was looking at a clapped-out van for sale when his phone rang. Pat was on the other end and as soon as he heard her voice, he hung up. He called her back and asked how she had got his number. Pat tried to enquire about how he was and asked if she could come and see him. Andrew said it wasn’t a good time so Pat invited him to her home.
Steve called the CPS to try and prevent Cooper’s parole. He was told that there wasn’t enough evidence against Cooper and that there’d been talk of shutting Operation Ottawa down.
Andrew visited Pat and sat anxiously at the dining room table while Pat prepared food and drink. He asked if she was still visiting Cooper in prison and she admitted she was, every week. Pat also said that Cooper would live with her again once he was free. She then turned the conversation to the khaki bathers and Andrew became angry. He told Pat that his disability was caused by Cooper breaking his back when he was a child.
Andrew confronted his mother and she claimed she had no idea it was serious. He continued to say she did know and that she left him in pain and suffering before shuffling him off to his grandparents while the family went to Spain without him.
Cooper was told that he would be out of prison by Christmas now that his parole had been agreed again.
Steve received a call telling him about Cooper’s release, and he shared the news with Richards who insisted they were so close to nailing him. Richards told him to go home and spend time with his son. Steve returned home and Jack wasn’t there so he called him but there was no answer. As night rolled around, Jack returned home and he was upset. It turned out that Steve had missed Jack’s trial, which he’d succeeded in.
Angry, Jack hit out at his father accusing him of being obsessed with work. Steve apologised and Jack accepted his apology.
With a week until Cooper’s release, Steve told the team they were running out of time and he believed having no photos of Cooper from the time of the murders was the hole in their case. He urged the team to speak to Cooper’s friends and relatives to see what they could get their hands on.
Steve visited Andrew again who claimed his mother was still scared of his father. He recounted his recent encounter with her and mentioned the khaki bathers. Andrew said he didn’t have them and wouldn’t wear anything of his father’s.
Trying to make up for missing Jack’s football trial, Steve watched his latest game. They were going to the pub after but Steve refused as the venue was one of Cooper’s old haunts. After Jack went in, Steve lingered outside and eventually went in. On the wall of the pub, Steve saw a photo of a darts team and Cooper was in it. He spoke to the barman who told him the photo was taken in the late 80s around the time Cooper was on ‘Bullseye’.
Steve called Richards to tell her they needed to locate the episode to see if Cooper did look like the man in the sketch. Meanwhile he was released from prison and returned home while Andrew went to get a tattoo. Pat reluctantly hugged Cooper when he walked through the door but she looked terrified.
Meeting with Jonathan, Steve discussed the ‘Bullseye’ episode he was looking for and the tapes had been found by ITV. The tape proved that Cooper did indeed have long hair like the man in the sketch, something he’d denied earlier.
Pat locked herself in the bathroom and pretended she was having a bath. Cooper asked to join her and she refused. The episode ended with an exterior shot of the Cooper’s house and it sounded like Cooper had called the police.
Read ‘The Pembrokeshire Murders’ episode 1 recap
Preview ‘The Pembrokeshire Murders’ episode 3
‘The Pembrokeshire Murders’ concludes at 9pm tomorrow on ITV.
