In the Media

Man jailed for life for killing again two decades after first murder

PUBLISHED May 2, 2012
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An investigation is under way into the monitoring of a convicted killer who murdered for a second time after being freed from prison.

David Cook, 65, was jailed for life in 1988 for strangling Sunday school teacher Beryl Maynard with a dressing-gown cord in a robbery.

He was released after serving 21 years and set up home 100 miles away from the murder scene. But as his debts mounted, he used a television flex to murder his neighbour, Leonard Hill, 64, and stole from him.

Judge John Griffith Williams QC told Cook on Wednesday he would never be freed again. He said: "The seriousness of this offence is extremely high and I have to impose on you a whole life order. You will never be considered for release."

The judge told Cook he had murdered Maynard for "small gain" and killed again when he needed money, adding: "Leonard Hill was particularly vulnerable and you knew he could not stand up to you. You invited him into your bungalow where you killed him for gain. This was carried out in a chillingly deliberate way."

Cook and Beryl Maynard, 37, became pen-pals while he was in prison for robberies committed in the 1980s. On his release she invited him into her home in Reading for dinner. Months later he forced his way into her house and strangled her before stealing money.

Hill's family called for a thorough review into the case. His sister-in-law, Carol Hill, said she was "disgusted" that Cook had been able to move next to her relative.

"I need lots of answers," she said. "He should never have been put there. It seems Cook only had one way of dealing with any kind of problem and that was with violence."

"The failings lie with, firstly, whoever did the risk assessment when Cook was let out of prison. I need to know whether the probation service knew he had all this debt."

Hill's brother John, added: "We hope that David Cook will now spend the rest of his days in prison. We know that this will be no hardship for him but will at least protect any further victims and the pain caused to their devastated families."

Wales Probation Trust, which has requested a serious case review, offered its "deepest sympathies" to the family.

A statement added: "The review will look at how all the agencies in this case have worked together and will seek to identify whether there is any learning for the agencies individually or collectively in managing high-risk offenders."

Cook was jailed for life for Maynard's murder but released back into the community in 2009 on a "life licence" under the probation service.

He moved to Rhymney, south Wales, where he was befriended by next-door neighbour Hill. Cook ran up £5,800 of debt before murdering Hill. After the killing he hid the body and went to the village pub to buy drinks with money he had taken from his neighbour.

Prosecuting, David Aubrey QC told Newport crown court: "This was a brutal, determined and merciless killing. He [Cook] beat Leonard Hill unconscious or semi-conscious, he then bound and gagged him using a pillow case and then throttled him until he was dead."

The jury took just an hour to convict Cook. Gwent police welcomed the review on Tuesday. A spokesman said: "We are hopeful that out of this tragic event and the commissioning of the serious case review the risk of an offence committed in similar circumstances is minimised."

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