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Operation Pebble - Pembrokeshire

The IRA were seen as possible suspects for the murders because a motive for their killing may have been because they had seen something or someone they shouldn't have.

When they were arrested one had a shotgun and the couple were killed with a shotgun.
Yes indeed, that was everyone's supposition at the time. Allied to the thought that there might be a second cache, or that they were conducting a dig or recce when the Dixons stumbled upon them. However, the distance between the cache and the murders makes the OP's suggestion that Cooper and the PIRA ASU might have encountered each other extremely unlikely.
 
Interestingly, according to some reports I read, the possibility of the IRA killing the couple arose BEFORE the arms cache was discovered...
It's been a while, but to my recollection the PIRA angle only surfaced after the arrest of the ASU. I don't recall anybody in the general population even suggesting that at the time (though the police would undoubtedly have in private if they were already aware of the cache).
 
It's been a while, but to my recollection the PIRA angle only surfaced after the arrest of the ASU. I don't recall anybody in the general population even suggesting that at the time (though the police would undoubtedly have in private if they were already aware of the cache).

The locals would have been aware of the first discovery of the switches and wires, before the larger cache was found and the ASU captured.

Because the bird watcher only came forward to mention the disturbed ground after the switches discovery was announced by the local newspaper.

Presumably, had this not happened, it would have taken much longer (if ever?) for the main arms cache to be discovered? So maybe the police got lucky on this one.
 
It's been a while, but to my recollection the PIRA angle only surfaced after the arrest of the ASU. I don't recall anybody in the general population even suggesting that at the time (though the police would undoubtedly have in private if they were already aware of the cache).

Previous police surveillance operations identified IRA travelling to that coastline to meet small boats from Ireland.
 
The locals would have been aware of the first discovery of the switches and wires, before the larger cache was found and the ASU captured.

Because the bird watcher only came forward to mention the disturbed ground after the switches discovery was announced by the local newspaper.

Presumably, had this not happened, it would have taken much longer (if ever?) for the main arms cache to be discovered? So maybe the police got lucky on this one.
Someone read the Western Telegraph?! I think that's the most astonishing fact of this case. I only read it once, when my then girlfriend told me that we featured rather heavily in a "Police are seeking a couple seen naked and engaged in sexual activity on Tenby North Beach" article... It must have been that bloody spotter-plane that caught us...
 
The locals would have been aware of the first discovery of the switches and wires, before the larger cache was found and the ASU captured.

Because the bird watcher only came forward to mention the disturbed ground after the switches discovery was announced by the local newspaper.

Presumably, had this not happened, it would have taken much longer (if ever?) for the main arms cache to be discovered? So maybe the police got lucky on this one.

You are truly obsessed with obscure conspiracy theories linked with covert policing. In one of your previous aliases on here you managed 106 posts in about 24 hours, most of which were on a thread about spies, after which the avatar was never used again. I wonder how long The Gremlin will last, and which subject you will alight on next?
 
King Harold, unlawfully killed by a Norman archer. Any of it coming back to you? Can you account for your whereabouts on 14 Oct 1066?

1066 was before the EEC/EU therefore it was by an illegal immigrant - whatever profession or radio serial he belonged to
 
Someone read the Western Telegraph?! I think that's the most astonishing fact of this case. I only read it once, when my then girlfriend told me that we featured rather heavily in a "Police are seeking a couple seen naked and engaged in sexual activity on Tenby North Beach" article... It must have been that bloody spotter-plane that caught us...

Chav! South Beach has soft golden sand. North Beach is just so.....oh, rough daarling!
 
You are truly obsessed with obscure conspiracy theories linked with covert policing. In one of your previous aliases on here you managed 106 posts in about 24 hours, most of which were on a thread about spies, after which the avatar was never used again. I wonder how long The Gremlin will last, and which subject you will alight on next?

I think its his Persec.
Arrse, MI5/6, CIA, KGB, ISIS, name your group, will never take him alive.
 
Well at the time, yes, but that Old Grumpy article describes the actual location (Ricket's Head), which is absolutely nowhere near the Dixon murder (i.e. several miles away or a good day's walk along the coast path). so the supposition that the PIRA and Cooper were working on the same patch is a totally incorrect one.
Is that the point just to the south of Newgale Beach?
 
Not sure if this is the right forum. Anyway,

30 years ago this week two innocent tourists (The Dixons) were killed with a shotgun on a Pembrokeshire coastal path.
The killer turned out to be a local psychopath / burgler / rapist, who happened to appear on Bullseye and also won £90k in a spot the ball competition. Name John William Cooper.

Interestingly, at the same time this local psycho was roaming the coastal path area, a PIRA ASU was hiding rather large stashes of weapons, in pretty much the same area. According to local reports, the IRA men were bringing the weapons onshore to the St Brides Bay area and taking them up to the coastal path area to bury them.

The IRA men were caught when workmen replacing a signpost found some wires and switches. Then a bird watcher told police he'd noticed some disturbed ground. The police (Dyfed Powys / Special Branch / Anti Terror?) laid in wait for months and caught the 2 IRA guys. They were imprisoned, but refused to discuss the Dixons killing.

Now, so what?
Well, there were a few points I found interesting about this story.:

I know this area and lugging weapons up to the coastal path and burying them would be quite a job. I can't imagine the PIRA were the fittest of men. Presumably this was done at night, to avoid tourists. Even so, in my experience farmers etc in these areas are very observant. I am very surprised the IRA managed to do this task undiscovered.

The local killer (Cooper) was a real night prowler. Always roaming the dark for victims and hiding items in hedgerows etc. I'd be very surprised if he and the IRA men hadn't noticed each others activities. Also, the IRA seem to have been busy hiding weapons in the area at the same time that the police were looking for Cooper, using dogs etc. Now as Cooper was armed with a shotgun, presumably these tracker dogs would have been trained to find explosive scent? Yet the dogs tracking Cooper never came across the IRA weapons cache?

The policeman who discovered the Dixons' bodies noted that they had been covered with vegetation in the same manner that the police had been trained to use to construct covert rural OPs, by the SAS.

You spin a decent yarn. But like most conspiracy theories, it boils down to 'what if'.

I really doubt Cooper and the IRA seen what each other was up to. What did they do to protect each others' identity? Pinky swear?
 

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