‘Evil’ handyman who murdered two girlfriends jailed as police offer reward to find missing body

Carl Cooper, 66, who has been found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court of the murders of Naomi Hunte, 41, and Fiona Holm, 48 (Metropolitan Police/PA)

A man has been jailed for 35 years after murdering two of his former partners who were scared of him and had both complained to the police about his violence.

Carl Cooper, 66, was in a relationship with Naomi Hunte, 41, who was stabbed to death, and Fiona Holm, 48, whose body has never been found.

Ms Hunte was found dead on her blood-soaked sofa with a stab wound to the chest and Ms Holm disappeared on 20 June 2023.

A jury at Woolwich Crown Court found the defendant guilty of two counts of murder after three days of deliberations.

Jailing Cooper for life with a 35-year minimum term at Woolwich Crown Court on Tuesday, Mr Justice Johnson said: “I am sure that you, over many years, have been a great danger to women.”

The judge added: “You have a history of acting in a controlling and coercive manner to your female partners.

“Ms Hunte had made previous complaints to police about your controlling coercive behaviour.

“Ms Holm had also made a previous complaint to police about your behaviour, she had also complained to friends that you had stabbed her with a screwdriver.”

The trial heard that Ms Hunte made a number of domestic call-outs to police to her home in 2020 and 2021 and told them that handyman Cooper was “obsessed” with her.

In a police call-out to her home on June 29 2021, she told officers that Cooper “stalks me and I’m really scared now”.

A post-mortem examination found the cause of death to be a stab wound to the chest, while she had also drunk alcohol and taken drugs including cocaine and cannabis.

Her blood was later found on three different areas of Cooper’s jacket, and on a knife with a serrated blade, which resembled a steak knife.

Ms Holm, of Catford, south-east London, had also made complaints about Cooper to the police

Scotland Yard later said there is still a £20,000 police reward for information which leads to Ms Holm’s remains being found as a detective branded Cooper a “dangerous, violent domestic abuser who preys on women with vulnerabilities”.

Cooper lit fires in the immediate days after Ms Holm went missing and also carried out a “wholesale redecoration” of his living room, which included stripping off wallpaper, cutting out net curtains and removing a rug, prosecutor Joel Smith KC previously told the jury.

After the verdict, Detective Chief Inspector Kate Blackburn, of the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “Carl Cooper is a dangerous, violent domestic abuser who preys on women with vulnerabilities.

“He took the lives of two vibrant, sociable women who were so very loved by their families and friends. Naomi and Fiona are in my thoughts today.”

DCI Blackburn, who said Cooper had “gone to great lengths” to remove traces of Ms Holm’s blood from his flat, paid tribute to the families of both women.

She said: “They have sat through court and heard the most difficult of information about the deaths of women they deeply loved. I cannot begin to understand the pain they will experience forever.

“While I am relieved that he will be incarcerated in a place where he poses no threat to women, my greatest regret will always be that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to charge him earlier.”