Dad stabbed son then killed himself, double inquest hears

A DOUBLE inquest heard how a Teesside dad stabbed his son to death and then killed himself with the same knife in a ‘Japanese Yakuza-style’ fit of remorse.

- By SUE KIRBY

The hearing into the deaths of Peter Cooke senior and Peter Cooke junior was told that on a previous occasion the father had slashed his son’s knee with a knife and then cut off part of his own finger.

Peter Cooke senior had an ‘unhealthy’ interest in weapons and tried to practice Samurai and Buddhist ways of life, also making his own explosives, the court heard.

The 68-year-old and his 36-year-old son were found in a pool of blood in the older man’s flat in Hartlepool’s Eaglesfield Road, Owton Manor, on Friday, March 15 last year, both having been stabbed.

Reading from the evidence, assistant coroner Paul Appleton, said Peter Cooke junior, of the town’s nearby Ettrick Walk, and his partner, Nadine Caygill, had gone to the flat at around 5.30pm and the three had been drinking.

He said Ms Caygill said later in the evening she fell asleep and when she woke up she found both men lying on the floor. There was blood and a knife, the inquest heard.