15 Facts About Sidney Cooke

Sidney Charles Cooke was born on 18 April 1927 and is an English convicted child molester, murderer and suspected serial killer and serial rapist serving two life sentences.

Sidney Cooke was the leader of a paedophile ring suspected of up to twenty child murders of young boys in the 1970s and 1980s.

Sidney Cooke's gang have been the subject of several investigations into possible links to the disappearances of two boys, Martin Allen and Vishal Mehrotra, who were abducted from London in 1979 and 1981 respectively.

Sidney Cooke was born on 18 April 1927 in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and worked as a farm labourer.

Sidney Cooke later was a fairground worker, which made it easy for him to move around the United Kingdom.

On 12 May 1989, Sidney Cooke was sentenced at the Old Bailey to nineteen years in Wandsworth Prison for the manslaughter of Swift.

Bailey and other gang members told authorities that Sidney Cooke was among those who murdered Mark Tildesley, a seven-year-old boy, in Wokingham, Berkshire on 1 June 1984.

Sidney Cooke has indicated he knows where Tildesley's body is buried but refuses to disclose the exact location.

Sidney Cooke is suspected of involvement in the murder of another boy, six-year-old Barry Lewis, for which Bailey was convicted in June 1991.

Sidney Cooke's body was found in Essex in April 1986, only four days from the discovery of Swift's body.

Sidney Cooke told an appeals court that Bailey was the ringleader of the gang.

Sidney Cooke's parole caused huge public outrage, which was exacerbated by a plan to move him to a hostel near two schools, and the fact that Sidney Cooke himself admitted that he might re-offend if he was released.

On 17 December 1999, at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Sidney Cooke received two life sentences, and Judge David Poole told Sidney Cooke that he would only be considered for release after he had served a minimum of five years in prison and if the parole board was satisfied he was not a danger to the public.

Sidney Cooke was refused parole most recently in October 2021, aged 94, on the grounds that his behaviour while imprisoned "had been mixed and had provoked concerns and even allegations over the years".

Sidney Cooke's intention was to go to see his older brother, Bob, who lived near Holloway Road, but he needed to go home first in order to collect some money.