Carl Cooper on trial for Naomi Hunte and Fiona Holm murders

Carl Cooper, 66, is accused of killing Naomi Hunte and Fiona Holm in the space of 16 months – both of whom he was in a relationship with. 

Cooper was arrested after Naomi, 41, was found stabbed to death at her home in Woolwich in February 2022, but he was later released under police investigation. 

A little over a year later Fiona, 48, went missing from Hither Green and was never seen again. Her body has never been found. 

Prosecutor Joel Smith KC said: "Cooper is a man with a predilection to control women – particularly the two deceased women – and prone to violence when challenged. He is, in short, a callous bully and a killer."

Cooper, of Broadfield Road in Hither Green, denies murdering either woman. 

Naomi Hunte killed

Opening the trial at Woolwich Crown Court, prosecutor Mr Smith said police were called to a flat on Congleton Grove in Woolwich on February 14, 2022. 

Mr Smith said: “The person who lived there was called Naomi Hunte. When police arrived they saw Ms Hunte lying across a sofa in her lounge. Her head was on the sofa and her legs dangled off the side.  

“The sofa was saturated in blood, and her was blood all around the flat. She had been stabbed and she was dead. The button and zip to her trousers had been undone. As you would expect a murder investigation commenced.” 

Her cause of death was a stab wound to the chest. 

Naomi lived on Congleton Grove in Woolwich, which was relatively close to Wilmount Street where Cooper was living in 2022.  

Mr Smith said: “Ms. Hunte was a vulnerable lady – you will hear that there is evidence that she was a drug user and the relationship with Mr Cooper was plainly not a happy one.” 

Naomi Hunte (Image: Met Police)Naomi had made four complaints to police saying Cooper was harassing her before her death. 

The last complaint was in October 2021 when she told police Cooper had come to her flat wanting sex and when she had refused he had lost his temper, Mr Smith said.  

“She said that his behaviour towards her was getting worse – he was becoming more aggressive and more persistent. He was, she said, controlling and jealous,” Mr Smith said.  

"You may find her final complaint – that he had lost his temper when pestering her for sex – particularly chilling when we come to consider the condition in which her body was found, with the button and zip of her trousers undone." 

Mr Smith alleged that Cooper killed Naomi on the evening of February 9/10. 

Cooper had tried to phone Naomi on four occasions between 8.50pm and 9.10pm while he was in the Woolwich area.  

Naomi then phoned him and left a voicemail message which said: “Listen, don’t bother coming here, you’re acting like a fool. Goodnight. Don’t come here, I’m going to my bed.”  

Cooper then phoned her back and they spoke for 51 seconds. He then stayed in the area and left sometime the next morning, Mr Smith said. 

Mr Smith said: “Whilst he was staying overnight, we suggest, Ms. Hunte was killed. Her body was found four days later.” 

‘Lightning strikes twice’ 

Cooper was arrested and interviewed, and during a search of his home they found one of his coats had Naomi’s blood on it. 

However, he was later released under investigation. 

Mr Smith said: “And then, lightning struck twice in exactly the same place because in June 2023, a little over a year since Ms Hunte was found, a woman named Fiona Holm went missing.  

“She too had been in a sexual relationship with Carl Cooper. She too had complained to the police about his violence. You will see, no doubt, a pattern emerging.  

"Because Carl Cooper killed Fiona Holm too. And he hid her body – hid it so well, in fact, that it has never been found.” 

Fiona Holm (Image: Met Police)Fiona had also made complaints to police about Cooper to prior to her death, the court heard. 

In April 2023 she phoned police from Cooper’s home telling officers he had threatened her with a crowbar and had previously stabbed her with a screwdriver.  

He was arrested and interviewed then released without charge on April 12, 2023, as Fiona withdrew her support for the prosecution. 

Fiona was last seen on the evening of June 20, 2023, at a convenience store on St Mildred’s Road in Hither Green 

CCTV image of Fiona pictured on the night she went missing (Image: Met Police)Cooper was later found to be selling one of her coats, had redecorated his living room and had lit several fires, the jury said. 

However, Mr Smith said that despite the renovation Fiona’s blood was found in several areas of Cooper’s home. 

Mr Smith said: "So when you are considering the murder of Ms. Holm, it comes to this. Once again the defendant was in an abusive relationship with a vulnerable woman. 

"Once again, he is the last person to see her alive. Once again, he makes the single call to her phone after she died. And once again his clothing bears traces of her blood. 

"Indeed, in the case of Ms. Holm there is a wealth of evidence indicating his involvement. He sold her clothing. He lit fires to destroy evidence. Most significantly, you may think, he completely renovated his living room – a room in which her blood was found on the wall, door, television, and curtains. 

"That leaves one conclusion doesn’t it. Ms. Holm was killed in the flat. She bled in the flat. Mr Cooper has tried to cover it up, to deceive the police and, ultimately, to deceive you. He failed." 

‘Carl Cooper killed Naomi Hunte. And then he killed Fiona Holm.’ 

Concluding his opening to the jury, Mr Smith said: “What are the chances that two different women, both of whom were in abusive relationships with the defendant, both of whom were with him just before they died, both of whom bled on his clothing – but they were killed independently and by different men, not Mr Cooper.  

“What are the chances that somebody else has snuck into Ms. Hunte’s address, and somebody else has killed Ms. Holm, just after she’s left Mr Cooper’s address and he was was with them both just before they died.  

“And that he should have their blood on their clothing (and in the case of Ms. Holm in his living room) for some other, as yet unspecified reason?  

“And that he should cease contact with them both – save for the single call to each – at exactly the time that they died, but with no knowledge that this had happened?  

“Well, in due course that will be a matter for you to consider but the prosecution suggest that when you consider the case in that way there really is only one conclusion.  

“The evidence in this case is simply not explicable by coincidence stacking upon coincidence, stacking upon ever more unlikely coincidence. 

"It is explicable by two simple, demonstrable facts. Carl Cooper killed Naomi Hunte. And then he killed Fiona Holm.” 

The trial continues.