Andrew Cole

After being turned down by a girl as a teenager Cole became a recluse, barricading himself in his room until he was compulsorily admitted to a mental health hospital where he then met Fiona Ovis. They began what was from Cole's point of view an intense and passionate relationship with what was his first real female friend. However, he was "devastated" when Ms Ovis formed a new relationship.

He was readmitted to a mental health unit but, within 2-days of his release, he carried out  two murders.
Cole took a knife, fuel, tape, cord and a tape recorder to the place where he knew he would find the pair and persuaded himself that he could hear signs of love-making.

May 1996, Cole stabbed doctor's daughter Ms Ovis, aged-28, up to 50-times when he burst into a bedroom of her grandparents' bungalow in Llandrindod Wells. Ms Ovis' boyfriend William Crompton was stabbed 38-times. Fiona had also been sexually mutilated.

He then drove to Llandrindod Wells Hospital where he admitted what he had done.
 
January 1997, Cole was given two life sentences.
Cole, who was then in his late 20's, admitted killing the couple with a knife in the course of a frenzied attack, but his convictions were later quashed by the Court of Appeal.
After the trial, the minimum number of years he had to spend behind bars before being considered for parole was set at 11-years by the then Home Secretary, Jack Straw.

Cole was then found guilty of the murders for a second time after a retrial and he was sentenced to life imprisonment. This was raised to 15-years after the retrial.
 
10th July 2003, Cole lost an appeal to have his sentence shortened.

During the appeal at London's High Court, Cole's lawyers argued that the increase was 'unlawful' because the 1968 Criminal Appeal Act states those convicted following a retrial cannot receive a longer sentence than they did first time around. But Lord Justice Rose, sitting with Mr Justice Henriques, dismissed Cole's judicial review challenge, and dashed his hopes of having the tariff reduced by four years. This meant that Cole, who is detained at Broadmoor maximum security hospital, will not be considered for parole until 2011.
Cole claimed he should have been convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

20th December 2006, at a further appeal a High Court judge reduced Cole's minimum tariff to 11-years. Following the review, Mr Justice MacKay, sitting in London, said that the near-30-months Cole spent on remand in custody should be deducted from the minimum term. It means Cole could be eligible for parole in June 2007 but the Parole Board will only release a prisoner on licence if they are no longer considered to be a risk to the public.
The judge said that "notwithstanding the appalling nature of this double murder", the outstanding feature in the case was the "obvious sub-normality or mental abnormality of the defendant".
That alone was sufficient to require a reduction in minimum tariff to 11 years, he had said.

October 2015, Cole is released on life license.

27th January 2016, Andrew Cole of Llandrindod Wells, received a grant of anonymity from the "Supreme" Court concerning his double murder of William Crompton and Fiona Ovis.

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