Police Arrest a Derby Man in Cumbria as Two Neighbors Are Found Dead in the Same Block of Flats
The suspect, later named as Andrew Dawson, was a convicted murderer on life license. He went on to admit both killings and was given a whole-life term.
Published
Two men were found dead five days apart in the same block of flats in Derby. On July 30, 2010, police arrested a 47-year-old local man, later named as Andrew Dawson, in Whitehaven, Cumbria.
John Matthews, 66, had been found dead on July 25 at the flats on Waterford Drive in Chaddesden. The suspect was arrested on suspicion of murder at about 6 a.m. on July 30, and a second man was then found dead in another flat. On August 2, police said both men had died of knife wounds, that the deaths were linked and were being treated as murder, and that the arrested man remained in custody. Matthews, known as Dave, worked as a kitchen porter at a Derby restaurant and had last been seen at work on July 9. The second man was Paul Hancock, 58. In late September, a 48-year-old man of no fixed address was charged with both murders.
Dawson, who had moved into the building weeks before the killings, admitted both murders at Nottingham Crown Court on July 18, 2011, and was given a whole-life term. He had been jailed for life in 1982 for murdering a 91-year-old man in Ormskirk, Lancashire, and was out on license. When arrested in Whitehaven, he was carrying seven kitchen knives. In 2022, a coroner raised concerns about how agencies had shared information about him but found those failings did not contribute to the deaths.
BBC News described the man arrested in July 2010 as 47, while its 2022 report on the inquest said Dawson was 48 when he killed the two men.
Sources
- Two men found dead in Chaddesden flats, BBC News
- Police link knife deaths in Derby flats, BBC News
- Murder charges over Chaddesden flat deaths, BBC News
- Neighbour killer Andrew Dawson given whole life term, BBC News
- Andrew Dawson: Concerns raised did not contribute to double murder, BBC News