Eric Edgar Cooke (25 February 1931–26 October 1964) was the last person to be hanged in Western Australia. He is said to have killed at least seven people indiscriminately in 1963, and was finally convicted of murder (for just one killing, that of John Lindsay Sturkey) and sentenced to death 28 November 1963, by the Perth Supreme Court. He was executed 26 October 1964, at Fremantle Prison. February 25 is the 56th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1931 (MCMXXXI) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... October 26 is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 66 days remaining. ... For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ... Hanging to Music. ... Motto: Cygnis Insignis (Distinguished by its swans) Nickname: Wildflower State Other Australian states and territories Capital Perth Government Governor Premier Const. ... November 28 is the 332nd day (333rd on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Perth is the state capital and most populous city of Western Australia. ... October 26 is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 66 days remaining. ... For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ... A recreation of typical 1855 cell accommodation. ...

Cooke had a cleft lip and was bullied as a child, although whether this contributed to his later crimes is unknown. As an adult, he married and had seven children, and was described as outwardly amenable.

He killed at random, running people over in the street or knocking on doors and shooting strangers. He was finally caught when the gun used for Sturkey's murder was found, and police waited for Cooke to collect it.

Two other Australians were convicted of crimes later attributed to Cooke: Daryl Raymond Beamish. A deaf and mute man convicted in 1959 for the murder of a wealthy woman from [[Melbourne]}. Beamish served fifteen years despite Cooke's 1963 confession to the crime; John Button, meanwhile, was sentenced to 10 years for manslaughter in the death of his girlfriend, but his conviction was quashed in 2002 after evidence proved Cooke was the actual murderer. The word deaf can have very different meanings depending on the background of the person speaking or the context in which the word is used. ... 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 2002 (MMII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

An autobiographical memoir — a book called The Shark Net by Robert Drewe, which was later made into a movie — provide one author's impressions the effect the murders had on the Perth in that era. According to the book, more people bought dogs for security reasons and actually locked up back doors and garages which had never been secured before. Robert Drewe is an Australian Novelist who was born in Melbourne, Victoria, but moved with his family to Perth, Western Australia at the age of 6. ...

Cooke is buried at Fremantle cemetery in the same grave as Martha Rendell. Graves at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York A cemetery is a place (usually an enclosed area of land) in which dead bodies are buried. ... Martha Rendell was the last woman to be hanged in Western Australia. ...

External links

• Cooke's hanging & its legal significance
• Serial killers (has one paragraph on Cooke)