A Pembrokeshire man accused of two historic double murders is due to appear at Swansea crown court today (Wednesday).

John William Cooper, of Spring Gardens, Letterston, is charged with the murders of sister and brother Helen and Richard Thomas at Scoveston Manor in 1985, and the murders of Gwenda and Peter Dixon on the Pembrokeshire coast path in 1989.

Cooper, aged 64, is also accused of the rape of a woman, indecent assault on a girl aged under 16, and five attempted robberies in Milford Haven, all in 1996.

He was arrested in May of this year, following Operation Ottawa, a cold case review of both of Pembrokeshire's unsolved double murders had been initiated by Dyfed-Powys Police in 2005.

At 2pm today Cooper is due to appear in front of Judge John Griffith Williams, via video link from HMP Long Lartin jail in Worcestershire,when he will be asked to enter pleas.

An earlier hearing heard that there were already more than 70,000 documents and over 200,000 pages of evidence to consider and that if a jury was empanelled to try the case, it might hear evidence from as many as 600 witnesses.