Conviction & Execution
Cooke pleaded not guilty on the grounds of insanity. At trial, Cooke's lawyers claimed that he suffered from schizophrenia, but this claim was dismissed after the director of the state mental health services testified that he was sane. The state would not allow independent psychiatric specialists to examine Cooke. Cooke was convicted of willful murder on 28 November 1963 after a three-day trial by jury in the Supreme Court of Western Australia before Justice Virtue. He was sentenced to death by hanging and, despite having grounds to appeal, he ordered his lawyers not to apply, claiming that he deserved to pay for what he had done. Ten minutes before the sentence was carried out, on 26 October 1964, Cooke swore on the Bible that he had killed Jillian Brewer and Rosemary Anderson, a claim that had earlier been rejected.
Cooke was the last person to be hanged in the state of Western Australia.
Cooke is buried in Fremantle Cemetery, above the remains of child killer Martha Rendell, who was hanged in Fremantle Prison in 1909.
Read more about this topic: Eric Edgar Cooke
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