Varning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
Outwardly laid back and polite, film enthusiast Peter Howard Moore committed thirty-nine gay sex attacks on men in North Wales and the Merseyside area over a twenty-year period.
His interest in sadism would escalate into the killings of four men from September through December of 1995.
Repeatedly stabbed before being allowed to die, the men would unfortunately come to represent the killer’s late father, whose degrees of homophobia, violence and alcoholic way of life were never fully known.
For decades North Wales was the hunting ground for a mysterious sadistic attacker men were getting attacked by a tall man who wore black leather clothing,and in the 1990s ,the man in black graduated to a serial killing.
In the mid -1990s the popular stretch of Coast from Kinmel Bay to Pensarn in North wales attracted thousands of holiday makers looking for their annual dose of relaxation in the summer sun.
On December the 17th 1995 35 year old father of two , Anthony Davis have been looking forward to christmas but had put his festive preparations on hold to help out an aunt in need.
Having taken his aunt back home that afternoon, Anthony wanted to check up on her once more and it was when he didn’t return home that the family became concerned.
the family scoured the local area but with still no sign of the 35 year old,the family reported the matter to the police.
Anthony’s car was eventually found at nearby Pensarn Beach
You could see it was a person ,head towards the sea ,but the policeman’s initial assessment was interrupted .
It was Gary Davis the man who had spent the last few hours frantically searching for his missing brother ,Anthony.
It was apparent that Anthony Davis had not died of natural causes,news of the brutal murder soon reached the victim’s close -knit family.
As investigators search for clues to Anthony’s murder,they were aware that Pensarn Beach had been the scene of unprovoked violence before.
Rumored to be a gay meeting point several men had suffered attacks by a mystery assailant over the preceding years,it was descibed,rightly or wrongly at the time as a notorious stretch of the beach.
The police were aware that there’ been some men attacked on Pensarn beach historically by a tall man who walked like leather clothing and quite violently assaulted and robbed people.
But as the community reeled one local man appeared firmly focused on business, the christmas holiday was traditionally a busy time of year for local cinema owner Peter Moore.
Shampioned as a savior of the big screen Moore had opened his first local cinema five years previously.
Film enthusiast Peter Moor had been born 49 years previously in 1946.
The Moore family moved to Kinmel Bay Saint Helens when peter more was a very young child.
Cathrine Huges lived next door to the Moore’s
and their imposing custom -built home Darlington house.
Peter Moore’s parents made their money running a successful hardware shop on the ground floor of the property.
As a boy peter had been doted on by his mother.
Mrs Moore loved Peter unconditionally,she didn’t believe that Peter could do anything wrong,Peter Moore had always stood out from his peers.
It was obvious to others that Pete was gay from when he was a young teenager,certainly he was different from the other boys.the other boys knew he was different and they treated him accordingly.
Although close to his mother Peter’s relationship with his father appeared very different,Cathrine says that she never saw any affection between Peter and his dad or mr moore and mrs moore, they were like two separate unites.
While the young peter and his mother spent most of their time together, Ernie , peter’ s father was dedicated to running the successful business.
He was quite large in stature ,you could tell that Mr Moore had been in military by the way he held himself and he almost marched,but he likes its drink,he would have a whiskey probably on and off throughout the day.
Peter did mention at some stage that he had been violent towards him,
Cathrine say she thought that Mr Moore knew that Peter was gay and she thought he didn’t liked it.she also thought that Mr Moore was probably quite homophobic towards Peter.
He didn’t tolerte his mannerisms,he didn’t tolerate his personality and he would tell Peter off.
When their humiliated young they want to be sure this never happens again and they will resent the source of that humiliation deeply whether it’s their father , their mother , a teacher, whoever it is, that person is going to become symbolic to them.
And when they get to the point where they have enough power to react against some symbol of that source ,they will.
Those that knew the industrial cinema owner could never have imagined the dark way ,his life would play out.
During December 1995 the body of 35 year old Anthony Davis had been found brutally stabbed on Pensarn Beach in North Wales.
It began to emerge that a series of attacks had been occuring in the region for decades at the hands of a violent sadistic man.
Despite police efforts the mystery assailant had remained at large for more than 20 years,but in 1995 the sadistic violence would reach a whole new level.
On the 22nd of September, retired railway worker Henry Roberts had spent th majority of the day at home.
It was a routine he had followed since the death of his mother nine year previously, he lived in a pretty ramshakle place in Caergeiliog a village just a few miles from Holyhead
It was hinted that he could be gay but he was a man who was respected and he was a bachelor a gay who lived to see all his life,people that knew Henry regarded him as recluse a loner quite eccentric.
Henry also had a controversial hobby,it was known that he had this interest in Nazi memorabilia
As a creature of habit, Henry would leave his ramshackle cottage and take a daily stroll to the local pub.
Henry lived in this location here, But he would walk every day to Caergeiliog which is just down the road here, a mile away to the pub.
someone said he spend up to 100 pounds a night and buying drinks and local people knew that he had a fair amount of cash, so regular were his visits,when Henry didn’t show up at the pub for three days in a row , locals became worried.
Some guys from the pub came here they came through the gates, walked into the yard and that’s when they found Henry’s body.
He’d been lying there for some time, as police arrived on the scene, they were shocked to discover that the 56 year old had been the victim of murder.
It was a horrific attack, a brutal attack,Henry Roberts had been stabbed dozens of times.
The trousers has been pulled down,his bare buttocks wer on display and it was quite apparent that he had been stabbed to the buttocks on a numeer of occasions.
A post – mortem would reveal that the killer had delayed the fatal blow to prolong the victim’s ordeal.
When you stab someone and they don’t die they’re in pain ,they’re suffering and this is arousing for a individual who’s sadistic he disabled the person made him suffer and then after an extended period of time finally killed the person just to prolong the sexual stimulation of the entire act.
Investigators had little to go on but one sighting offered a potential lead.
A van had been seen in the driveway , not on the night of the murder , but some days before the murder,so there was a lot of concentration ontrying to identify the van and the driver of the van.
Local businessman and cinema owner Peter Moore would ofthen crisscross the region by van, 16 years previously his father Ernie had passed away leaving his 33 year old son to run the family hardware store with the support ofhis doting mother.
When his father died and he took over the business,then the business changed really dramatically,they didn’t sell as many tools or gardening equipment .
It became more like a general store and he brought in video hire. but also,the large supermarket chain had opened about half a mile away from the shop amd it had a bit of an adverse effect on his business.
He also ventured into using the upstairs hall and converted it into a disco
And it was called black cat disco.
There was a lot of upset with the local community because they didn’t want bright lights late at night and loud music because it wasn’t soundproofed.
Peter Moore was also prepared to travel the local area, selling gas to boost his profit margins.
The caravan people could find him up at 10 o’clock at night and he deliver the gad bottle down there and then they thought he was a wonderful man,but it was not all plain sailing for the seemingly amenable shopkeeper.
Despite Peter’s apparent control,his mother Edith remained firmly in charge behind the scenes.
Away from the family business Peter Moore would indulge hisl ifelong passion for film ,by renovating and opening the first of three local cinemas in 1990.
Whilst carrying out some works for his new venture,Bryan Doleman was quickly befriendedby Moore.
One of Moore’s most popular screenings was the saturday cinema club a chance for parents to drop off their kids whilst they did their weekend shopping.
But there was a darker side to the cinema owner….
A man who was well known, nobody could have guessed that he had such a secret a dark side to his personality.
He had the likened to wear leather clothes and had this nightlife that he didn’t display in front of his mother ,she was totally unaware of that side of things.
He was always dressed in black it was his trademark ,the long black leather coat either a black or a dark gray shirt, black tie ,black trousers.
And as he cruised the local streets, no one could have imagined the secret life that was unfolding in the icreasingly twisted world of Peter Moore.
During September 1995 the peaceful communities on the Isle of Anglesey were shattered by the brutal murder of local man Henry Roberts.
Only the sighting of a van offered a potential clue to police as they hunted down the sadistic killer.
Two months later, he struck again.
Keith Randles was living in a caravan and he was acting as a road traffic safety officer while some construction work was carried on there.
Everybody who met him everybody that knew him seemed to like him.
With christmas only a matter of weeks away the 49 year old was looking forward to visiting his daughter Lisa and her family.
on the night in question Keith had decided to treat himself after a long day at work, the following morning,Keith’s work colleagues turned up to the site as usual,but something was wery wrong.
They found his body outside of thecaravan and contacted the police,as detectives arrived on the scene,it would immediately become apparent that keith had been the victim of murder, all the sign suggested he had suffered a prolonged vicious attack.
The evidence showed that keith had come out of the caravan,which is here, and that the scuffle had taken place in these area and there were signs of a big struggle and as they were fighting keith was getting stabbed repeatedly and yet he was still managing to fight,and Keith was left to die here .
He was pulled out of his caravan,killed without any mercy at all in a completely motiveless attack.
You can imagine Keith thinking, when somebody knocks on the door of the caravan,they’re lost and they want some information,not somebody gonna stabb nine times.
The brutal stabbing or all the Hallmarks of the recent Killing of Henry Roberts less than 10 miles away.
Police had to look at the possibility that there was one person responsible for both murders,both males ,both lived alone,both stabbed to death.
Again,a van had been cited, a van was a prevalene in both murders,possibly the offender was using the van to travel across the Island.
Just an hour’s Drive East Kinmel Bay businessman Peter Moore was now living on his own following the death of his beloved mother 19 months previously.
Whem mrs Moore passed away Peter was heartbroken and he became quite introvert,he seemed to have a lot of pent-up anger.
As Moore’s hardware shop began to struggle,the lifelong film enthusiast had had thrown himself into his true passion and opened a third local cinema in Holyhead
At that time there was great interest in North Wales because this was a man who was resurrecting the , cinema trade in reality the business was struggling and Peter Moore’s private life was also spiraling out of control.
Once his mother died, he became entrenched in the S&M underworld because it wouldn’t matter to him if he was discovered,he would not lose his mother’s love because she was dead.
Cathrine , the neighbor didn’t want to imagine what went on ,she heard noises and heard neighbors talk about things they heard and suspected but she couldn’t believe that this house turned into the house of horrors.
People just saw him as probably a cinema buff and they didn’t know really what was inside of him,which was the real thing in terms of domination ,sadism and inflicting pain and horror and hurting people and frightening people.
That’s who he was.
And as Peter moore’s secret life of sadism continued, he woulddecide to treat himself as he reached his 49th year.
for his birthday he bought himself a present and the present was boiight from a shopping rail and it was a commando dagger.
Three months later , in Dexwmvwe 1995, Anthony davis,became the third man to be murdered in North Wales within a matter of weeks.
For detective Constable David Morris there was no doubt that the Anglesey killer had struck again…
The latest killing had been perpetrated on Pensarn beach a known meeting point for gay men and the scene of several violent assaults over the preceding years.
They did immediately appeal to the gay community for information through the press and within a matter of days the police received an anonymous tip-off.
A gentleman described being approached by this man in black leather on Pensarn and taken to an address in Kinmel Bay at that adress he was badly assaulted.
He’d been beaten he’dbeen lashed and he believed that he was going to die at the house and was lucky to get away with his life.
As an ex-bobby on the beat detectives constable Morris was tasked to finding the house in Kinmel Bay.
The caller gave a description of the house and he described as he drive along the coast road to the traffick lights in kinmel bay.
And the house that lay before him was a familiar sight, it belonged to local businessman Peter Moore.
detectives constable Morris was able to make the connection Peter Moore lives in the house,he knew Peter ‘s a gay man ,he knew peter wears black leather because he had seen him .
so ,from he’s opinion that he was a very good suspect, police established that Moore was hiring a van that matched the description of those witnessed at the murder scenes.
He was arrested.
A knife was found in the van and as police entered Moore’s family home, they found evidence linking him to the murders of Anthony Davis, Keith Randles and Henry Roberts.
There was a swastika flag hanging up in this bench room , he’d actually taken that swastika flag from Henry’s property .
Sexual murderes will very often take souvenirs or trophies from a crime scene and they do it so that they can relive the crime by using the object that they took as a stimulus for their fantasies.
Inside the once Grand Darlington house investigators would find further evidence of Peter Moore’s secret life.
In the house there was all sorts of unusual things, there was whips,there was rubber tensions, there was german helmets , german caps and there were signs that BDSM activity had been taking place in the house.
There’d be blood splatters on the walls and on the ceilings that marked the place where the blood had landed from,some sort of whip or something similar.
That would flick blood onto the ceiling, you had these things like trunctions and uniforms, there alongside fluffy toys on the bed.
And the usual things was that all rooms had various signd of the BDSM interest but his mother’s bedroom was kept intact,even in death he had the respect for his mother to keep it out of her bedroom.
But the sadist hadn’t finiagws inflicting pain, and the friends and families of the victims would be next to be subjected to his cruelty.
In December 1995 locak cinema owner Peter Moore had confessed to the sadistic killings of three men in North Wales.
Now in custody, Moore apperaed to be reveling in the limlight.
He came out of Colvyn Bay cells into the prison van and under normal circumstances the offenders covered,but when he came out he looked at the cameras, he would pose and he would smile, he was a very wicked man.
Looking on in pain and horror were the loved ones of the men whos lives he had viciously snuffed out.
He enjoyed being the center of attention ,it was his 15 minutes of fame,the cameras were there and they were rolling and he was going to put on a show.
Moore had confessed to the three murders as well as over 50 assaults carried out in North Wales.
But the exhibitionist didn’t want the show to end ,he told police about a fourth murder a murder that police weren’t aware of.
They didn’t know about the murder of Edward Carthy at the time police we’re investigating the other murders,it was very much a revelation .
Moore provided a detal map,pinpointing exactly where he had cruelly knifed to death the vulnerable man in the tranquil beauty of a forest.
The reason that Moore when he confessed actually revealed another victim that police did not know about is because now that he’s caught he wants to take charge and he wants to be quite infamous and notorious.
Peter Moore faced tral for the four the murders in November 1996, in court his brazen behaviour would becoming increasingly harrowing experience for the victims families.
Every time he talked he’d have eye contacts with the victims families with a smirk on his face.
He was enjoying every minute as if he was on stage ,he thought himself as a hollywood star going to and from the court you’d see a big smile and his hands in the air” look at me ,look at me,i’m Peter Moore”
Despite his bravado Peter Moore was found guilty of all four murders and sentenced to life in prison.
Ultimately one question remained,was Peter Moore’s murderous campaign the final act of assorted and violent script or was he born to kill….
The attacks may have been motivated because of his relationship with his faher as a child growing up, he was attacking men in the late 50s,60s, possibly as you could argue with his father’s generation…
the majority of the guys would all come home from the pub,Peter Moore made it quite clear that he didn’t approve of drinking alcohol , his father drank alcohol he didn’t like his father drinking alcohol …
He was attacking his father’s way of life, he was attacking his father basically…
Individuals like this, don’t wake up one morning and say” i think i’ll go out and kill five women or five men and torture them to death, that sounds like a good thing – no ,this begins 10, 15, 20 years earlier in the offender’s mind,in his fantasies…
You think Peter Moore was born to kill , the attacks throughout the 70s and 80s were preparation for what was to come, you think it was always inside him and once he committed thar first murder there was no going back then.
he went out intentionally to harm people for whatever reason he was out to kill.
Bad men come upp with excuses, there is no excuses for what Peter Moore did.
He had the parade election to become a killer simply because the way he naturally took on the the sadistic role,he certainly was vulnerable to becoming a killer…