User blog:UnderAPineapple/Hurricane Pineapple 6: Sidney Cooke

Welcome to another episode of Hurricane Pineapple. The last episode, I gave you some hints as to who the next person would be on Hurricane Pineapple. I said “One of the most hated men in the world” (No, it is not Donald Trump), “An act that made a country storm after him” (that hasn’t happened to Trump yet, and in my opinion, shouldn’t), and “an act of vigilante justice that puts all criminals in danger” (The closest thing to “vigilante justice” I see happening, is Trump’s Twitter account getting suspended… PLEASE LET THAT HAPPEN!!!).

But anyways, I’m sure that you probably didn’t know who this person was, which is why this story is going to be suspenseful, and surprising. I’m talking about Sidney Cooke, a convicted pedophile from London, England, who, along with a gang London would call the “Dirty Dozen”, drugged, tortured, raped, and killed at least three young boys from 1984-1985. After I tell you the story, I will not only give my own opinions on this case, but I will also ask you a question that could be up to debate; so stay tuned. Also, some of the things you will read may be disturbing to some; so, proceed with caution.

Hurricane Pineapple Intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3DwJMhWdkY

About Sidney
Sidney Cooke was born on April 18, 1927 in Gloucestershire, England. There is not much to know about Sidney's past but what I have discovered was that he was gay, and he had a fascination for young boys ever since the 1960's. Sidney worked as a farm laborer during his younger years before getting a job in 1960 as a fairground worker for amusement parks. Sidney was said to have been fired from his job after setting up a "Test Your Strength" machine to get young boys attracted to where he was.

Dirty Dozen
During the 1970's and the 1980's, London's West End was a place where criminal activity was almost everybody's bread and butter. Crimes ranging from petty theft, robbery, and vandalism to child molestation, arson, and murder, mostly occurred in this part of London. One of the most notorious criminals to reside in the West End were a gang of male pedophiles whose intention was to prey on young boys for sexual gratification. Considering this was a place for child sex abuse and criminal activity, Sidney felt right at home. Along with Sidney were a number of other pedophiles who teamed up together, and did one of the most sickening acts upon young children, you could think of. Lennie Smith was one of Sidney's right hand men, and he, along with his lover Leslie Bailey (a male), were the two primary accomplices to the sick and disturbing gang that went unnoticed in London for over a year. Along with Leslie, Lennie, and of course, Sidney, was Robert Oliver, and Steven Barrell. Other accomplices are expected in the Dirty Dozen, considering it was believed they had 12 members, but only 5 were identified, though there are probably MUCH more. Here are some interesting facts to know about each gang member before we move on.

Lennie Smith: Lennie was known to lure the children that the Dirty Dozen would have sex with, as Lennie was viewed (with Sidney being a close second), as the most personable man out of the five of them. Lennie was perfectly aware that young boys would be around the West End for excitement; and during younger adolescent years especially, children were incredibly curious to go to new places. At this time, it was common for parents to let their children walk out on their own for a while, which is a reason why child disappearances increased during the 1980's.

Leslie Bailey: Leslie had a learning disability. Previously, Leslie and Robert Oliver were homosexual lovers, but they soon split up, remaining as friends. Leslie was nicknamed "Cat Weasel" by Sidney, as that was the name of a cartoon character Leslie liked, and Leslie would often respond to the name instead of his birth name.

Robert Oliver: Robert was abused as a child, as his mother would force him to dress up as a woman everywhere he went. Robert, in later life, also had a fascination with women's clothing and would frequently steal them in order to wear them and use them for his own needs.

Steven Barrell: Steven was unlike Sidney, Leslie, or Robert; as he was the husband of a loving wife, and the father of two children. He was viewed as an "average Joe", and he was probably the least likely person to have been suspected to be involved in the gang; out of all five members.

Jason Swift
The first child that I will be talking about is 14-year old Jason Swift. Jason was born in 1971, and seemed like a very happy child. Jason's mother was single, and was suffering from depression, along with financial struggles. Having six children, including Jason, only added fuel to the already growing fire. Jason had a love for coins, and an even bigger passion for traveling. Jason's mother would allow for him to travel on his own, and this sometimes occurred for weeks without him coming home. Usually Jason would return home, but in 1985, something different happened. Jason was gone from the house for over six months, and it was now that his mother was getting worried about her son.

Jason was greeted by Lennie Smith, the 31-year old who was part of the "Dirty Dozen". Jason, curious to meet people from different walks of life, was interesting in walking with Lennie. Lennie immediately began grooming Jason, in order to use him as a sexual object for prostitution. Lennie did not, however, immediately abduct Jason, but he did lure him into a business that Jason would soon find out, was a dangerous path to destruction.

For several months, Jason and Lennie met up with males looking to seek sexual activity with underage boys. Lennie took Jason under his wing, to pimp him out for prostitution. Eventually Jason met up with the then 58-year old Sidney Cooke, who took Jason and invited him to attend a “party”. Little did Jason know, this party would be something sinister and severe.

On November 29, 1985, Lennie Smith led Jason into the garage of a flat in Hackney, East London. The flat was owned by 60-year old Donald Smith, who played a very crucial role in what was to come. Drinks were prepared to look like soft drinks, but instead Sidney laced the drinks with drugs, hoping that Jason would be knocked unconscious, giving Sidney a greater chance of raping him. A sadistic homosexual orgy was about to take place, and Sidney charged anyone wanting to enter £5 (roughly $7.00 in US Currency), and the men were willing to oblige. A small price to pay, for what happened next.

Jason, at around 5pm, was drugged, and Sidney began raping the 14-year old until climax, and then he tossed Jason around to another gang member (this was confirmed by Sidney in a police interview), and the process continued. It is unknown whether Jason was actually awake during this process, but it is suspected he was not considering the amount of drugs he was fed before the sadistic encounter. After everyone got their “fair share”, Sidney and the others (Lennie, Leslie, Robert, and Steven) strangled Jason to death, and the next day, buried his body in a nearby forest. Jason died slowly and painfully, and on November 31, 1985, Jason’s body was discovered in the woods by a local dogwalker.

Mark Tildesley
Jason was actually not the first boy to be murdered at the hands of Sidney Cooke. One year before Jason's death, a 7-year old boy named Mark Anthony Tildesley, went missing from a fair he was visiting in Wokingham in Berkshire.

Mark’s family was not the most financially successful, and Mark’s allowance was only 30p (pence) a week. The Frank Ayers Fun Fair was in town in June of 1984, and Mark was eager to go. Mark knew that this would only occur four times a year, and he wanted to attend to see what the fair would be like. His parents allowed him to go, but the problem was that Mark did not have enough money to attend. However, Mark met a man outside the local Candy Shop in Denmark Street who gave him a 50p coin to buy some sweets with. The shop assistant who had served Mark and his family before, thought it was odd as he usually only paid in 10p pieces. The man said that he was going to the fair later that day and that he would pay for him to attend the local fair. That man that lured Mark under his wing, was Leslie Bailey.

Mark left his home at around 5pm on a bike, to make the half-a-mile journey to the fair, which would open at 6pm that evening. He promised to be back home by 7:30 pm, saying "Don't worry mum, I won't be late". On his way to the fair, he met with two of his friends who were in the town at the time. However, they wanted to go back home first and then go to the fair later so Mark decided to go to the fair alone immediately. This was the last time anyone who knew Mark saw him alive.

When 7:30 passed, Mark’s parents were understandably worried, and phoned the police to search for Mark’s whereabouts. Mark’s mother, Lavina and father, John, went to the fair to see where Mark was. The only thing they found was the bike Mark rode, and immediately following this, Mark’s face was all over Wokingham. As of October 27, 2017, Mark’s body… has never been found.

Sidney Cooke, who was a fairground worker, was brought in for questioning. Sidney was 57 at the time, and the reason why he was being questioned, was that one of his colleagues had alerted detectives about his suspicious behavior towards young boys in the past. Detectives asked Sidney whether he was in Wokingham on the night Mark had vanished. He denied this and had an alibi. He claimed that he was working at a fair opposite West Hendon Police Station in London that night, and the fair owner, Rosie Gray, confirmed that Cooke was her employee. Cooke therefore remained on file but was eliminated as a suspect in the disappearance.

Not all murders have to end up with a body being discovered, Take the case of Amanda Brown, a 7-year old girl who disappeared in Florida in 1998. Whilst her body has never been found, a conviction was made. Willie Craine was tried and convicted of rape and murder, as Amanda was assumed dead by 1999. Willie is on death row currently, and he is 69 years old.

The case went cold until 1987, when detectives connected the murder of Jason Swift two years prior, to the case of Mark Tildesley. There was a number of attempted child abductions (mostly on young boys) in England, and soon began putting the pieces together. However, it wasn’t until 1989, when action was taken.

The police conducted an operation entitled, “Operation Orchid”, an enquiry into the disappearance of missing children. This was led by Detective Chief Superintendent Roger Stoodley, who appeared on Crimewatch in 2015, to discuss how he was able to link Sidney Cooke to these crimes. In 1990, Roger interviewed Sidney’s friend, Leslie Bailey, who had already been charged with two other murders, that of the aforementioned Jason Swift and six-year-old Barry Lewis, both of which occurred after Tildesley's disappearance. Because Barry’s case is riddled with holes and not much is known, the case won’t be able to receive as much recognition as Jason and Mark’s. But it is believed Barry was murdered in the same fashion as Jason.

The police had obtained a hand drawn paper map and a hand-written paper letter which had been given by Leslie to a fellow inmate at Wandsworth Prison. The map showed where Mark had been killed, and the letter, which had been written by a cell-mate, was addressed to Sidney Cooke. Leslie confessed to Roger, his pedophile gang, the "Dirty Dozen", led by Sidney, from the Kingsmead Estate in Hackney, had abducted, drugged, tortured, gang raped and murdered Mark on the night he disappeared. The police had enough evidence to call the case a homicide, and Mark is assumed dead.

The Hunt for Sidney Cooke
Sidney was already being tried in the connection for the murder of Jason Swift in 1989, along with Lennie Smith, Leslie Bailey, Robert Oliver, and Steven Barrell. It is believed that all of them pled guilty to the murder of Jason, in exchange for a compromise. Plead guilty, and the charges would be dropped from first-degree murder... to manslaughter. Sidney was sentenced to 19 years in prison, and his release date was set for 2008, but later Sidney was re-sentenced to 16 years in prison, when his defense attorneys tried to make the judges think that Sidney was not the ring-leader, and instead a witness to the crime.

He was later released on parole in April 1998, when he was 71. Sidney's pedophilic tendencies did not stop, as he would get back into his old tricks of attempting to sexually molest young boys. Cooke's parole caused great outrage from Great Britain, and Sidney was put into hiding due to the amount of death threats he received, along with people trying to kill him. Sidney was a free man until January of 1999, when he was arrested for sexually abusing two young boys (both brothers), along with the sexual abuse of a young girl. It was then that police decided to investigate the crimes that Sidney had previously, which included the 1985 murder of Jason Swift. However, because you cannot go to jail twice for the same crime, Sidney was not able to be charged with the murder of Jason Swift. However, Mark Tildesley's case was still open, along with the case of Barry Lewes, a 6-year old boy who was raped and murdered, supposedly by the hands of Sidney.

At his trial on 5 October 1999, Sidney decided to plead guilty to sexually abusing the two brothers on ten occasions in 1972 and 1973. He admitted to having carried out five counts of indecent assault and five counts of buggery but denied the remaining eight charges, which were four counts of rape, three further counts of indecent assault, and one of buggary. Following Sidney's sentencing, NSPCC director Jim Harding said, "The children who were abused by Sidney Cooke suffered some of the vilest and cruelest sex offences imaginable. He should never have been freed after serving his last sentence. We sincerely hope he will never be given the opportunity to hurt another child again."

Sidney was not expected to go to jail for long due to the crimes he committed, and the fact that Mark's supposed murder, was not certain to be in the hands of the now 71-year old man. However, previous crimes made the judge decide to sentence Sidney to TWO life sentences, and the earliest possible chance of parole, would be in 2004.

The Aftermath

 * Lennie Smith died of AIDS in 2006 at the age of 51 whilst incarcerated for the murder of Mark Tildesley.
 * Leslie Bailey was tortured and murdered in 1993 by two fellow inmates who found out the crimes he committed, and delivered their own form of “vigilante justice”. It is believed Leslie was tied up using a form of rope, and beaten severely before being strangled the same way Leslie strangled Jason Swift. Mark Tildesley’s parents celebrated this death, and Lavina hoped that one day she could, “shake the murderer’s hand”, implying she thanked the person who killed Leslie Bailey.
 * Robert Oliver was also given some “vigilante justice”, when an angry mob found out where he lived after he was paroled, and beat him severely. He is now 58 years old, and was recently arrested in 2013 for luring a few young boys into his home in hopes of a “party”. Luckily, no children were hurt.
 * I found no information about Steven Barrell, but I believe he is a free man (unfortunately)because he did not play a significant part in any of the three murders.
 * Sidney Cooke is serving his life sentence in Wakefield Prison, and is still alive today. As of 2017, Sidney is 90 years old.

Hurricane Pineapple - My Thoughts
I actually was very careful when putting my opinion out here on this case, because surprisingly, I don't believe Leslie Bailey should've been killed. But then again, it's a logical reason to say he should've, since everyone else (aside from Lennie) was released after, and Robert & Sidney were up to their old tricks afterwards. I personally don't believe Leslie should've been killed, considering he was probably the least threatening inmate of them all. If they wanted to kill one of them, it should've been Sidney in my opinion. But, I'm not complaining at all that a sick child molester got his ass kicked. When I hear stories of people taking the law into their own hands, I think its acceptable to support them, especially when the people they hurt, were abusers of children.

There is no denying that Sidney is a child molester, and I genuinely hope he suffers a painful heart attack in prison some time soon. However, a question popped up in my mind when I was "investigating" the case of Sidney Cooke, and I thought to myself, "What is the different between a child predator, and a pedophile?" Allow me to explain, there are people who have sexual attractions towards children, but don't "act on it", and I think that in order to be classified as a "predator", you must have tried to groom a child, lure a child to a different area, or place your hands on a child for sexual gratification. Being a pedophile means that you simply have sexual feelings towards children. I am, in no way, trying to normalize pedophilia, but I do wonder if stuff like this can be treated before pedophiles (both men and women), could harm a child. I'm interested to know, considering that pedophilia itself (not child molestation) was confirmed by Current Sexual Health Reports in 2013 as a "psychiatric disorder", and not a crime, is it possible that some pedophiles are not child molesters, or will all pedophiles eventually abuse children at one point in time?

That's going to do it for this episode of Hurricane Pineapple. I will leave you with a couple hints for next week's episode, before I end this blog.

Sneak Peak for Episode 7

 * Hurricane Pineapple will be going to the courtroom, and we are going to hear the stories of both the prosecution and the defense.
 * Who will the jury be?... you.
 * Was it a home invasion, an accidental killing, or premeditated murder?
 * Join us on November 3, 2017 when we discuss the case of...

If you viewed this blog, press this button Okay!

Do you believe Leslie Bailey should've been murdered in jail? Yes. He had it coming for the sick crimes he committed. No, but I'm not complaining about it either. No. A life is a life, and nobody should kill another human being.