I still can’t get Eric Edgar Cooke out of my head. I thought I knew every major Australian case inside out, but this one slipped past me for years. Then one night, I stumbled on a 1963 newspaper headline that read “PERTH SLEEPS WITH THE LIGHTS ON.” That was all it took. I’ve spent the last three weeks buried in police files, survivor statements, and old TV interviews. What I found is pure nightmare fuel.
Between 1959 and 1963, Eric Edgar Cooke became the Night Caller. He prowled suburban streets after midnight and shot sleeping couples through windows. Stabbed women in their beds and ran people down with stolen cars. Eight dead. Dozens injured or traumatised. And the scariest part? He looked like the most harmless man you’d ever meet.
Eric Edgar Cooke’s Childhood: Born Different in Post-War Perth
Eric Edgar Cooke was born on 25 February 1931 in Victoria Park, Perth. His father was a violent alcoholic. His mother was gentle but powerless. From the moment he was born, things were wrong. A difficult birth left him with a harelip and cleft palate. Surgery helped, but the bullying never stopped. Kids called him “duck lips” and “freak.”
School was hell. He had learning difficulties and a speech impediment. Teachers wrote him off. Classmates beat him daily. By age six, he was having blackouts and severe headaches. Doctors later found minor brain damage from the birth trauma.
His father beat him unconscious more than once. Alcohol turned the house into a war zone. Yet Eric adored his mother. He slept on the floor outside her bedroom door to protect her from his dad’s rages.
At 14, he left school and worked odd jobs. He stole and set fires for attention. By 17, he had a criminal record longer than most adults. But to the neighbour, she was just “poor Eric with the funny lip.” No one saw the rage building.
The Night Caller Begins: Random Terror Across Perth
Eric Edgar Cooke started his killing spree on Australia Day weekend 1959. He was 27, married with four kids, working as a truck driver. On 26 January, he broke into a flat in suburban Cottesloe. He stabbed 23-year-old socialite Jillian Brewer 23 times while she slept. He left the murder weapon (a tomahawk) and a bottle of whisky.
That was just the beginning.
Over the next four years, Eric Edgar Cooke committed crimes that read like a horror movie checklist:
- Shot five people sleeping in their cars on one night (two died)
- Ran down pedestrians with stolen cars
- Stabbed women in their beds
- Strangled a 17-year-old babysitter
- Shot an 18-year-old through his bedroom window
He never knew his victims. He chose them because their windows were open, or their cars looked easy to steal. Random. Terrifying.
Eric Edgar Cooke’s Most Infamous Night: The Australia Day Massacre
The night that broke Perth was 27 January 1963. Between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. Eric Edgar Cooke stole a rifle and drove through the suburbs. He shot five people sleeping in parked cars. Two died instantly:
Brian Weir, 29
John Sturkey, 19
Three survived with life-changing injuries. Newspapers screamed, “MANIAC ON THE LOOSE.” The city shut down after dark. People slept with lights on. They nailed windows shut. Perth had never seen terror like this.
How Eric Edgar Cooke Was Finally Caught
The breakthrough came by pure chance. On 17 August 1963, a couple found a rifle hidden in bushes near the Swan River. Police staked it out. Two weeks later, a man returned for it. They arrested 32-year-old Eric Edgar Cooke. He confessed immediately. Then he kept confessing. For the next 48 hours, he led police to crime scenes, weapons, and stolen goods. He admitted to eight murders and 14 attempted murders. He described each killing in calm detail. Detectives said he spoke “like he was remembering a shopping list.”
Read more: Fred West: The Cromwell Street Killer
The Trial That Shocked Australia
October 1963. Perth Supreme Court. The city wanted blood. Eric Edgar Cooke pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Defence psychiatrists said his brain damage and childhood abuse made him incapable of knowing right from wrong. Prosecution brought in their own experts. They called him “a cold, calculating killer who enjoyed inflicting pain.” The jury deliberated just 45 minutes. Guilty. Death sentence. While waiting for execution, Cooke wrote letters to the victims’ families. He apologised. He said he “The real me is gentle.” No one believed him.
Execution & Aftermath: The Last Man Hanged in Western Australia
On 26 October 1964, Eric Edgar Cooke became the last person hanged in Western Australia. He was 33. His wife, Sally, was left with seven children and no money. She changed their names and moved interstate, never speaking publicly again until shortly before she died in 2019. Two of his victims survived but were never the same:
Rosemary Anderson – shot through her bedroom window, paralysed for life
One unnamed woman, stabbed 23 times, lived with PTSD until she died in 2015
