A man has been jailed for life for the murder of the niece of late comedian Tommy Cooper.
Tony King, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, will serve a minimum of 22 years and 182 days for the murder of Sabrina Cooper, which was described as “motiveless and senseless” by the judge.
The court heard that Cooper, who ran a magic shop until 2017, was selling her property and was excited to start a new chapter in life, but was discovered dead by her daughter at her home in Eastbourne on 18 December 2022.
It emerged during the trial that King had posted a message online that appeared to presage the killing, as well as drafting – but not posting – a second saying he had just carried it out.
Cooper’s family initially believed she had fallen down the stairs and reopened wounds from a recent operation as she recovered from cancer. But police investigations revealed she had suffered five stab wounds to her abdomen and chest.
King, who Cooper believed was a friend, was arrested after several text messages were found between them arranging for him to help her with boxes for her impending move.
According to the prosecutor, Amy Packham, King said they had met through a mutual friend at a coffee shop and would chat while Cooper walked her two dogs over a period of a few years.
CCTV showed King going into Cooper’s flat, and leaving around an hour later at 9.14am carrying an orange plastic bag.
Hove crown court was shown footage of King, the day before the murder took place, posting on his TikTok account with 11,000 followers, saying: “Watch out for my next magic trick, it’s going to be amazing.”
In an unpublished TikTok video the following day, after the murder took place, he recorded himself saying: “I have just taken a life today.”
During questioning with Sussex and Surrey police officers, he admitted the murder, telling investigators he had been carrying a knife in his pocket for protection against a neighbour he had trouble with, but then “took it out, didn’t say anything and just stabbed her”, Packham said.
King then told officers: “I just took her life and, to this day, I don’t know why. She hadn’t done anything wrong.”
The court heard that, after killing Cooper, King took her passport and other ID documents, a bottle of wine, a bottle of Malibu and loose change from her flat – acts the judge, Christine Henson KC, condemned as “callous and opportunistic”.
Despite admitting the murder in interview, King pleaded not guilty in two preliminary hearings, before changing his plea to guilty in May 2023.
Cooper’s family and friends, including her daughter, Natasha Cooper, and her brother, John Cooper, were in court. The pair spoke of the “devastating” impact the murder had had on their family.
John Cooper learned of his sister’s murder during a phone call to their mother, Zena, in which he heard Natasha Cooper calling her on the landline screaming: “She’s dead, there’s blood everywhere.”
He said: “In her final minutes she was faced with brutality and horror. We are haunted of the thought of what she endured.” Speaking of their relationship, he said: “We played, we laughed, we fought, she was my sister and now she’s gone.”
Natasha Cooper said that since her mother’s death, she had “good and bad days, most bad”. She said: “Mum had a heart of gold and would do anything for anyone. She didn’t deserve this.”
King was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 23 years, with 183 days already served.
PA Media contributed to this report
