Following an assault in his own house, a man has been detained on suspicion of the murder of a convicted child molester.
Two months after suffering a severe head injury in a violent assault on January 12 at a home on Park Road in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, John Coxon, 77, passed away.
He received medical attention at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital before passing away there on March 25.
Residents of Park Road said they were enraged about the arrest and said that police shouldn’t spend their time with the investigation, adding that Coxon’s death was “karma.” Neighbors on Park Road were not unhappy over his death.
As she was hesitant to let her children play on the streets, a mother who lived on the street said it was a “relief.”
An further 64-year-old Stroud man who had been detained earlier on suspicion of inflicting serious bodily injury was subsequently freed while the matter is still being looked into.
After the case was turned over to Gloucestershire Constabulary’s Major Crime Investigation Team, he was once again detained yesterday on suspicion of murder (MCIT).
Coxon first appeared in court in 2009, when he was found guilty of having obscene photos of minors, but he continued to violate the law.
He was sentenced to a year in prison in 2016 for having 474 indecent photographs of children on his computer, and he was sentenced to another year in prison in 2017 for communicating to a girl who was seven years old in violation of a sexual harm prevention order.
It is believed that he and his wife had been at the residence for more than 10 years, and according to his neighbours, neighbourhood youngsters often targeted his home.
An unnamed lady said that cops put a CCTV camera on the lamppost 15 metres from her house in order to safeguard Coxon.
She stated: “The youngsters would often come over to his home and egg it or break the windows.
I’m relieved that he is dead rather than sad. I had to raise my kids in this neighbourhood, therefore I never wanted to let them play in front of the house.
It’s not a tragedy for us, according to a another neighbourhood resident who claims to have lived on Park Road for five years.
“Fair play if he was slain.” The perpetrator will undoubtedly complete their term, but inside, they’ll most likely be acclaimed a hero.
A lady who was walking to work and passed by Coxon’s house expressed her ‘outrage’ that a guy had been detained on suspicion of murder.
People have wanted him gone forever, she said. Who would really want a child abuser around? Nobody, in my opinion, will assist the police in solving this crime.
‘It [the murder inquiry] shouldn’t be taking up their time. This is karma.
A police presence is anticipated in the Park Road neighbourhood for the remainder of this week as investigators continue their investigations.
According to Detective Inspector Adam Stacey, there will be a police presence at Mr. Coxon’s Stonehouse residence over the next several days while more searches are conducted there.
We wanted to alert the neighbourhood of our presence there and ask anybody who believes they may have knowledge about Mr. Coxon’s death to come forward.
You may get in touch with us online, over the phone at (011), or via Crimestoppers if you’d rather do so in an anonymous manner.
We understand that we’re asking folks to think back to January in case they happened to see somebody there or observed anything.
Since Mr. Coxon passed away a few months ago as well, we’d want to hear from anybody who has information regarding what caused his passing.