Christopher Cook was a violent domestic abuser who went out looking for fights with other men when he wasn’t tormenting women, the Press and Journal can now reveal.
As he appeared at the High Court in Aberdeen to plead guilty to the murder of Jacqueline Kerr – his “on-off” partner – it emerged Cook was no stranger to the police.
The 44-year-old had already been convicted at Liverpool Crown Court for assault in 1997 and he became the subject of an Aberdeen Sheriff Court case concerning the woman he later went on to murder.
He’d attacked Jacqueline in her own home during June last year along with vandalising the 54-year-old child support worker’s property.
After he was charged with Jacqueline’s murder, people who had worked with Cook – a steel erector – were far from surprised that he’d landed in trouble with the law.
One former co-worker, who didn’t want to be identified, said that Cook “liked to fight”.
He explained: “He just used to go out at the weekends and start fights with random people all the time. He was a crazy guy.
“When I saw in the news that he was charged with murder, I was shocked because, although we knew he was violent towards other men, we didn’t know he would be nasty like that to women.”
The ex-colleague also said that Cook’s relationship with Jacqueline was known to be “stormy”.
He added: “His relationships were on and off all the time. He spent all his money on partying. He was drinking and doing cocaine.
“He was an uncontrollable character who nobody wanted to work with.”
Horrifying blood-splattered crime scene
On January 15 this year, the “fun-loving” Jacqueline suffered fatal head and neck injuries when she was “struck forcibly and repeatedly” in three different rooms of her one-bedroom ground-floor flat.
Her lifeless body, which had been punched and kicked, was found lying on the floor of her bedroom in the Sunnyside Road property, where police discovered a horrifying blood-splattered crime scene.
Forensic analysis suggested that Jacqueline’s head had hit a wall “with such force that it broke through the plaster”, striking the granite wall behind it.
But the vicious attack that claimed Jacqueline’s life was not the first time that she’d suffered at Christopher Cook’s hands.
Jacqueline Kerr felt ‘intimidated’ by her new boyfriend
Jacqueline and Cook met on a night out in Aberdeen city centre sometime between February and March last year.
But in May, Jacqueline confided in her close friend Debbie Morrison that Cook had become “argumentative” and that she felt “intimidated” by him, according to Advocate Depute Shanti Maguire.
The court was told of an incident on June 1 of that same year, when Cook attacked Jacqueline – grabbing her by the hair, dragging her to the ground and hitting her arms body and face.
Photographs shown to the confidante by the victim revealed hair missing from the back of Jacqueline’s head.
When the pair of friends video-called each other the next day, Debbie Morrison witnessed Jacqueline’s swollen face with “black and blue” eyes.
The incident was reported to Police Scotland and processed by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
‘It’s getting scary now, I’ll have to watch my back to stay safe’
Exactly a month later, Ms Morrison caught Cook in the act as he held Jacqueline in a headlock while her lips bled.
The brave friend stood up to the domestic abuser – pushing him away from Jacqueline to free her.
But that incident was never reported to the authorities, nor did Jacqueline seek medical help, although she decided to end the relationship, before changing her mind.
Near the middle of August, Jacqueline messaged Ms Morrison to tell her she’d been receiving “shocking” messages from Cook, adding: “It’s getting scary now, I’ll have to watch my back to stay safe”.
Jacqueline blocked Cook’s number so he could no longer message her, but then he started to email her instead.
On December 1 2022, Jacqueline’s swollen face was observed by Ms Morrison, who was told by her friend that Cook had attacked her again.
That month, Amanda Watson – a colleague of Jacqueline’s – noticed that she wore a facemask to cover up her injuries.
She told Ms Watson that Cook had “grabbed her face, putting his hands in her mouth and pulled at her face”.
Another colleague, Mark Munro, also told murder detectives that he’d seen Jacqueline at work wearing a facemask behind which both eyes were “bruised and swollen”.
Christmas Day incident
The final incident before Cook’s deadly attack on Jacqueline happened on Christmas Day last year.
Debbie Morrison was told by Jacqueline that Cook had “kicked off” because she wanted to walk alone on the beach and lay a wreath at her mother’s grave.
Later, she was forced to hold the drawer of an air fryer at arms-length to block Cook from assaulting her in the kitchen.
But instead, he snatched the drawer from Jacqueline and hit his own face with it.
Then he handed her scissors and repeatedly ordered her to stab him with them.
Other allegations of Christopher Cook mistreating women
Debbie Morrison was later shown bruising to both the victimised woman’s lower legs.
When Christopher Cook wasn’t living on and off with Jacqueline he stayed at a bed and breakfast in the Granite City.
He also gave the court a bail address of St Helens, England.
The P&J has learned that he previously lived in Scunthorpe where one of his ex-partners lives.
Allegations concerning similar bad behaviour in another relationship have been made by other people.
They included a claim that Cook locked one girlfriend in a cupboard.
Jacqueline Kerr was ‘loved by all those who had the pleasure of knowing her’
Following Jacqueline’s killer’s court appearance, the victim’s family released a statement through Police Scotland.
“Jaqueline was the light of our lives,” they said, adding: “She was so loved by all those who had the pleasure of knowing her.
“The day our sister’s life was taken was the day part of our lives were taken too. We will never truly heal from the pain.
“We have young grandkids asking where their aunt is. Those whom Jacqueline worked with and supported are unable to understand why she no longer comes to work.
“We wouldn’t wish this on anybody,” they added,
The relatives also thanked “all those involved in the investigation” and appealed for privacy to “allow us to grieve and heal as a family”.
Christopher Cook, of no fixed abode, will be sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on November 3 later this year.
Read more: the murderer who bludgeoned his partner to death – then told her family that “she deserved it”
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