The victim of the Stonehouse murder enquiry was a convicted paedophile.

John Coxon died aged 77 two months after sustaining a serious head injury in a violent assault.

The attack happened at his address in Park Lane, on January 12 this year.
He was rushed to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital for treatment before passing away on March 25.

A 64-year-old man from Stroud was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm but was later released under investigation.

Gloucestershire Constabulary's Major Crime Investigation Team (MCIT) re-arrested the man yesterday, but this time on suspicion of murder.

READ MORE: Murder arrest after Stonehouse man dies

The victim was first before the courts in 2009, when he was convicted of possessing indecent images of children - but he failed to stop offending.

In 2016 he was jailed for 12 months for possessing 474 images indecent images of children on his computer before being jailed again (in 2017) for breaching a Sexual harm Prevention Order by talking to a seven-year-old girl.

READ MORE: John Coxon jailed over indecent child images

It is understood that he had lived at the address with his wife for more than ten years and neighbours say his house was targeted by local youths on a regular basis.

READ MORE: Pictures from scene at Stonehouse murder probe

One woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said police installed a CCTV camera on the lamppost 15 metres from her home - to protect Coxon.

She said: "His house was targeted by the kids all the time, they would come along and egg it or smash the windows.

"I'm not sad he's dead, it's a relief. I had to bring up my children in this street, and I was always reluctant to allow them out the front to play."

Another local resident, who says he has lived in Park Road for five years, said: "It's not a tragedy for us.

"If he was killed, then fair play. Obviously the person who did it will have to serve their sentence, but they'll probably be hailed a hero on the inside."

A woman, who was passing Coxon's home as she walked to work, said she was "outraged" that a man had been arrested for murder.

She added: "People have wanted him gone forever. Who would want a paedophile around anyway? I doubt anyone will help the police solve this crime.

"They shouldn't be wasting their time with it [the murder investigation]. It's karma."

For the rest of this week, a police presence is expected in the Park Lane area as detectives continue to carry out enquiries.

Detective Inspector Adam Stacey said: "Over the coming days there will be a police presence at Mr Coxon's address in Stonehouse while further searches take place there.

"We wanted to let the local community know why we're in the area, and to also urge anyone who thinks they have information relating to Mr Coxon's death to please come forward.

"You can contact us online or by calling us on 101, or if you'd prefer to provide information anonymously then you can contact Crimestoppers.

"We appreciate that we're asking people to cast their minds back to January, in case they saw someone in the area or witnessed something.

"As Mr Coxon also died several months ago, we're keen to hear from anyone who has heard anything about what led to his death."