| Levi Bellfield | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Born | 17 May 1968 Isleworth, Greater London, England |
| Conviction | Abduction Attempted murder Disposal of evidence Murder |
| Sentence | Three whole life sentences (murder) Whole life sentence (attempted murder) 15 years (abduction) |
| Killings | |
| Number of victims: | 3 |
| Span of killings | 21 March 2002–19 August 2004 |
| Country | England |
| Date apprehended | 22 November 2004 |
Levi Bellfield (born 17 May 1968) is a British serial killer. A former nightclub bouncer and manager of a car clamping business, he was convicted on 25 February 2008 of murdering Marsha McDonnell and Amelie Delagrange.[1] He was also convicted of the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy.[1] On 23 June 2011, Bellfield was found guilty of the murder of Milly Dowler.[2]
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Bellfield was born in Isleworth,[3][4] South West London, to Joseph Rabetts and Jean (now Bellfield), and is of Romani descent.[4][5] When Bellfield was 10, his father died at age 37 of a heart attack.[4] He has two brothers and a sister and was brought up on a South West London council estate.[4] He attended Crane Junior School, Hampton and Feltham Comprehensive.[6] He has been married four times[7] and has fathered 11 children with five women, the youngest three with his most recent girlfriend, Emma Mills.[3][8] His first conviction was for burglary in 1981.[9] He was convicted of assaulting a police officer in 1990.[10] He also has convictions for theft and driving offences.[4] By 2002, he had nine convictions.[11]
In an interview with the media, Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton of the Metropolitan Police, who led the murder hunt, described him in some detail: "When we started dealing with him he came across as very jokey, like he's your best mate. But he's a cunning individual, violent. He can switch from being nice to being nasty, instantly."[12]
Bellfield searched for victims on streets he knew intimately. Detectives tracked down a number of ex-girlfriends, who all described a similar pattern of behaviour when they got involved with him. "He was lovely at first, charming, then completely controlling and evil. They all said the same" said Detective Sergeant Jo Brunt.[12]
At the time of the attacks, Bellfield ran a wheel-clamping business which operated in and around West Drayton in West London where he lived. Detective Chief Inspector Sutton speculated: "[Bellfield] has a massive ego to feed, he thinks he's God's gift to everyone. He drives around in his car, feels a bit 'whatever' and sees some young blonde girl. Young blonde girl says 'go away' and he thinks 'you dare to turn down Levi Bellfield, you're worth nothing' and then she gets a whack over the head. It is shown in the case of Kate Sheedy. She was smart enough to think she didn't like the look of his car and crosses the road. He thinks 'You think you're so clever' and whoosh, he runs her over."[12]
Bellfield was seen driving around in his van, talking to young girls at bus stops, while under police surveillance.[12] Amelie Delagrange was seen by CCTV cameras which showed her walking towards Twickenham Green after she missed her stop on the bus home.[12] She may have stopped and spoken to Bellfield between the last two sightings of her. She was attacked shortly afterwards.[12]
Bellfield was first identified as a suspect in connection with the crimes on 9 November 2004, and was arrested on 22 November 2004. He was charged on 1 March 2006.[3]
Marsha Louise McDonnell, a 19-year-old woman, died in hospital after being beaten over the head with a blunt instrument near her home in Hampton. She is believed to have been killed just after she got off the 111 bus from Kingston upon Thames at the stop on Percy Road.[13] Bellfield sold his Vauxhall Corsa car for £1,500 six days after the murder, having bought it for £6,000 just five months earlier.[3]
Kate Sheedy, then aged 18, was run over as she crossed the road near an entrance to an industrial estate in Isleworth on 28 May 2004. She survived, but suffered multiple injuries and spent several weeks in hospital. She went on to give evidence against Bellfield when he was tried with her attempted murder nearly four years later.[14]
Amelie Delagrange was a 22-year-old French student visiting the UK. She was found at Twickenham Green on an evening with serious head injuries, and died in hospital the same night. Within 24 hours, the police established that she may have been killed by the same person who had killed Marsha McDonnell 18 months earlier.[15] Bellfield reportedly confessed to the murder while on remand.[3]
Amanda Dowler was a 13-year-old girl who went missing in Walton-on-Thames on 21 March 2002 and was found dead in Hampshire six months later. In August 2009, Surrey Police submitted a dossier to the CPS containing evidence regarding Bellfield's alleged involvement in the murder of Dowler. On 30 March 2010, Bellfield was charged with the kidnap and murder of Dowler, as well as the attempted kidnap of then 12-year-old Rachel Cowles on 20 March 2002.[16] He was convicted of Dowler's murder on 23 June 2011.[2]
Bellfield was also charged with abduction and false imprisonment of Anna-Marie Rennie (then aged 17) at Whitton on 14 October 2001, after she identified him in a video identity parade four years later. He was also charged with the attempted murder of Irma Dragoshi (then aged 39) at Longford Village on 16 December 2003. The jury failed to reach verdicts on either of these charges.[3]
Bellfield was found guilty of the murders of McDonnell and Delagrange (as well as the attempted murder of Sheedy) on 25 February 2008. The following day, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he should never be released.[17] Bellfield was not in court to hear his sentence, as he had refused to attend court owing to "unfair press coverage" following his conviction.
Despite the trial judge's comments, the European Court of Human Rights has been reviewing whether lifelong imprisonment amounts to a violation of human rights legislation. Should the court decide that lifelong imprisonment is unlawful, then Bellfield and all other prisoners serving such sentences in Europe would have their cases recalled to court for a new minimum term to be set.[18]
On 30 March 2010 Bellfield was charged with Dowler's abduction and murder.[19] As a result, the inquest into the death was adjourned.[20] On 6 October 2010 he appeared in court via video link and was formally charged with one count of attempted abduction, one count of abduction, one count of disposal of evidence and one count of murder.
The second Bellfield's trial began on 10 May 2011[21] and concluded on 23 June 2011 with the jury finding Bellfield guilty.[22] He was again sentenced to life imprisonment[23] the following day and the trial judge recommended that his life sentence should mean life – just as the judge at his trial for the other crimes had done three years earlier. The trial of Bellfield on another charge of attempted abduction of Rachel Cowles, an 11-year-old girl offered a lift in the Walton area by a man in a red car on 20 March 2002, was abandoned due to newspapers publishing prejudicial material,[24] and the judge ordered that the charge should remain on file.[25]
On 3 August 2011, it was reported that Bellfield had suffered facial cuts and bruising in an attack by a fellow prisoner in September 2010, and would be claiming compensation of up to £30,000 from the Prison Service.[26] Three months later it was reported that Bellfield had converted to Islam; sources at Wakefield Prison claimed they "are convinced Bellfield is doing this for better meals and a cushier life" and "He has the right to pray five times a day so it gives him a break". It was also claimed that he had done it to avoid retribution from jailed Islamic extremists.[27]
After his 2008 murder trial, Bellfield was named by police as a suspect in connection with numerous unsolved murders and attacks on women dating back to 1990 – as well as the murder of a 14-year-old girl in 1980, when Bellfield was 12 years old and attending the same school as the victim.[28]
Around the same time, a website campaigning against the conviction of Michael Stone for the murder of Kent woman Lin Russell and her six-year-old daughter Megan at Chillenden, Kent, in July 1996, named Bellfield as a suspect for the crime as he was of a similar age and appearance to the attacker described by Russell's other daughter Josie (who was nine years old at the time and suffered near-fatal head injuries) and to a panic-stricken man seen by other witnesses driving a Ford car in the area at the time of the attack. Stone had been jailed for life for the crime in October 1998, but granted a re-trial in 2001 after a key witness at the original trial admitted to giving false information in court. Stone was convicted of the crime again in October that year at his second trial. In the aftermath of Bellfield's conviction for the murder of Amanda Dowler, there was speculation in the national media that Bellfield had been responsible for these additional crimes.[29]