I’ve been reporting on crime for 24 years, and there are some cases that will always stay with me.
Levi Bellfield stands out among them, partly because of the fact he is one of the most dangerous serial killers ever seen in Britain. But it was the cruel psychological torture that he put the families of his victims through that marked Bellfield out as a particularly sadistic and odious individual.
The 56-year-old is currently serving a whole life term for killing Milly Dowler, 13, Marsha McDonnell, 19, and Amelie Delagrange, 22. But detectives believe the woman-hater may have been responsible for around 20 unsolved attacks, including murder and rape. I first reported on his crimes in August 2004, when he was still prowling the streets of London while working as a wheel clamper. As a junior reporter working for an agency, I was dispatched to the scene of Amelie’s murder.
The 22-year-old French student had been bludgeoned to death the night before as she walked home across a cricket pitch in Twickenham, south-west London. Amelie was attacked on what looked like a village green, complete with an old fashioned pavilion. It struck me how she would have felt safe here as she walked home at around 10pm.
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Convicted murderer Levi Bellfield
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REX/Shutterstock)
Detectives were quick to link her murder to the hammer killing of 19-year-old student Marsha McDonnell. Marsha bore a striking resemblance to Amelie and was beaten to death with a hammer in nearby Hampton, the February before. It was rightly feared that a serial killer with a hatred for young blonde women may be on the loose.
Bellfield was arrested three months later and would go on to be convicted of Amelie and Marsha’s murders. But it was not until May 2011 that I saw him in the flesh for the first time and witnessed the pain he continued to inflict on his victims. As the Daily Mirror’s crime correspondent, I covered Bellfield’s Old Bailey trial for Milly’s murder. Overweight and with a high-pitched voice, he cut a pathetic figure in the dock.
Milly Dowler was killed in March 2002
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As the trial progressed, it became clear his defence was that he had nothing to do with her murder and that she had run away from home. His sick tactics culminated in Milly’s mum, Sally, howling in the witness box after being accused of driving her daughter away. Fighting back tears, Milly’s sister Gemma said later: “It was the worst day of my life. It’s hard to believe, but it was worse than when I heard the news that Milly’s remains had been found. It can only be described as mental torture.”
Last year I reported how Bellfield had been taunting another bereaved family. This time, he falsely confessed to the murder of Elizabeth Chau, 19, who went missing in 1999. He claimed he could show the police where she was buried, but that was not the case. Sadly, it’s unlikely to be the last time Bellfield inflicts pain on those who have already suffered unbearable loss.