| Kill Total: |
2 |
Kill place: |
London |
| Kill date: |
March 2003
August 2004
|
Victim(s): |
Marsha McDonnell
Amelie
Delagrange
|
| Date of Birth: |
17 May 1968 |
Marital Status: |
|
| AKA: |
Bus stalker |
Occupation: |
Wheel Clamper |
Tuesday 4th February
2003 Marsha McDonnell had been to the cinema with friend's, taking the
bus home that night. She took a number 111 bus at 12:07am from
Kingston, London, arriving at 12:17am in Percy Road, Hampton. As she
walked home along Priory Road she was attacked, struck on the head at
least three times, with what police believe may be a hammer, she died
later in hospital on Wednesday night 5th February.
Thursday 13th March 2003
Police released an
electronic photo-fit of a man seen near the scene of an attack being
linked to the murder of Marsha McDonnell. It was drawn-up with the help
of a witness who saw the man near a 17-year-old girl who was left with
head injuries after being attacked on 8th January 2003.
Monday 28th April 2003
Detectives investigating
the murder of Marsha McDonnell say another incident took place in the
same area only an hour before her death. Scotland Yard detectives say
at about 11:15pm on 3rd February an 18-year-old woman was stalked by a
man after she got off a bus in West Molesey - about two miles away from
where Miss McDonnell was attacked.
November
5th 2003, accounts clerk Dawn Brunton, 36, had left a bus station
and was walking down a footpath to the Hatton Cross tube station in
Feltham Middlesex, London, when an unknown assailant attacked her from
behind with what authorities believe was a sledgehammer. Dawn suffered
severe injuries, including a fractured skull, cheekbone and eye socket,
"several stab wounds to the back of her head, as well as severe
bruising to her stomach area, possibly from kicking. Investigators
believed that whoever attacked her was likely to be the same person who
murdered Marsha and attacked the 17-year old girl in the previous
January.
18
April 2004, yet another young woman was attacked. While walking on
Trafalgar Road near Twickenham Green in west London after an evening
out with friends, Edel Harbison, aged 34, was bludgeoned with a
hammer-like instrument from behind. Even though she suffered severe
injures, she was lucky enough to survive the horrific experience.
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Amelie Delagrange
After
an evening out with a friend at the Cristalz Winebar, French national
Amelie Delagrange, 22, said her goodbyes and left for home. Shortly
before 10pm. , she got on the bus alone and traveled towards Hampton ,
but accidentally missed her stop. Slightly anxious, she asked the bus
driver for directions and then began the long walk back home. On her
way, she passed through Twickenham Green, where she was attacked and
killed.
Half
an hour later, a passerby found Amelie's body by the cricket pitch and
flagged down police. She was immediately taken to a nearby hospital,
but her injuries were beyond treatment. Amelie died shortly after
midnight from head wounds believed to have been caused by a hammer-like
tool or crowbar.
Investigators
working on Amelie's case quickly realized that her murder was likely
committed by the same person who had killed Marsha and committed the
other three attacks. Amelie's physical description closely resembled
the other victims, and all of the attacks occurred at night within a
five-mile radius of one another. Moreover, the weapon used in the
attack left marks that were similar to the ones left on the other
victims, indicating that the murderer probably used the same or similar
instrument in all the attacks.
Although
Amelie's murder bore marked similarities to the other attacks, there
was an important difference: This time, the killer stole some of his
victim's personal belongings. Missing from the crime scene were
Amelie's Sony Ericsson T300 mobile phone, her purse, house keys and CD
Sony Walkman. Burglary is not expected to have been a motive for the
killing; the killer had probably taken the items as "trophies."
Just
days after the murder, there was a significant breakthrough in the case
when some of Amelie's missing belongings were recovered, including her
mustard-colored purse, Walkman and house keys. The items were found by
police divers in the River Thames close to a bridge in Walton Surrey,
five miles from where she was attacked, according to the BBC. The
police tracked her mobile phone signal to the location, which enabled
them to find the objects. However, although they were able to pick up
the phone signal, they could not find the mobile itself.
In the meantime,
detectives released CCTV photos of Amelie in the hopes that they might
trigger someone's memory. The images depicted Amelie on the bus
approximately 20 minutes before she was brutally murdered.
Investigators believe that the killer might have spotted Amelie after
she got off the bus and waited for her between two cricket
sight-screens on Twickenham Green. Jonathan Brown reported in The
Independent that the screens were "dismantled and removed" by police
for forensic examination.
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Not long after the release
of the CCTV footage, reports were released suggesting that minutes
before Amelie was murdered, a young blond schoolgirl was stalked as she
crossed Twickenham Green after getting off a bus. Justin Davenport of
The Evening Standard stated in his article that a short man in his
thirties "with a side parting" followed Emily Dillon, 16, as she tried
to catch up with her sister and two friends walking further ahead of
her. In the report, Emily was quoted as saying, "It's very scary to
think what might have happened." It is likely that she, instead of
Amelie, could have been the killer's next victim. The fact that she was
not completely alone might have deterred the murderer and saved her
life.
A
hammer-wielding maniac attacked another blond woman, just days after
Amelie was murdered. The 28-year-old victim was hit from behind on the
head with a blunt instrument on Hounslow Road in Feltham between
10:15pm and 10:45pm on 23rd August 2004 . It was claimed that the woman
had no memory of the event, but after regaining consciousness she went
home. Two days later, she sought treatment at the hospital for her
wounds.
Days
later, not far from the most recent attack, a suspicious hammer was
found at a recreation ground on Bear Road in Hounslow. Forensic experts
examined the tool for fingerprints and any other evidence that might
link it to the latest victim, Amelie's death or any of the other
attacks. Experts didn't know for sure whether the actual instrument
used in the attacks was indeed a hammer, but if it was, it would likely
be a flat hammer weighing up to four pounds. The weapon could also have
been a bat, crowbar, pipe or some other kind of blunt tool.
August
2004, police were seeking out other leads in connection with
Amelie's murder, which included a three-bedroom bungalow called St.
Moritz located in Walton-on-Thames. The search was prompted after
someone called into the police with new information. 60 officers spent
three days searching the bungalow, believing that the suspect might
have been "hiding out in the unused property by sleeping rough."
Forensic
experts helped search the property, which had been recently broken
into. They looked for fingerprints, dredged the drains and used dogs to
sniff out any evidence possibly related to the murder, the report said.
"It remains unclear whether anything important was found."
Trial starts October 2007.
16th February 2008 - Jury retires to consider the
verdict.
25 February 2008 Jury finds him guilty of 2 murders,
and one count of attempted murder they could not agree on 4 other
charges.
Levi Bellfield, aged 39, was found
guilty of being the bus stalker murderer who, murdered Amelie
Delagrange, 22, and 19-year-old Marsha
McDonnell.
Bellfield denied the charge and also charges of
attempted murder of two other women and the kidnap of a third.
The former bouncer is also suspected of carrying out 20 other
attacks on women including six attempted date rapes involving drugs
.And he is due to be questioned over the murder of Milly Dowler, who went
missing on her way home from school in Walton-on-Thames in Surrey on 21
March 2002.
26 February 2008. Bellfield was given three life
sentences for the murders of Amélie Delagrange, and Marsha
McDonnell, and for leaving Kate Sheedy, then 18, for dead after running
over her twice
There
were loud cries of “yes” from friends and family in the public
gallery as the judge ruled that Bellfield would never be considered for
parole and would die in jail. He is one of 35 people to be on as Home
office list of those NEVER to be released.
Mrs
Justice Rafferty said that he had “reduced three families to unimagined
grief”. Ms Sheedy, now 21, had endured “indignity after indignity”
after he forced her to take the witness box, she said.
Tuesday
30th March 2010, The CPS confirm that
Bellfield is to be charged with Millie's murder,
as well as her kidnapping and the attempted
kidnapping of another girl.
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