Who is Levi Bellfield? Where is Milly Dowler killer now, who else did he murder - and is he engaged in prison

Levi Bellfield is one of Britain’s most notorious serial killers, with the detective who caught him, DCI Colin Sutton, describing him as “cunning and violent”.

He was convicted of the murder of three women and the attempted murder of another, with his victims aged 13 to 22 years old.

Now he has become engaged to a female visitor who he plans to marry in jail.

The Government said it has launched an urgent review into whether it can stop “evil monster” Bellfield from marrying his fiancee, who is described in the Sun newspaper as a “besotted” blonde-haired woman in her 40s.

Bellfield is one of a handful of prisoners currently serving a whole-life term, meaning he will never be released, after being convicted of the murders of schoolgirl Milly Dowler, 19-year-old Marsha McDonnell, and French student Amelie Delagrange.

It comes after Bellfield had admitted to the murders of Lin Russell and her daughter Megan, a lawyer has said.

So who was Bellfield, and who were his victims? This is what you need to know.

Who is Levi Bellfield?

Levi Bellfield was born Levi Rabetts in London on May 17, 1968.

He was raised on a council estate with his brother and sister and became known to the police at the age of just 13.

Throughout his teenage years, he engaged in petty crimes such as burglary and car theft, and in 1990, he was charged with assaulting a police officer.

By the time of his first murder in 2002, Bellfield had spent nearly a year in prison and was known for being controlling, manipulative and abusive towards his partners.

“He was lovely at first, charming, then completely controlling and evil. They all said the same," said Detective Sergeant Jo Blunt, recalling Bellfield’s girlfriends’ comments about him.

Bellfield is thought to father 11 children to several women and spent time working as a doorman and running a wheel clamping business.

ITV’s ‘Manhunt’ series one told the story of Bellfield’s heinous acts and the pursuit to bring him to justice, in a dramatised docu-series based on the accounts of DCI Sutton. Channel 5 aired ‘Levi Bellfield: Getting Away with Murder’, a documentary exploring how the serial sex offender escaped justice for so long.

Can Bellfield get married in jail?

Prisons minister Victoria Atkins told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I’m appalled that someone like this can make an application to get married – we’re looking into it very carefully. Watch this space please.”

But she did not say, when asked, whether she could actually stop the wedding going ahead, citing Article 12 of the Human Rights Act and the right to marry.

Boris Johnson’s spokesman that while the Government’s intended new British Bill of Rights was designed to prevent “abuses” of the Human Rights Act, he could not be “definitive” on whether it will address the issues in the Bellfield case.

The 53-year-old killer would need the permission of the governor at HMP Frankland to marry at the category A prison.

Rules state the prison governor can raise an objection to the facility being named on the notice of marriage as the place where the service is carried out.

The governor must discuss with the National Offender Management Service if there are concerns that any security risks cannot reasonably be overcome, or if there are concerns that either party is getting married under duress.

The Sun said Bellfield got down on one knee to propose in front of prison staff at the facility in County Durham.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “An application has been received and is being considered in the usual way.”

Who are Bellfield’s victims?

Milly Dowler

The schoolgirl was reported missing by her parents when she failed to return home after leaving Walton-on-Thames railway station in Surrey on 21 March 2002.

Her body was found in Yateley Heath Woods, Hampshire, six months later.

She had phoned her father just minutes before leaving the station, informing him she would be home in half an hour. The search for her killer was one of the biggest manhunts in British history.

A red Daewoo Nexia belonging to the girlfriend of Levi Bellfield was spotted on CCTV footage from a cafe on the same street as the station, and in 2009 the killer admitted he’d been driving that car.

Bellfield, aged 33 at the time, was not charged with Milly’s murder until 2010. He was convicted in June 2011, while serving a life sentence for his other crimes.

Marsha Louise McDonnell

Bellfield’s second victim was Marsha Louise McDonnell, a 19-year-old who was found alive near her home in Hampton in February 2003, having been struck over the head with a hammer.

Marsha had been attacked after getting off the 111 bus from Kingston upon Thames and died two days later in hospital.

Bellfield sold his Vauxhall Corsa car for £1,500 six days after the murder, having bought it for £6,000 just five months earlier.

Amelie Delagrange

French student Amelie Delagrange was a 22-year-old French student who was living in the UK when Bellfield murdered her in a park in Twickenham.

Her body was found on August 19, 2004, after she had been struck over the head with a hammer, like Marsha McDonnell.

Police linked her murder with that of McDonnell and, after drawing links to a white Ford van which had been seen near the murder location of Amelie.

Bellfield later admitted to the murders while remanded in custody.

Kate Sheedy

Bellfield was charged with attempted murder for mowing down 18-year-old student Kate Sheedy in Isleworth on 28 May 2004.

She survived, but suffered multiple injuries and spent several weeks in hospital. In 2008, she gave evidence to the trial of Bellfield in which she described the white people carrier with blacked out windows and a broken wing mirror which had struck her.

Bellfield had owned a Toyota Previa with blacked out windows and a broken wing mirror.

How was Levi Bellfield caught and charged with the murders?

DCI Colin Sutton, dubbed the ‘real manhunter’, was a Met detective who led the case of Amélie’s murder.

The force had little to go on but found that her mobile phone - stolen in the deadly attack - was used in Walton-on-Thames, where Milly had been abducted and murdered in March 2002.

Following an intense search through CCTV footage, officers spotted a white Ford van present near the scene of Amélie’s murder. It was the same van spotted in Walton-on-Thames following the murder of Milly.

Sutton wrote: "I would pursue this van with everything I could throw at it.

"We worked every hour for weeks. The van was identified as a Ford Courier, manufactured between 1996 and 2000. There were 25,000 in the UK and I wanted to look at every single one."

As the police appealed for information, Bellfield’s ex-girlfriend Johanna Collings said she thought he could be responsible for Amélie’s death.

"This was her chance to break free from a terrifying relationship, and she poured out a horrifying catalogue of rapes and abuse, and said she knew Bellfield’s previous partners had suffered the same treatment,” DCI Sutton revealed.

Emma also recounted how Bellfield acted suspiciously on the night Milly Dowler vanished. She also placed him in the same area as where Amélie was killed.

The investigators went on to discover that he had once owned a white Ford van and it was not long before he was linked to Kate Sheedy’s attack.

Bellfield was placed under police observation, and within days was seen pulling over to talk to young girls at a bus stop. Police soon arrested him.

Sutton wrote: "While officers questioned Bellfield at Heathrow Police Station, we were also questioning his partner Emma Mills, the mother of three of his 11 children.”

DCI Sutton later said: "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."

In 2006, Bellfield was arrested and charged with the murders of Amelie Delagrange and Marsha McDonnell and the attempted murders of Kate Sheedy and Irma Dragoshi.

He was found guilty of the murders of McDonnell and Delagrange, as well as the attempted murder of Sheedy, on 25 February 2008. The jury failed to reach a verdict on Irma Dragoshi, and the false imprisonment of another female, Anna-Maria Rennie.

Bellfield was sentenced to life in prison, with a recommendation that he should never be released.

On 23 June 2011, he was convicted of the murder of 13-year-old schoolgirl Milly Dowler and he was again sentenced to life imprisonment.

In 2016, Bellfield admitted to Surrey police that he had abdupted, raped and murdered Milly after being interviewed about whether he had an accomplice.

Did Bellfield murder Megan Russell and Lin Russell?

The lawyer of Michael Stone says he has received a “genuine” four page statement from Bellfield detailing his involvement in the killings of Lin and Megan Russell.

Stone is currently serving three life sentences for the murders of Ms Russell and her six-year-old daughter Megan, who were found bludgeoned to death in Chillenden, Kent, in July 1996.

Paul Bacon told the PA news agency: “I can say I have received a four-page statement from Bellfield, which is a genuine confession, it’s an absolutely astonishing breakthrough.

“I will now meet with colleagues following this remarkable development to finally, after many years, get freedom for Michael Stone. This is the evidence that will prove he is innocent.”

The alleged confession will be referred to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).

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