Levi Bellfield

Levi Bellfield (born Levi Rabbetts; 17 May 1968) is an English serial killer, sex offender, rapist, kidnapper, and burglar.

Bellfield was born Levi Rabbetts on 17 May 1968, at the West Middlesex Hospital, Isleworth, London, to Jean Rabbetts née Bellfield and Joseph Rabbetts; he is of Romani descent.

When Bellfield was 10 years old, his father died from leukaemia.

Bellfield and his siblings, Joelion, Harry, Josephine, and Maxine (two brothers and two sisters) were brought up on a Southwest London council estate.

He attended Forge Lane Junior School, Rectory Secondary School then Feltham Comprehensive.

Bellfield has fathered eleven children with five different women, the three youngest with his most recent girlfriend, Emma Mills.

In May 2022, the Ministry of Justice confirmed that Bellfield was engaged and had applied to marry while in a prison.

He proposed to a woman who had started writing to him two years previously, before becoming a visitor on a regular basis.

Bellfield would need the permission of the governor at HM Prison Frankland.

Bellfield's first conviction was as a child for burglary in 1981.

He was convicted of assaulting a police officer in 1990.

He also has convictions for theft and driving offences.

By 2002, Bellfield had nine convictions and had spent almost one year in prison for them.

In an interview with the media, Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton of the Metropolitan Police, who led the murder investigation, said of Bellfield: "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."

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.

At the time of the attacks, Bellfield ran a wheel-clamping business which operated in and around West Drayton, where he lived.

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."

Bellfield was seen driving around in his van, talking to young girls at bus stops, while under police surveillance.

Amélie Delagrange was seen by CCTV cameras which showed her walking towards Twickenham Green after she missed her stop on the bus home.

She may have stopped and spoken to Bellfield between the last two sightings of her.

She was attacked shortly afterwards.

Amanda Jane "Milly" Dowler was a 13-year-old girl who went missing on leaving Walton-on-Thames railway station on 21 March 2002 and was found dead in Yateley Heath Woods, Yateley, six months later.

Marsha Louise McDonnell, a 19-year-old woman, was beaten over the head with a blunt instrument near her home in Hampton on 4 February 2003.

The wound was inflicted shortly after she got off the 111 bus from Kingston upon Thames at the stop on Percy Road.

Bellfield was arrested early on the morning of 22 November 2004, on suspicion of the murder of Amélie Delagrange.

On 25 November, he was charged with three counts of rape in Surrey and West London.

On 9 December 2004, he was charged with assaulting a woman in Twickenham between 1995 and 1997 and remanded in custody.

Bellfield was rearrested and charged with Delagrange's murder on 2 March 2006, along with the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy and the attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm to Irma Dragoshi.

On 25 May 2006, Bellfield was charged with the murder of Marsha McDonnell.

He was found guilty on 25 February 2008 of the murders of Marsha McDonnell and Amélie Delagrange and the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy, and sentenced to life imprisonment.

In August 2009, Surrey Police submitted a dossier to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) containing evidence of Bellfield's involvement in the murder of Dowler.

On 30 March 2010, Bellfield was charged with the kidnapping and murder of Dowler, as well as the attempted kidnapping of then 12-year-old Rachel Cowles on 20 March 2002.

Bellfield did not give evidence at his trial and denied any involvement in Dowler's death.

On 23 June 2011, Bellfield was further found guilty of the murder of Milly Dowler.

On both occasions, the judge imposed a whole life order, meaning that Bellfield will serve the sentence without the possibility of parole.

Bellfield was the first prisoner in history to have received two whole life orders.

A jury convicted Bellfield of Milly Dowler's murder on 23 June 2011.