Witness - John Sweeney - "The Sketchbook Killer"
Uploader: forthedishwasher
A suspected serial axe killer is feared to have murdered up to five women, police revealed yesterday.
Former carpenter John Sweeney, 54, regarded as one of the most dangerous men in Britain, was today sentenced to a whole life sentence for butchering two girlfriends and dumping their remains in city canals.
But as the psychopath faced the prospect of dying in prison, Scotland Yard launched an urgent appeal to trace three other women who previously had relationships with him.
Detectives are ‘particularly concerned’ about one of three missing former girlfriends, who was referred to in some of around 300 macabre drawings, wood carvings and poems by the Liverpool-born killer.
Officers believe the material is ‘autobiographical and confessional’ and holds clues about other murders.
In addition, Dutch police are investigating claims that Sweeney murdered two ‘German’ men in Holland more than 20 years ago. The Old Bailey heard he had bragged about killing the pair, whose bodies have never been found.
Woman-hating Sweeney received a whole-life tariff for murdering American model Melissa Halstead, 33, in Holland in 1990 and crack addict prostitute Paula Fields, 31, in London in 2000.
In sentencing him today Mr Justice Sweeney said the gravity of the offences was exceptional and only a whole-life term would do.
He said: 'These were terrible, wicked crimes.
'The heads of the victims having been removed, it is impossible to be certain how they were killed.
'The mutilation of the bodies is a serious aggravating feature of the murders.
'Not only does it reveal the cold-blooded nature of the killer, but it has added greatly to the distress of the families to know that parts of the bodies of their loved ones have never been recovered.'
The judge said the killings had been planned, adding: 'The method of disposal of the bodies demonstrates that there was a substantial amount of planning.
'Why the killings occurred, I cannot be sure, but I am satisfied that this defendant is controlling in his relationships with women and, chillingly, that control extends to deciding whether they should live or die.'
The dismembered body of Miss Halstead was found in a bag floating on a canal in Rotterdam on May 3, 1990. It was not until 2008 that her remains were identified using an advanced DNA test, paving the way for Sweeney to be charged with her murder.
The killer, who has a history of violence towards women, tried to murder a second girlfriend, nurse Delia Balmer, in 1994 after returning to the UK.
He was still on the run for that attack when he killed 31-year-old prostitute Paula Fields in 2000. Her remains were found in Regent’s Canal, London, on February 19, 2001. Her head, hands and feet were missing.
After Sweeney was arrested a month later at a building site near the Old Bailey, police discovered weapons at his home including sawn-off shotguns, a machete and a garrotte made with bamboo and wire. There was also a holdall with a ‘killer’s kitbag’ of a saw, bow knife, Stanley knife, axe head, orange rubber gloves and rolls of tape.
He had also amassed hundreds of ‘demonic’ drawings of women’s body parts, exploding policemen and references to ‘666’ and himself as Satan.
A poem found scribbled on the back on a scratchcard read: ‘Poor old Mellissa (sic), chopped up in bits, food for the fish, Am…dam (sic) was the pits.’
Delia Balmer survived after John Sweeney attacked her with an axe and knife
Tortured: Delia Balmer survived after John Sweeney attacked her with an axe and knife
At the time, prosecutors ruled there was insufficient evidence to charge him with Miss Halstead’s and Miss Fields’s murders.
The names of two of other possible victims, a Brazilian known as Irani and a Colombian, Maria, were given to police by Sweeney during an interview in 2001 in which he boasted he had been with ‘30 to 40 women’.
He described them as former girlfriends and they have not been traced. Police are also anxious to locate a church-going trainee nurse from Derbyshire called Sue.
In 2002, Sweeney received four life sentences after being convicted of the attempted murder of Miss Balmer.
The divorced father of two was nearing the end of his minimum nine-year jail term when an Anglo-Dutch police investigation was launched in February 2009. In April last year he was charged with the murders of Miss Halstead and Miss Fields.
When police went to Sweeney’s cell in Gartree Prison, Leicestershire, they found he had been spending his time in jail drawing women without limbs.
Uploader: forthedishwasher
A suspected serial axe killer is feared to have murdered up to five women, police revealed yesterday.
Former carpenter John Sweeney, 54, regarded as one of the most dangerous men in Britain, was today sentenced to a whole life sentence for butchering two girlfriends and dumping their remains in city canals.
But as the psychopath faced the prospect of dying in prison, Scotland Yard launched an urgent appeal to trace three other women who previously had relationships with him.
Detectives are ‘particularly concerned’ about one of three missing former girlfriends, who was referred to in some of around 300 macabre drawings, wood carvings and poems by the Liverpool-born killer.
Officers believe the material is ‘autobiographical and confessional’ and holds clues about other murders.
In addition, Dutch police are investigating claims that Sweeney murdered two ‘German’ men in Holland more than 20 years ago. The Old Bailey heard he had bragged about killing the pair, whose bodies have never been found.
Woman-hating Sweeney received a whole-life tariff for murdering American model Melissa Halstead, 33, in Holland in 1990 and crack addict prostitute Paula Fields, 31, in London in 2000.
In sentencing him today Mr Justice Sweeney said the gravity of the offences was exceptional and only a whole-life term would do.
He said: 'These were terrible, wicked crimes.
'The heads of the victims having been removed, it is impossible to be certain how they were killed.
'The mutilation of the bodies is a serious aggravating feature of the murders.
'Not only does it reveal the cold-blooded nature of the killer, but it has added greatly to the distress of the families to know that parts of the bodies of their loved ones have never been recovered.'
The judge said the killings had been planned, adding: 'The method of disposal of the bodies demonstrates that there was a substantial amount of planning.
'Why the killings occurred, I cannot be sure, but I am satisfied that this defendant is controlling in his relationships with women and, chillingly, that control extends to deciding whether they should live or die.'
The dismembered body of Miss Halstead was found in a bag floating on a canal in Rotterdam on May 3, 1990. It was not until 2008 that her remains were identified using an advanced DNA test, paving the way for Sweeney to be charged with her murder.
The killer, who has a history of violence towards women, tried to murder a second girlfriend, nurse Delia Balmer, in 1994 after returning to the UK.
He was still on the run for that attack when he killed 31-year-old prostitute Paula Fields in 2000. Her remains were found in Regent’s Canal, London, on February 19, 2001. Her head, hands and feet were missing.
After Sweeney was arrested a month later at a building site near the Old Bailey, police discovered weapons at his home including sawn-off shotguns, a machete and a garrotte made with bamboo and wire. There was also a holdall with a ‘killer’s kitbag’ of a saw, bow knife, Stanley knife, axe head, orange rubber gloves and rolls of tape.
He had also amassed hundreds of ‘demonic’ drawings of women’s body parts, exploding policemen and references to ‘666’ and himself as Satan.
A poem found scribbled on the back on a scratchcard read: ‘Poor old Mellissa (sic), chopped up in bits, food for the fish, Am…dam (sic) was the pits.’
Delia Balmer survived after John Sweeney attacked her with an axe and knife
Tortured: Delia Balmer survived after John Sweeney attacked her with an axe and knife
At the time, prosecutors ruled there was insufficient evidence to charge him with Miss Halstead’s and Miss Fields’s murders.
The names of two of other possible victims, a Brazilian known as Irani and a Colombian, Maria, were given to police by Sweeney during an interview in 2001 in which he boasted he had been with ‘30 to 40 women’.
He described them as former girlfriends and they have not been traced. Police are also anxious to locate a church-going trainee nurse from Derbyshire called Sue.
In 2002, Sweeney received four life sentences after being convicted of the attempted murder of Miss Balmer.
The divorced father of two was nearing the end of his minimum nine-year jail term when an Anglo-Dutch police investigation was launched in February 2009. In April last year he was charged with the murders of Miss Halstead and Miss Fields.
When police went to Sweeney’s cell in Gartree Prison, Leicestershire, they found he had been spending his time in jail drawing women without limbs.
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