Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Bellfield TV drama: Three new sex attack victims contact top cop
Killer part of rape case.. but wasn’t treated as suspect
THE senior detective who put murderer Levi Bellfield behind bars has revealed police could have taken him off the streets before he killed Amelie Delagrange.
Ex-detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton thinks the monster should have been treated as the prime suspect in the rape of a girl of 14 two months earlier.
The horrific story of Bellfield’s capture has been told over the past three nights in ITV drama Manhunt.
And in the book it is based on, Mr Sutton says he discovered during his probe that the fiend was never even questioned over the June 2004 sex attack – even though he handed the victim’s freshly laundered clothes to police.
French student Amelie was found bludgeoned to death in South West London, in August.
Mr Sutton led the probe on her killing and that of Marsha Mcdonnell which in turn led to Bellfield’s conviction for the murder of Milly Dowler.
He dedicates a chapter of the new book, published tomorrow, to the rape incident and says it is “staggering” that Bellfield avoided suspicion.
CUNNING
He says if he had been treated as a rape suspect, it is possible he would not have been free to kill Amelie.
But he adds: “With hindsight you can say that was the turning point, the opportunity that was missed. He is cunning and clever and good at avoiding responsibility for what he has done.”
Mr Sutton says the episode began when Bellfield demanded a vulnerable friend, Peter Rodrigues, store 250 ecstasy tablets for him in his mother’s flat while she was in hospital. Simultaneously, Bellfield’s teenage lover told him she had a friend of 14 in need of a place to stay.
Mr Sutton says the girl was in trouble for a separate drug offence and had fallen out with her parents, claiming Bellfield appeared to have spotted an opportunity for more sickening abuse.
He allegedly arranged for her to stay at the empty flat – where he demanded Rodrigues drug her and await his arrival.
The next morning, the girl woke up remembering nothing, wearing strange clothes and in pain – knowing she had been raped but not by whom.
She rang her friend, who asked Bellfield to collect her and bring her to his flat, which he did. Shortly after, Rodrigues was claimed to have confronted Bellfield and been assaulted by him. But cunning Bellfield allegedly phoned an ambulance and told paramedics and police his “good friend” had been attacked by two other acquaintances.
Officers were said to have smelled a rat initially and questioned Bellfield over the assault but he stuck to his story – and with Rodrigues unconscious for weeks, he walked free.
When the rape victim later told police she had been drugged and attacked, and
Bellfield, for reasons I cannot explain, was never probed as a potential suspect COLIN SUTTON ON RAPE OF GIRL, 14, JUST WEEKS BEFORE AMELIE KILLING
also mentioned the assault on Rodrigues, officers even turned to Bellfield for help in finding the flat where it may have taken place. Charming as ever, he directed them, labelling Rodrigues a dealer and telling them where the drugs would be stashed.
Even when Bellfield revealed he had the victim’s clothes, washed of all evidence, his potential part in the incident was seemingly not questioned.
Mr Sutton says: “Bellfield, for reasons I cannot explain or discern, was never investigated as a potential suspect. As he had done for most of his adult life, he gave a good impression of a man who was a friend to the police, who knew lots of people and lots of things, and who could be a very useful contact. It seems he succeeded, once more, in manipulating a difficult situation to his own advantage.
“I had no doubt that Bellfield’s behaviour throughout this episode had been criminal and yet he had never been properly investigated.
“The concept of him being allowed to drop off a rape victim’s clothing without further inquiries as to his role in the offence was staggering. The information we had gained from the victim and the other young girls placed him squarely at the centre of events, yet he had been ignored.”
During the probes on Amelie and Marsha, Mr Sutton’s team learned of Bellfield’s grim history of violent and sexual abuse of women and girls.
An internal report commissioned by Hillingdon Council into child exploitation also recently revealed Bellfield was involved in a paedophile ring targeting girls in children’s homes.
Mr Sutton claims that by speaking to sources including the young rape victim, he was able to piece together Bellfield’s murky world – and understand his deceptive charm.
It is known officers used Bellfield as an official informant previously but Mr Sutton claims he was eventually “de-registered”, as the controller of informants felt he was dangerous “and there was evidence to suggest he would abuse the system by setting up criminals and then informing on them to ‘bank’ goodwill from the police for his own future criminal enterprises”.
When Rodrigues came round, he was charged with and admitted drug possession, getting a suspended jail term. Bellfield was never charged with anything connected with the incident.
And Mr Sutton believes it will not have been the only crime he got away with. “I don’t know if he’s killed anyone else,” he says, “but I think there will be hundreds of people assaulted, abused or attacked by Bellfield over the years.”
Manhunt: How I Brought Serial Killer Levi Bellfield To Justice, by Colin Sutton, is published by John Blake tomorrow, priced £8.99.