Fury at filming outside serial killer’s former home
A former West Drayton resident has hit out at TV crews filming ITV’s Manhunt outside serial killer Levi Bellfield’s old home, after pre- viously going through the “torture” of being housed there without being told who the previous occupant was.
Patrick O’Rourke, 63, moved to the semi-detached house in Little Benty more than two years after Bellfield’s original arrest.
But he complained the housing association never told him and his wife about who lived there before and it was only when TV news teams previously turned up at the home that he learned of its past.
The revelation comes as Martin Clunes was spotted filming scenes in Little Benty for Manhunt, an ITV drama based upon the memoirs of former Metropolitan Police detective Colin Sutton, who pursued Bellfield.
Mr O’Rourke told the Mirror: “We moved there in 2006, two years after Bellfield was arrested.
“First of all we knew nothing about it. The housing association said they didn’t have to tell me Bellfield lived there, but I told them if it put me in danger then they had to tell me.
“I was assured that Bellfield didn’t commit any of his crimes there but it was horrendous living there. We had nothing but aggravation.”
“We were tortured because of what he did,” Mr O’Rourke added.
“We had years of people showing up at the house. I had my windows put in and I never knew if it was because the front of my house was on the news.
“We had camera crews in the garden showing my car.
“I’m an innocent person and all of a sudden my life is on TV. I had bricks thrown through my window when I was living there.”
Asked what he thought of Manhunt being filmed at the actual location where Bellfield lived, Mr O’Rourke, who has since moved to Kent, added: “I can’t believe they’ve filmed on that street.
“I’d be furious if they filmed while I was still living there. I’d turn the hosepipe on them.
“Why do they need to keep bringing it up? It’s the victims who are not being protected. It’s always the predators who have the attention.
“I won’t be watching it. To do a drama on this is all wrong. I feel sorry for the families of the girls who were killed.
“They are going to turn on the TV and see all this. They’re reliving it all the time – why don’t they get a break?”
Bellfield will spend the rest of his life behind bars after being convicted of murdering Amelie Delagrange, Marsha McDonnell and Milly Dowler.