Brother of dead Marsha slams needless drama
Clunes met with real cops to
Marsha was on way home The brother of Levi Bellfield’s victim Marsha Mcdonnell has blasted Manhunt bosses for making the drama.
Jack Mcdonnell, who has never spoken about the loss of his big sister, said: “No one is better off with this show existing. I don’t understand why it needed to be made.
“It was a very difficult period for us all and we don’t like dwelling on it. We want to move past it.”
Monster Bellfield battered Jack’s big sister Marsha with a hammer yards from her home in February, 2003.
The student, 19, had been to the cinema with friends and was just getting off a bus and heading home in Hampton, South West London. She later died in hospital from her injuries.
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Not a day goes by when the family Brother don’t think about Jack rap for ITV her. Jack, now 21, said: “I walk past the cemetery almost every day and say, ‘Hi Marsha’ when I do. She’s very much present in our lives.”
Even mention of Bellfield’s name makes Jack flinch.
He said: “One of my friends has a boyfriend named Levi and it’s always strange to hear that.
“But as a family we don’t think about him. We want to keep Marsha’s memory alive in a positive way.”
His mother Ute says she will make sure her TV is turned off when the drama begins.
“I was informed about it by ITV, but I will not be watching. I don’t watch a lot of TV but I will switch it off tonight anyway,” she said. “My family are grown up now and it is up to them what they want to do.
“For me my life is in the future and not in the past. It is not good for me to watch something like this. It just brings back bad memories.”
Manhunt starts on ITV tonight, 9pm.
Olivier lay flowers every year at spot where she died REAL police workers were recruited for ITV show Manhunt and actor Martin Clunes spent time with detectives to make sure he got his role right. The three-part drama starts tonight with the discovery of Amelie Delagrange’s body on Twickenham Green. Doc Martin star Clunes plays DCI Colin Sutton, leading the investigation to find the killer.
The mini series details how detectives linked Amelie’s case to that of Marsha Mcdonnell, 19, who died in hospital after being hit with a blunt instrument near her home in Hampton, West London, in February 2003.
Levi Bellfield, 50, was convicted of their murders, along with the attempted murder of 18-year-old Kate Sheedy, who he ran over in nearby Isleworth in May 2004. Bellfield was serving three life sentences when he was found guilty of abducting and murdering 13-year-old Milly Dowler, who went missing on the way home from school in March 2002.
ITV says its show was made in consultation