Who’d marry this monster?
Murderer Bellfield is engaged... and ministers can’t block prison wedding
THE Government’s lack of power to block serial killer Levi Bellfield’s bid for a prison wedding ‘defies common sense’, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said last night.
Child killer Bellfield has applied to marry his fiancee in high-security HMP Frankland, where he is serving a whole life tariff, after he proposed to her during a visit.
Ministers have launched an urgent review but could be powerless to stop the nuptials because of Bellfield’s human rights. Boris Johnson is said to be ‘sickened and appalled’ by the engagement. Mr Raab said last night the new Bill of Rights would allow the Government to intervene in such cases.
‘This is exactly the kind of case where we need written down in UK law a clear set of criteria, that shouldn’t be trapped by an elastic interpretation of human rights,’ he said. ‘I think most people will think it defies common sense that the Government today can’t insist, in relation to Category A high-security prisoners, the proper safeguarding consideration is taken into account so they can protect the public and respond accordingly.
‘This is exactly why we’re introducing a new Bill of Rights to replace the Human Rights Act, and that’s why and how we’ll introduce more common sense into the system.’
Bellfield, 53, who was convicted of killing schoolgirl Milly Dowler, 13, Marsha McDonnell, 19, and French student Amelie Delagrange, 22, is said to be ‘besotted’ by his fiancee, who is in her 40s, and he keeps pictures of her on his cell wall.
Prisons minister Victoria Atkins said she had ordered ‘an immediate review’ into Bellfield’s application.
The killer’s former lover, Joe Collings, said his bid for a wedding was a ‘slap in the face’ to his victims. She told The Sun: ‘There’s no way he should be allowed to get married – it’s disgraceful and beggars belief.’