I’m scared, young victim told monster murdering her. So am I, he replied, I’ve never done this
Rock guitarist gets 31 years for claw hammer attack on teen
A MUSICIAN obsessed with serial killer Ted Bundy was jailed for 31 years yesterday for the brutal murder of a teenager.
Cody Ackland, 24, bludgeoned 18-year-old Bobbi-Anne McLeod at a bus stop before taking her to a forest and continuing his frenzied attack.
In an extraordinary exchange just before she died, Miss McLeod told her killer she was scared, to which he replied: ‘So am I. I have never done this.’
Ackland was known locally as the guitarist in an up-and-coming indie band – but he also hid a ‘morbid interest in a significant number of serial killers from around the world’.
These included Bundy, Fred West, Richard Chase, a Ukrainian mass murderer and California’s Golden State killer.
Miss McLeod was waiting for a bus in Plymouth to take her to see her boyfriend when Ackland came across her by chance last November. He got out of his car, crept up behind the teenager and bludgeoned her with a claw hammer – just as Bundy regularly did when murdering women in the 1970s.
Following the attack, Ackland initially left her for dead at the bus stop but then saw his victim was still moving as he drove away on the well-lit, busy road.
He bundled her upside down into the footwell of his car – where he tried to strangle her – and drove her to a forest, where he propped Miss McLeod up against a tree. In a police interview, Ackland recounted what had happened next with the conversation relayed at Plymouth Crown Court yesterday.
He explained how Miss McLeod had murmured: ‘I am scared.’
He then replied blankly: ‘So am I. I have never done this.’ He went on to hit her 12 more times with the hammer. Describing to police how she had still been breathing even after this, he added with chilling disregard: ‘Hats off to her.’
Finally, he stood on her neck to ensure she was dead. Ackland then loaded Miss McLeod’s bloodied body into the boot of his Ford Fiesta and drove 30 miles along the coast, leaving her in undergrowth near the beach at Bovisand. Yesterday the depraved killer – who had no criminal history prior to the murder – was jailed for life with a minimum term of 31 years.
Judge Robert Linford told Ackland he had ‘caused outrage and fear’ after subjecting Miss McLeod ‘to a prolonged, savage and merciless attack’.
He said Ackland would remain indefinitely a ‘highly dangerous person’, adding that the multiple attempts he made to kill her were serious aggravating features.
He told the killer: ‘There is a strong possibility you may never be released from prison.’
As Ackland left the dock, Miss McLeod’s brother Lee shouted at him: ‘You’re a dead man.’
The court heard the murderer was driven by a desire to imitate serial killers as his ‘unhealthy fantasy became an extremely wicked reality’.
Prosecutor Richard Posner said Ackland’s obsession was ‘sinister and relevant to his motivation’.
Mr Posner added: ‘His interest in the macabre presents as deep rooted – a fascination with death, murder and murderers and the means to commit murder.
‘There are numerous images of the American serial killer Ted Bundy in his telephone and images of weapons he used to kill his victims.
‘Bundy approached his victims in public places and knocked them unconscious before killing them. It is not a coincidence that BobbiAnne met her fate the same way.’
Tragically the court also heard that Miss McLeod had intended to catch an earlier bus which would have meant their paths would never have crossed – but she was delayed searching for a particular pair of shoes.
Ackland was songwriter and lead guitarist in local band Rakuda and also worked as a car valeter.
Friends told police that in the days after the attack he seemed happier than normal, turning up for band practice and going out for a pizza as he carried on with life as usual.
Detective Superintendent Mike West, head of Devon and Cornwall Police’s major crime team, said: ‘He was having a laugh, joking and hugging people, like he was when preparing for a gig.’
But three days after the murder, Ackland – who lived with his mother in the city – went to a police station to confess, still wearing his high-vis work jacket. He then told police where he had dumped Miss McLeod, later stating: ‘I am solely responsible for the death of BobbiAnne. I never met her before. I did not know her name.’
‘You may never be released’
‘Met her fate the same way’