Teenager’s murderer was obsessed with serial killers
Musician who attacked student from behind at a bus stop showed a ‘morbid’ fascination with killing
A TED Bundy-obsessed killer, who murdered an 18-year-old student after kidnapping her from a bus stop, was driven by a “morbid desire” to imitate serial killers, a court has heard.
Bobbi-anne Mcleod was last seen in November in Plymouth as she was on her way to meet her boyfriend, but she never arrived. Three days later, Cody Ackland, 24, a guitarist in a local band, handed himself in at a police station.
He was arrested and pleaded guilty to Miss Mcleod’s kidnap and murder. He and the victim were not known to each other.
At his sentencing hearing yesterday, Plymouth Crown Court heard details of what happened to Miss Mcleod for the first time, including how Ackland approached her from behind at the bus stop before inflicting a “sadistic” attack.
He then carried her to his nearby car and drove her 20 miles to the Bellever Forest car park on Dartmoor where he killed her with a hammer. Ackland then drove 30 miles to Bovisand, Devon, where he left her in undergrowth.
Miss Mcleod, who was 5ft 2in and weighed just over six stone, was identified through her dental records. There was no evidence that she was sexually assaulted. Ackland told police he was “wound up” by a recent break-up.
The court heard that police found more than 3,000 disturbing images on Ackland’s phone. He had conducted extensive searches for well-known serial killers, and held a fascination with Bundy, who confessed to 30 murders of women in the US in the Seventies.
Ackland’s attack on Miss Mcleod bore a striking resemblance to Bundy’s modus operandi, as he approached her from behind and struck her with a hammer.
A day after killing Miss Mcleod, Ackland was out socialising with friends.
Richard Posner, prosecuting, told the court that Ackland “led a double life” and had a “morbid interest” in serial killers. A week before the murder, he had carried out searches for Bundy and Britain’s Fred West, the court heard.
Ray Tully QC, for Ackland, said that psychiatrists had found his client was not suffering from mental illness, but said he had struggled during childhood.
Ackland was diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia, depression and anxiety and by the age of 19 “had a seven-year depressive history”, Mr Tully said.
Mr Tully said the killer “grew up feeling angry” at his “own inability to get on in the world”.
Sentencing Ackland to life in prison with a minimum of 30 years and 190 days for the “prolonged, savage and merciless attack”, Judge Robert Linford told Ackland that he would remain a “highly dangerous person” indefinitely, adding “There is a strong possibility you may never be released from prison.”
In a statement, Miss Mcleod’s family said: “We have been robbed of our beautiful girl in the worst possible way and our lives will never be the same without her.”