Musician, 24, told he may die in prison for murder of Bobbi-anne Mcleod

A MUSICIAN who murdered a teenage girl he snatched from a Plymouth bus stop has been warned by a judge he may never be free again.

Cody Ackland, a car valet and aspiring rock star, had developed an obsession with serial killers, in particular US murderer Ted Bundy, in the months before he killed 18-year-old Bobbi-anne Mcleod.

Ackland, 24, who was a guitarist with local indie band Rakuda, was unknown to the police when he bludgeoned Miss Mcleod with a claw hammer in a “prolonged, savage and merciless attack”.

Miss Mcleod had been waiting for a bus on November 20 last year when Ackland struck her twice with a hammer.

He then loaded the semiconscious teenager into the footwell of his Ford Fiesta and drove her 20 miles to the Bellever Forest car park on Dartmoor.

In his confession to police, he claimed Ms Mcleod could still walk, although he had to support her, when they arrived and had told him “I’m scared”. He claimed he had replied: “So am I, I have never done this before”.

Ackland then struck her 12 times to the head and face with the hammer, before standing on her neck when he saw she was still breathing.

Ackland burnt her handbag and loaded her body into his boot and drove 30 miles back towards Plymouth to Bovisand where he stripped her naked and left her in undergrowth. He later threw away her clothes in an allotment before spending the next 48 hours socialising with friends.

Three days later, Ackland turned himself in and confessed, telling detectives where he had dumped her body.

At a previous hearing, Ackland, of Plymouth, pleaded guilty to murder.

On Thursday, he was handed a life sentence and ordered to spend at least 31 years in prison.

Judge Robert Linford told Ackland: “There is a strong possibility you may never be released from prison.”