27 April 2023 , 12:59
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Serial killer Levi Bellfield committed some of the most evil crimes in modern Britain, murdering schoolgirl Miller Dowler, along with Amelie Delagrange, 22, and Marsha McDonnell, 19.
Bellfield's solicitor recently claimed that the 54-year-old has signed a new confession to the murder of Lin Russell and her daughter Megan who were both killed in a vicious hammer attack in 1996.
Lin, 45, her two daughters, nine-year-old Josie and Megan, six, as well as their dog Lucy, were tied up and savagely beaten with a hammer in the brutal attack in Chillenden, Kent.
Only Josie survived, sustaining horrific injuries.
Michael Stone, 62 - who is currently serving life for the crime - told the Mirror he hopes Bellfield's statement, which Stone claims contains information 'only the killer would know', will help to free him.
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Bellfield has been convicted of killing three women and attempting to murder one (PA)
Michael Stone has said he hopes Bellfield's latest confession will free him from prison (PA)It is the first time murderer and rapist Bellfield has signed a written confession claiming responsibility for the double murder, which shocked the nation 27 years ago.
His bombshell revelations are now with the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which has been investigating Stone's conviction since 2017.
Bellfield is currently serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole. But what has his life been like behind bars? Here, The Mirror takes a look...
Life in prison
The twisted killer is currently serving time in HMP Frankland, in County Durham, and will never be freed due to the magnitude and nature of his horrific offences.
Bellfield is a father to 11 children with five women.
Bellfield is currently serving two whole-life sentences in HMP Frankland in County Durham (Supplied)At the time of his conviction in June 2011, detectives said they believed Bellfield may have been responsible for around 20 attacks on women which were never solved.
In 2020, Bellfield was reportedly stripped of his right to watch television and wear his own clothes in jail after getting involved in a fight with two inmates.
The ex-bouncer was said to have been put on lockdown and apparently bragged about beating the pair for taunting him over his crimes.
During the killer's time in prison, he has got into fights and worked as a binman (ITV)An insider told Sun Online: "Two blokes were taunting him about his past. He gets a lot of grief because he's so notorious.
"It erupted into a fight pretty quickly and Bellfield got the better of it. He was saying they were stupid to pick on him and got what was coming."
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In 2018, it was reported that Bellfield had a prison job as a binman sorting through recycling and rubbish.
Engagement to fiancée
Bellfield met his now-fiancée through the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe - who died in 2020 - when they were imprisoned on the same wing.
The killer began writing to the middle-aged woman from his cell and they exchanged gifts and poems before speaking on the phone.
The 'besotted' unnamed woman, who is in her forties, then visited him at HMP Frankland where they shared "kisses and cuddles" and he proposed.
Bellfield has found love from behind bars to an unnamed woman in her forties (Shutterstock)Bellfield's fiancée - who describes herself as "very educated and intelligent" - told the Mirror in 2022 that she is non-judgemental of his past.
She said: "He is not a monster. Yes he has a bad past, but 17 years in prison changes a person. He has changed, he has remorse, and there are always reasons a person goes wrong in life.
"There is always a far bigger picture. He is 53 years old, still young and has to live knowing he will just grow old and die in that horrendous place."
Bellfield's ex-girlfriend of three years, Johanna Collings, later issued a personal plea to the woman planning to marry the jailed monster.
His ex-girlfriend Johanna Collings has warned his fiancée to leave the monster (Darren Cool)Johanna, who was raped and beaten by the murderer, said she believed Bellfield was manipulating the woman into wedlock from behind bars.
Johanna, known as Joe, told the Mirror: "God knows what he's told her. He brainwashes people, that's what he does."
In a direct message to the bride-to-be, Joe added: "Sort your f***ing life out – what the hell are you playing at? Don't be fooled by him.
"He's a serial killer and rapist, who has killed kids and is a known paedophile – see what he did to Milly Dowler – and you think he's not a monster? Get real."
Plans to marry behind bars
Last month, Bellfield started legal action funded by the taxpayer after his bid to marry his besotted girlfriend in prison was blocked.
The serial killer and rapist is threatening a judicial review and has joked with other jailbirds that his fight "is costing me f*** all".
Bellfield filed for a marriage application to wed his fiancée in January 2021.
Bellfield was blocked from marrying his lover in prison but is still trying to get wed (ITV)In a letter sent by law firm Carringtons on March 8, he said it is "unlawful" to stop him tying the knot, reported the Sun.
It also made reference to the 1983 Marriage Act and the European Convention on Human Rights which outlines convicts' right to marry.
Justice Secretary Dominic Raab told LBC: "Passing a law is never about any individual case.
"But I don't think it is appropriate and, both within the realm of the existing powers that I have but also the legislative agenda, on which I will be saying more shortly, I think it is wrong.
"I think particularly in that kind of case, I think a lot of people, and I know your listeners will find it an affront to the basic system of criminal justice.
Teenager Milly Dowler is one of the victims tragically killed by the twisted murderer (PA)"But I also think there is a question around the risk around anyone who would marry an offender as egregious as, in this case, Levi Bellfield.
"What we protectively do to make sure they aren't subject, or vulnerable people aren't subject to that element of risk. So on both factors, I'm committed to doing what we can to prevent that taking place."
A source told the Sun: "Bellfield's laughing that he's getting all this help for free. It's alarming that, as things stand, his barristers have the law on their side.
"The prison has kicked this into the long grass because they don't want it to happen, but legally they will probably have to allow it."
A Prison Service spokesperson told the Mirror: "The application is being considered in the usual way."