Today we look at one of the most notorious crimes in the UK with the brutal murder of Milly Dowler whose case shocked and horrified the nation back in 2002.
Amanda (Milly) Jane Dowler was born on June 25 1988 in Walton-on-Thames in Surrey to Bob and Sally Dowler and she had an older sister named Gemma. Milly was described as sassy, funny, outgoing, talented, eccentric, cheeky and loving, fashion guru, talented and much loved by her sister.
It was March 21 2002 and thirteen year old Milly left her school, Heathside School in Weybridge, and started to walk to the nearby Weybridge Railway Station with a friend. Milly apparently had planned to stay late at school to do art work with a friend and her mother would drive her home as she also worked at the school but Milly and her friend had done their work during lunch so they could leave at their normal time. The two girls departed the train at Walton-on-Thames station which was one stop from Milly's usual stop at Hersham, the friends had decided to eat at the station cafe and after they had finished eating Milly phoned her father at 3.47pm to say she would be home in half an hour and the girls left the cafe at 4.05pm, Milly and her friend said goodbye and both head home alone with Milly heading down Station Avenue. Milly was last spotted by a friend of her sisters who was waiting at a bus stop about three minutes later, CCTV located further down the road did not pick up any trace of Milly which it should have as she was headed in that direction, clearly whatever had happened to her had happened on that road.
When Milly failed to come home in the time she had said to her father her family started to get worried as their daughter wasn't one to stay out and she had said she would be home soon, she was reported missing to the police at 7.00pm. A nationwide search soon started for the 13-year-old with one hundred police officers and helicopters searching the nearby area and interviewing any sex offenders in the area. Police and the Dowler family made appeals for the safe return of Milly and a reconstruction on BBC's Crimewatch was made, a plea was also made from Will Young, the 2002 winner of Pop Idol, Milly had attended his concert shortly before her disappearance. Crimewatch had also included a plea to Milly herself incase she had run away from home and had not been abducted, Sally Dowler expressed hope that her daughter had run away but could not think of any reason for why she would have. In a later article written in The Independent in 2011, showed that some time before her abduction Milly had written a series of mock leaving home letters and notes showing that she had been unhappy.
A week after Milly was last seen police had concluded that she had probably not been taken by force but had probably gone with someone she knew or trusted, this was based on the fact that she would not have gone willingly with someone she didn't know but also that no one had come forward to report a struggle or disturbance at the time despite multiple people seeing her prior to her disappearance. On April 23, a body was discovered in the River Thames sparking belief that Milly had been found but it was the body of a missing 73-year-old woman (Maisie Thomas) who had gone missing in March of 2001, her death is not believed to be suspicious.
In June 2002, the search continued and it was revealed that a reward of £100,000 was being offered from the newspaper The Sun, Bob and Sally continued to send messages to their daughters phone in the hopes of a reply, it was the same month that police informed the Dowler's that their daughter was likely dead.
On September 18 2002, naked human remains were found by mushroom pickers in Yateley Heath Woods near Yateley, Hampshire nearly 25 miles away from the Walton-on-Thames railway station, through dental records the remains were confirmed as Milly's, due to the severity of decomposition a cause of death could not be identified. No items of Milly's clothing, purse, rucksack or mobile phone that she had on her that day have ever been found. The discovery of her body led the investigation to be re-classed as a homicide investigation and was code named Operation Ruby.
Initially, Surrey police had considered Milly's father Bob to be a suspect and were later forced to apologise for missing opportunities and wasting time while looking strongly at Bob. On March 23 2003, a DNA sample of an unidentified male was found on an item of clothing in Milly's bedroom and led police to believe Milly may had met her killer before but this was ruled out three months later for unclear reasons.
A man named Paul Hughes was convicted of making death threats and jailed for five years after sending letters to Milly's sister, he threatened to kill her while also claiming to have killed her sister. Hughes sent the letters while imprisoned for assaulting a 12-year-old girl and the prison service had to apologise for not screening mail properly. A woman named Leanne Newman ended up being jailed for five months after harassing the Dowler's pretending to be their murdered daughter. Gary Farr also harassed family and friends of Milly by claiming that she had been smuggled out of the UK to Poland where she was working as a stripper and prostitute and her alleged death had been a cover up, Farr was detained under the Mental Health Act for this.
Police were keen to find a red Daewoo Nexia that was picked up by CCTV on Station Avenue at 4.32pm on the day of Milly's abduction as it may have seen the abduction or be involved. There are reports that by chance one of the officers involved in Milly's investigation was transferred and saw a case that had similarities to Milly's, the suspect, was a man who hated women and to the officers shock the man had only lived 50 yards away from where Milly had gone missing.
It was on February 25 2008 that police named their prime suspect as Levi Bellfield and that they were very interested in speaking to him, Bellfield's arrest came on March 30 2008 on abduction and murder charges. On October 6 2010 he appeared in court via video link as he was already serving life sentences for murder and attempted murder and was formally charged with Milly's murder. The trial began on May 10 2011 and finished on June 23 2011 with the jury finding Bellfield guilty and sentenced to life in prison, he is the only serial killer in the UK to be sanctioned with two whole life sentences meaning he will die in prison. Bellfield committed the murders of Marsha McDonnell and Amélie Delagrange and the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy after he had murdered Milly, police suspect his involvement in up to twenty other attacks on women dating back to the 1980's.
Bellfield has been described as having a massive ego and for having an unhealthy obsession with young girls, it has also been noted how he would not take rejection well from any woman as he believed himself "God's gift", he was reportedly that enraged over Kate Sheedy crossing the road after not liking the look of his car that he then drove his car at her, hitting her. Bellfield is behind bars at HMP Franklin in County Durham where he is reported to have converted to Islam and now goes by the name of Yusuf Rahim.
Bellfield was known to drive around bus stops and try and speak to any young woman who was by herself and when he was rejected his harassment and stalking of them would increase.
Bellfield had lived with his girlfriend, Emma Mills, at the time of Milly's abduction, she confirmed she didn't know where Bellfield was on the day Milly went missing and that he only came home between 10 - 11pm that night wearing a different outfit and then left the flat before 4am.
On January 27 2016, Surrey police announced that Bellfield had finally admitted to the abduction, rape and murder of Milly but he later changed his story to denying he had confessed on February 12 2016. Bellfield later admitted that the Daewoo Nexia had in fact been his then girlfriend's car but that he had been driving it that day. The car was reported stolen eight days after Milly went missing and has never been recovered. In CCTV footage of the car at 4.32pm on Station Avenue police believe Milly was in fact in the car at the time.
Apparently, one day before Milly went missing there was a report of a red car acting suspiciously. An eleven year old girl named Rachel Cowles said that while she was walking home a red car stopped next to her and the driver tried to tell her he was her new neighbour and that he would give her a lift home, Rachel knew her neighbour and refused, this apparently happened three miles from where Milly was last seen.
The Dowler family released the horrific details that Bellfield had inflicted on 13-year-old Milly after having to stay silent for eight months due to the investigation believing there could be an accomplice (to the abduction and rape but not murder) after Bellfield bragged to a fellow inmate, this person was arrested and questioned but released in less than ten hours due to no evidence. In their statement the Dowler's hoped Milly's soul could finally rest in peace now the full details about what happened to her in her final hours were now known and thanked the public for their support and that they wanted the public to know how truly evil the heinous killer was and what he had done to their beloved Milly. In a sickening turn the killer would only speak to female police officers during his confession.
Sick Bellfield described how he abducted Milly and took her to his flat near Walton train station where he first assaulted her, he then drove to his mother's house where after he drove down a long driveway "raped her in broad daylight over the boot of his car", after this he took her to another location where her rape and torture would continue for hours until he strangled her to death the following day, the ordeal lasted for fourteen hours. It isn't clear how Bellfield got Milly to get into his car when he abducted her but there are some sources that state he was likely hiding behind bushes and grabbed Milly and then dragged her into the car, at 6ft 1in and 20 stone Milly wouldn't have had a chance to fight off her killer.
After the trial the Dowler family criticised their treatment during the ordeal, stating that they felt that they were the ones on trial due to being cross examined by Bellfield's lawyer and the unfair portrayal of Milly in the courtroom. Sally Dowler said this to the press outside the Old Bailey:
"For us, the trial has been a truly awful experience. We have had to hear Milly's name defamed in court; she has been portrayed as an unhappy, depressed young girl... the Milly we knew was a happy, vivacious, fun-loving girl. Our family life has been scrutinised and laid open for everyone to inspect. We've had to lose our right to privacy and sit through day after harrowing day of the trial in order to get a man convicted of this brutal murder. The lengths the system goes to protect his human rights seems so unfair compared to what we as a family have had to endure."
Bob Dowler also slammed Bellfield's refusal to give any evidence in court and his failure to appear for sentencing:
"My family's had to pay too high a price for this conviction. The trial has been a truly mentally-scarring experience on an unimaginable scale; you had to have been there to truly understand. During our questioning, my wife and I both felt as if we were on trial; we despair of a justice system that is so loaded in favour of the perpetrator of the crime."
Chief Constable Mark Rowley, who oversaw the investigation, joined the Director of Public Prosecutions in calling for change and greater protection of victims and witnesses during court cases, he particularly criticised that the Dowler's had seen their privacy destroyed while celebrities and footballers have enjoyed super injunctions to protect their personal lives on issues such as infidelity.
The Guardian reported in July 2011 that Scotland Yard had discovered evidence that Milly's voicemail had been tampered with by reporters working for the News of the World and their private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. The investigation revealed that Milly's phone had been hacked by the newspaper and that journalists had even deleted some messages (and potential evidence) in her voicemail as it was full so they could get new messages to listen to. It was this callous act that led the Dowler's to believe Milly was still alive as the voicemails were being deleted. The Dowler's filed a claim against the newspaper and were reported to have been offered £2 million in personal damages. In January 2012, it emerged that Surrey police were aware what the newspaper was doing and took no action against it, even going as far as to invite newspaper staff to a meeting to discuss the case. News of the World were forced to close their doors following the scandal.
The Dowler's launched a charity called Milly's Fund on the day of her memorial service in October of 2002, its mission was to "promote the public safety, and in particular the safety of the children and young people", the charity was transferred to the Suzy Lampugh Trust and wound up fully in 2005. In 2005, Hampton Court Palace Flower Show designed a garden in memory of Milly. Gemma Dowler released a book called My Sister Milly, which documents the family's struggle with grief and their diagnosis of PTSD in 2013, a portion of the sales go to the charity Winston's Wish, who support bereaved children.
At Apollo's Raven we remember Milly's case very well as it shocked everyone and taught us as young people to let others know where you were going and to keep in touch. Milly was a bright young woman who surely would have gone on to an even brighter future before it was cruelly taken away from her, we can only hope that the amazing efforts of the Dowler family have helped other young people and children to be more aware of their surroundings and to let people know where you are so hopefully something like this will never happen again. We can only say Levi Bellfield is a truly evil man, whose sick and twisted actions are a stain on humanity, his complete lack of remorse and cat and mouse game with police over details show that he truly is an animal and proves the courts were right in their decision to never allow him out of prison.
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