Manhunt – Colin Sutton

“Manhunt” is the true story of how DCI Colin Sutton led the team that brought serial killer, Levi Bellfield, to justice.

The Bus Stop Killer – Geoffrey Wansell

“The Bus Stop Killer” by Geoffrey Wansell tells the story of serial killer, Levi Bellfield. It starts with his arrest for the murders of Amelie Delagrange and Marsha McDonnell and then goes back to cover his entire life up to his conviction for the abduction and murder of Milly Dowler in 2011. The worst kind of killer, Bellfield had no connection to his victims at all and covered his tracks well so it’s no surprise it took the Police so long to find him let alone build a case against him.

Wansell weaves a tale of a man who needs to be in control at all times, he had multiple partners and kept each of them living in fear of what would happen if they tried to leave him with a constant barrage of physical, emotional and sexual abuse.

As can happen with books of this nature where we know Bellfield committed the crimes in question, I did find Wansell’s habit of attempting to use every event in his life to foreshadow the murders a little annoying. I don’t feel there is any need to sensationalise what happened, 3 young girls are dead and the lives of many more people have been irrevocably changed by this man for no discernible reason. When I’m reading books about true crimes I like them to stick more to the facts, I can read the press coverage if I want the sensationalised, shock stories. Obviously people read these types of books for different reasons and I’m sure plenty of people will have found this book to their liking but it wasn’t really written in the style I usually like.

I think the inclusion of Milly Dowler’s name, in big, bold capitals on the cover was a deliberate attempt to use the more well known victim to encourage people to buy it but her case was really only a small part in the life of this evil man. I wonder how many other women there may be who have been attacked, or even killed, by Bellfield and whether we will ever know the true extent of his crimes. As with other serial killers intent on control, Bellfield will not even disclose details of the crimes he has been convicted of and is extremely unlikely to confess to any additional crimes. Seeing the trauma he, via his Barrister, put the Dowler family through at his trial for Milly’s abduction and murder, was heartbreaking and revealed the lengths he would go to to escape punishment for his crimes.

If you just want to learn a little more about the Milly Dowler case or her killer then definitely read it but I don’t think there was much in the book you couldn’t discover yourself with a little internet research and Wansell’s style of writing definitely wasn’t for me.

Now Reading

I’ve just started reading “The Bus Stop Killer” by Geoffrey Wansell. It tells the story of the Milly Dowler case and her killer, Levi Bellfield. This is another case that really intrigued me and I’m hoping I will learn more about it from this book.