On 21 March 2002, Amanda Jane "Milly" Dowler, a 13-year-old English schoolgirl, was reported missing by her parents after failing to return home from school and not being seen since walking along Station Avenue in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, that afternoon. Following an extensive search, her remains were discovered in Yateley Heath Woods in Yateley, Hampshire, on 18 September.
On 23 June 2011, Levi Bellfield, already subject to three life sentences with a whole life tariff imposed for the murders of Marsha McDonnell and Amélie Delagrange and the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy, all of which had taken place after Milly Dowler's murder, was found guilty of abducting and murdering Milly Dowler. He received another whole-life sentence. On 27 January 2016, Surrey Police announced that Bellfield had admitted to abducting, raping and murdering Milly Dowler.
Following their daughter's death, Milly Dowler's parents established a charity called Milly's Fund to "promote public safety, and in particular the safety of the children and young people." The case generated debate over the treatment of victims and witnesses in court after Dowler's family criticised the way they were cross-examined during Bellfield's trial.
Dowler's murder played a significant role in the News International phone hacking scandal. In 2011, reports revealed how journalists at the News of the World newspaper had accessed Dowler's voicemail after she was reported missing, giving her parents false hope she was still alive. The resulting outcry from the British public contributed to the closure of the newspaper and led to a range of investigations and inquiries into phone hacking and media ethics in British media.
Disappearance
At 3:07p.m. on 21March 2002, 13-year-old Amanda “Milly” Dowler left Heathside School in Weybridge, Surrey, and walked to Weybridge railway station with a friend. The girls travelled to Walton-on-Thames railway station, one stop before Dowler's usual stop of Hersham, and went to eat at the station café.[5] After Dowler telephoned her father at 3:47p.m. to say she would be home in half an hour, the girls left the café at 4:05p.m., with Dowler walking home alone.[5] She was last seen three minutes later[5] walking along Station Avenue, by a friend of her sister, who was waiting at a bus stop.[6]
A closed-circuit television camera located further along the road showed no images of Dowler.[6] A red Daewoo Nexia, which belonged to Levi Bellfield's girlfriend Emma Mills, was photographed driving past by the same camera at 4:32p.m.[5] In an April 2009 interview, Bellfield said that he was driving this car.[7]
When Dowler failed to return home, she was reported missing to the police at 7:00p.m.[8] A nationwide search for her followed, with 100 police officers and helicopters searching fields,[9] streets and rivers around Hersham. Detectives who had investigated the abduction of Sarah Payne were called in to help.[10] Police and the Dowler family made many appeals for information, including a reconstruction on the BBC's Crimewatch UK.[11] A plea was also made by Pop Idol winner Will Young, whose concert Dowler had attended shortly before her disappearance.[10]
The Crimewatch UK appeal included a direct appeal to Dowler, suggesting that she may have run away from home rather than fallen into the hands of an abductor or murderer. Her mother expressed hope that her daughter had run away, but said that she could not think of a reason why she would want to do so.[12]The Independent reported in 2011 that Dowler had, some time previously, written a mock leaving-home letter and notes showing she had been unhappy.[13]
A week after Dowler's disappearance, the police stated that she was probably not taken by force. They reasoned that while she was unlikely to have gone off with someone she did not know of her own free will, no-one had come forward who had witnessed a struggle despite a number of apparent sightings of her prior to her disappearance. This suggested the possibility that she had willingly entered the home or vehicle of someone she knew.[14]
On 23 April 2002, the discovery of a body in the River Thames prompted media speculation that the body might be that of Dowler, but the body was identified the following day as that of 73-year-old Maisie Thomas, who went missing in March 2001 and whose death was not believed to be suspicious.[15] In June 2002, despite further searches, the offer of a £100,000 reward by national tabloid newspaper The Sun[16] and her parents continuing to send text messages to her mobile telephone in hope of a reply,[17] Dowler remained missing. That month, police told her parents that she was probably dead.[18]
Body discovery and murder investigation
On 18 September 2002, human remains were discovered by mushroom pickers in Yateley Heath Woods near Yateley, Hampshire.[4] They were later confirmed through dental records as Dowler's.[6][19] Due to the severity of the decomposition, the cause of death could not be ascertained. No items of Dowler's clothing or possessions—the purse, rucksack, or mobile phone—she had with her at the time of her disappearance have ever been recovered.[1][20][21] The discovery of the body led the police to reclassify the case as a homicide investigation. Undertaken by Surrey Police, the investigation was code-named Operation Ruby.[22]
On 22 November 2002, police set up a road block near the spot where the body was found. Some 6,000 motorists in the area were questioned, but no leads were discovered.[23] Initially the Surrey Police had considered Dowler's father a suspect, as police have often found that family members are implicated in such cases. They later apologised for the missed opportunities their attention to this track may have caused.[13][24] On 23 March 2003, DNA of an unidentified male was discovered on an item of Dowler's clothing in her bedroom, suggesting that her killer may have met her before. This link was ruled out within three months, around the same time that a DNA link to a church robbery in Sunderland was also ruled out.[25]
Paul Hughes was convicted of making death threats and was jailed for five years after sending letters to Dowler's sister threatening to kill her and claiming to have killed Dowler. Hughes sent the letters while imprisoned for indecently assaulting a 12-year-old girl; the prison service apologised for not screening mail effectively.[26] Lianne Newman, of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, repeatedly phoned Dowler's parents, school and the police, pretending to be Dowler. Newman was jailed in April 2003 for five months after pleading guilty to five counts of making phone calls to cause annoyance, inconvenience, or needless anxiety.[27] Gary Farr, of Retford, Nottinghamshire, repeatedly e-mailed Dowler's parents, friends, and police officers working on the case, claiming that she was still alive and had been smuggled out of the country to work as a prostitute and stripper at nightclubs in Poland, and that her alleged death had been a cover-up. Farr was sectioned indefinitely under the Mental Health Act on 19 October 2006 for being a serious psychological danger to the public after admitting a charge of harassment.[28]
In March 2008, an unnamed man was arrested over the 'disposal' of a car linked to the murder investigation, but was released later that same day.[29] In October 2009, Bedfont Lakes Country Park in West London was searched by police in the hope of finding the red Daewoo Nexia, but they recovered neither the car nor anything else of interest to their inquiry. The car has yet to be found.[30]
On 25 February 2008, Surrey Police confirmed that Levi Bellfield was their prime suspect in the murder inquiry and that they were "very interested" in questioning him following his conviction of the murders of two young female students and the attempted murder of a third.[31] On 30 March 2010, Bellfield was charged with Dowler's abduction and murder.[32] As a result, the inquest into the death was adjourned.[33] On 6 October 2010, Bellfield appeared in court via video link, as he was already serving three life sentences for murder and attempted murder, and was formally charged in relation to the Dowler case.[34]
Trial of Bellfield
Bellfield's trial began on 10 May 2011 at the Central Criminal Court before Mr Justice Wilkie[4] and concluded on 23 June 2011; the jury found him guilty.[35] He was sentenced to life imprisonment[36] the following day, and the trial judge recommended a whole life tariff in line with his previous murder convictions three years earlier.[37] The trial of Bellfield on another charge for the attempted abduction of Rachel Cowles, an 11-year-old girl known to have been offered a lift in the Walton area by a man in a red car on 20 March 2002, was abandoned due to newspapers publishing prejudicial material.[24] The judge ordered that the charge should remain on file.[38]
Post-trial
Following Bellfield's trial, the murder of Dowler, investigation, and trial were the subject of a special Crimewatch programme, titled Taken: The Milly Dowler Story, which was broadcast on BBC One on 30 June 2011. It featured interviews with witnesses, Dowler's family, and investigators. The programme explored how Bellfield was caught, and featured a reconstruction of how the crime was believed to have unfolded based on court transcripts.[39]
On 27 January 2016, Surrey Police announced that Bellfield had admitted to the abduction, rape, and murder of Dowler. This was after another arrest in the Dowler case had been made and Bellfield was interviewed about whether he had had an accomplice. After his confession, the police released the individual they had arrested, without charge.[40] On 12 February 2016, Bellfield changed his story, denying that he had confessed to Dowler's murder.[41]
Reactions to court proceedings
After Bellfield's sentencing, the Dowler family strongly criticised their treatment during the trial. Dowler's sister Gemma described the day that her parents were cross-examined by Bellfield's defence lawyer as "the worst day of my life".[42] Her mother told reporters 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.[42]
Dowler's father, Bob, commented on Bellfield's refusal to give evidence in court, and to appear for sentencing. He added:
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.[43]
Chief ConstableMark Rowley, who oversaw the investigation, joined the Director of Public Prosecutions in calling for changes and for greater protection of victims and witnesses during court cases.[44] Rowley said it was a "most bizarre and distressing coincidence" that the Dowler family had their privacy "destroyed", at a time when footballers and celebrities were being granted super-injunctions to protect details of their personal lives.[45]
Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke rejected calls for a review of criminal cases. Clarke said that, while Bellfield had been convicted of previous murders, he had to be presumed innocent in the Dowler case and found guilty by a jury in a full court process. To avoid prejudicing the trial, the court did not allow evidence to be introduced of Bellfield's "obsession" with schoolgirls, and his attempts to procure sex from them.[46]
The Guardian reported on 4 July 2011 that Scotland Yard had discovered Dowler's voicemail had been accessed by journalists working for the News of the World and the newspaper's private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.[47]The Guardian also reported that, during the police investigation into that newspaper's phone hacking activities, detectives discovered that journalists had deleted some messages—potential evidence—in Dowler's voicemail box because it was full, in order to free up space for new messages, to which they could listen. The deletions after Dowler was missing led family and friends to think that she was still alive.[48] It was later reported that Dowler's phone automatically deleted messages 72 hours after they were listened to.[49]
Dowler's parents announced via their solicitor that they would pursue a claim for damages against the News of the World.[50] In September 2011, it was reported that the Dowler family had been offered £2million (equivalent to US$3.2million at the time) in personal damages.[51] In January 2012, it was reported that Surrey Police and other police forces knew soon after Dowler's death that News of the World staff had accessed her mobile phone messages, but did not take issue with this. Instead a senior Surrey officer invited newspaper staff to a meeting to discuss the case.[52]
Legacy
Dowler's parents, Sally and Bob Dowler, launched a charity called Milly's Fund on the day of her memorial service in October 2002.[53] Its mission was "to promote public safety, and in particular the safety of the children and young people".[54] The charity provides risk assessment advice to teenagers, youth workers, and educators. Its work includes the "Teach UR Mum 2 TXT" campaign, which encourages children and parents to stay in contact via text messaging, including a glossary for parents of commonly-used SMS abbreviations.
The campaign was awarded "Best Use of Mobile for Accessibility" at the 2004 GSM Association Awards.[55] Milly's Fund commissioned a five-part soap opera titled Watch Over Me (2003), which encourages personal safety for teenagers,[56] to be distributed to every school in the UK.[56] In 2005, the family announced that the charity would be transferred to the Suzy Lamplugh Trust.[57] Milly's Fund was wound up that year.[58]
At the 2005 Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, a garden designed in memory of Dowler by Penny Smith won the Tudor Rose award, the show's highest honour.[59] Its design was supported by the Surrey Police and Milly's Fund.
A magenta sweet pea was named after Dowler and made publicly available by Matthewman's Sweetpeas.[60]
On 29 June 2017, Dowler's sister Gemma released a book dedicated to Dowler, titled My Sister Milly.[61]
The investigation that led to Bellfield's arrest was dramatised in the three-part 2019 television series Manhunt, with Martin Clunes playing Colin Sutton, the detective in charge of the Delagrange investigation.[62]
The News of the World was a weekly national "red top" tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling English-language newspaper, and at closure still had one of the highest English-language circulations. It was originally established as a broadsheet by John Browne Bell, who identified crime, sensation and vice as the themes that would sell most copies. The Bells sold to Henry Lascelles Carr in 1891; in 1969, it was bought from the Carrs by Rupert Murdoch's media firm News Limited. Reorganised into News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation, the newspaper was transformed into a tabloid in 1984 and became the Sunday sister paper of The Sun.
Rebekah Mary Brooks is a British media executive and former journalist and newspaper editor. She has been chief executive officer of News UK since 2015. She was previously CEO of News International from 2009 to 2011 and was the youngest editor of a British national newspaper at News of the World, from 2000 to 2003, and the first female editor of The Sun, from 2003 to 2009. Brooks married actor Ross Kemp in 2002. They divorced in 2009 and she married former racehorse trainer and author Charlie Brooks.
Michael Stone was convicted of the 1996 murders of Lin and Megan Russell and the attempted murder of Josie Russell. He was sentenced to three life sentences with a tariff of 25 years for the Russell killings.
Surrey Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Surrey in South East England.
Stranger danger is the idea or warning that all strangers can potentially be dangerous. The phrase is intended to encapsulate the danger associated with adults whom children do not know. The phrase has found widespread usage and many children will hear it during their childhood. Many books, films and public service announcements have been devoted to helping children remember this advice.
Levi Bellfield is an English serial killer, sex offender, rapist, kidnapper, and burglar. He was found guilty on 25 February 2008 of the murders of Marsha McDonnell and Amélie Delagrange and the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy, and sentenced to life imprisonment. On 23 June 2011, Bellfield was further found guilty of the murder of Milly Dowler. On both occasions, the judge imposed a whole life order, meaning that Bellfield will serve the sentence without the possibility of parole. Bellfield was the first prisoner in history to have received two whole life orders.
Sara Payne: A Mother's Story by Sara Payne, published by Hodder and Stoughton in May 2004, gives her account of the July 2000 abduction and murder of her daughter Sarah Payne in Kingston Gorse, West Sussex, England.
On 21 April 2001, Hannah Williams, a 14-year-old English schoolgirl was murdered after going missing during a shopping trip in Dartford, Kent. Williams's body was discovered on 15 March 2002 at a cement works in an industrial area of Northfleet.
The murder of Danielle Jones was an English child murder case involving a 15-year-old schoolgirl who disappeared from East Tilbury, Essex, England. There was a large and exhaustive search to find Jones' body and it was considered one of the biggest cases Essex Police had to deal with at the time. Despite the police's best efforts, her body was never found.
The murders of Eve Stratford and Lynne Weedon, two young women from London, England, occurred in separate, sexually motivated attacks by the same unidentified individual during 1975. Stratford was a bunny girl and Weedon was a schoolgirl who was killed almost six months later, on the other side of London. After Weedon's cold case was re-opened in 2004, new DNA techniques revealed that she and Stratford had been murdered by the same person. Stratford's case was re-opened in 2007, but neither case has been solved. A £40,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the killer remains on offer.
Melanie Hall was a British hospital clerical officer from Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, who disappeared following a night out at Cadillacs nightclub in Bath. She was declared dead in absentia in 2004.
Employees of the now-defunct newspaper News of the World engaged in phone hacking, police bribery, and exercising improper influence in the pursuit of stories.
Glenn Michael Mulcaire is an English private investigator and former non-league footballer. He was closely involved in the News International phone hacking scandal, and was imprisoned for six months in 2007 for his role in phone hacking and given a six-month suspended sentence at the hacking trial of 2013–14.
Operation Elveden was a British police investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments to police officers and other public officials. It was opened as a result of documents provided by News International to the Operation Weeting investigation.
The News Corporation scandal involves phone, voicemail, and computer hacking that were allegedly committed over a number of years. The scandal began in the United Kingdom, where the News International phone hacking scandal has to date resulted in the closure of the News of the World newspaper and the resignation of a number of senior members of the Metropolitan Police force.
The news media phone hacking scandal is a controversy over illegal acquisition of confidential information by news media organizations that reportedly occurred in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia between 1995 and 2011. This article includes reference lists for various topics relating to that scandal.
This is a chronological list of key newspaper articles that made significant new public disclosures about the illegal acquisition of confidential information by news media companies.
Manhunt is a British television drama based on murder investigations. The first series focused on the true story surrounding the investigation into the death of French student Amélie Delagrange. The subsequent manhunt eventually led to the arrest of Levi Bellfield for Delagrange's murder, and several other high profile, yet previously unsolved cases.
On 16 June 1980, Patricia "Patsy" Morris, a 14-year-old schoolgirl from Feltham, London, was murdered by strangulation. She disappeared after leaving her school during her lunch break, and was found dead in undergrowth on Hounslow Heath near her home two days later. Despite repeated appeals for information by police, her murder remains unsolved.
Wansell, Geoffrey (2011). The Bus Stop Killer: Milly Dowler, Her Murder and the Full Story of the Sadistic Serial Killer Levi Bellfield. London: Penguin. ISBN9780241952818.
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