Milly Dowler’s alleged killer tried to entice girl into car, jury told

Rachel Cowles ‘was scared and in tears’ after turning down lift from man said to be Levi Bellfield A schoolgirl whom double murderer Levi Bellfield allegedly tried to entice into his car the day before Milly Dowler disappeared told a court the incident left her scared and in tears. Rachel Cowles, now 21, was 11 and bore an “uncanny resemblance” to Milly when a man in a red car, claiming to be a new neighbour, offered her a lift as she walked home from school. She refused and the car drove off after a police car passed in the opposite direction, the Old Bailey was told. When she got home she looked but could not see the car parked outside any neighbouring houses. After her mother phoned police, she burst into tears as she spoke to a police operator. “I felt scared. I suddenly realised the enormity of what had happened,” she told the jury. Rachel, who was wearing school uniform and had her hair in a ponytail, was walking home from school alone in Shepperton – three miles from where Milly vanished in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, the next day. Milly’s unclothed body was found 25 miles away in Yateley Heath Wood, Hampshire, six months later. Bellfield, 43, a former club doorman, formerly of West Drayton, west London, denies the kidnap and murder of Milly, aged 13, on 21 March 2002, and the attempted abduction of Rachel the previous day. Recalling the incident nine years ago, Rachel Cowles said a red car pulled alongside her around 3.30pm that day. The passenger window was wound down and the driver leaned towards her. “I remember him saying, ‘Hello, I’ve just moved in next door; would you like a lift home?’

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