NewsBreakingOnline

Carpenter who worked across Europe killed and dismembered two women in London and Rotterdam A Liverpool-born carpenter has been found guilty of murdering two former girlfriends and dumping their dismembered remains in canals in Rotterdam and London. John Sweeney, 54, who worked on construction sites across Europe, was convicted at the Old Bailey of the 1990 murder of Melissa Halstead, 33, a former model from Ohio who was living in Amsterdam, and of the murder in 2000 of Paula Fields, 31, who he had befriended in north London. Sweeney is already serving a life sentence for the attempted murder of a third girlfriend in 1994. British detectives fear there may be more victims of a man described as being “hateful, controlling [and] possessive” and “prone to outbursts of rage and murderous violence”. There are concerns for three other women: a Brazilian called Irani, a Colombian called Maria and a woman called Sue. Police believe clues could lie in “lurid and demonic” artwork and poems by Sweeney, found at his home. Sweeney is also said to have told an ex-girlfriend and a male friend that he killed two German men. The men are said to have known Halstead while she was living in the Netherlands. The body of Halstead, whose head and hands have never been found, was discovered in a canal in Rotterdam but remained unidentified for 18 years until Dutch police embarked on a cold-case review in 2008. The body parts of Fields, who moved to north London from Liverpool, were found in six holdalls in the Regent’s canal, King’s Cross, in 2001. Her head, hands and feet are still missing. The jury heard she had been a crack cocaine user leading a chaotic life and earning money as a sex worker in north London when she met Sweeney, 10 years after Halstead’s disappearance. Sweeney was arrested in March 2001. He had been on the run for six years after an attack on a nurse, Delia Balmer, for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment in November 2001. Only in 2008, when Halstead’s remains were identified, could a link could be made with Fields’s murder. A search of Sweeney’s flat revealed more than 300 pieces of violent artwork and poems. Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, told the jury: “Police discovered amongst his possessions often lurid and demonic sketches and paintings, as well as pages of verse which reveal an obsessive and virulent hatred of women, and a preoccupation with dismemberment. By butchering and disposing of bodies in this way, the killer had intended that neither they should be identified, nor he should be.” Sweeney showed no sign of emotion as he was convicted. He was also found guilty of perverting the course of justice in disposing of Fields’s body. . Sentencing was put off to Tuesday after Sweeney refused to leave the cells. The judge, Mr Justice Saunders, said he was considering passing a whole-life term. Detective Chief Inspector Howard Groves, joint leader of the investigation, said after the verdict: “Melissa Halstead and Paula Fields were killed and their bodies disposed of in the most callous and undignified manner possible. “I would like to thank the families of Paula and Melissa for their patience and dignity throughout the years, and hope that these convictions will enable them to finally close a chapter in their lives knowing that justice has finally been served. “Sweeney had convinced himself that he would never be caught for these heinous crimes. However, he underestimated the resolve of officers from the Met’s specialist crime directorate, the Rotterdam cold case team, prosecutors in the UK and Holland and the witnesses from across Europe who gave evidence during the trial. As he contemplates a life behind bars, I can assure him that this investigation will continue as we seek to identify and trace other potential victims in the UK, Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe who may have suffered a similar fate to that of Melissa and Paula.” He said police were appealing for information to trace a number of women associated with Sweeney. Irani was believed to have been living or working in north London in 1996-97. Thought to have been in her mid-40s, she frequented pubs and restaurants in the Highbury and Holloway Road areas, and is believed to have worked in kitchens as a cleaner. Maria also frequented pubs and restaurants in the Holloway Road and Finsbury Park areas, in 1997-98; she is believed to have been in her late 30s at the time. During this period Sweeney was working on constructions sites under assumed names. A third woman is believed to be called Sue, from Derby or Derbyshire. Police said she would have been in her late 20s or early 30s in the late 1970s to early 80s, and living, working or frequenting the Holloway Road and Seven Sisters areas of north London. She possibly attended a nursing college while training to be a nurse, and went to Switzerland to work, police said. There was some information to suggest she was a devoted churchgoer in the north London area. The Rotterdam cold case team is also appealing for information to trace individuals who were associated with Sweeney or people who know his exact whereabouts while he visited the Netherlands and worked there regularly, between 1989 and his arrest in 2001. He is known to have links with Rotterdam and Amsterdam but may well have travelled more extensively throughout the country. Crime Netherlands Europe Caroline Davies guardian.co.uk