Levi Bellfield's daughter recalls father's brutality

Levi Bellfield's daughter says "it wasn't a surprise at all" when he was arrested for the murder of schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

Childhood memories for Bobbie-Louise Bellfield, 20, who is the oldest of Bellfield's 11 children, include him raping and beating her mother Becky Wilkinson.

Ms Bellfield also says her father used to leer at schoolgirls during the school run and would take her along as he conducted drug deals and burglaries.

She now says she hopes she never sees him again and he "rots in hell".

Murder scene

Ms Bellfield also fears her father took her to the murder scene after Milly's disappearance in 2002.

They went to his then-girlfriend Emma Mills's empty Walton-on-Thames flat during the night, while Milly's missing posters hung everywhere in the area. Bellfield moved out of the flat two days after she disappeared.

Bellfield's daughter said she knew he was capable of the murder

Thirteen-year-old Milly, who had been abducted while walking home from school in the Surrey town, was found dead six months later.

During their visit to the flat, Bellfield tried to get his daughter to break in through the letterbox. When she refused, he broke in himself with a coat hanger. He disappeared into the bedroom, and when she tried to follow him, he shut her out.

She said: "He would never shout at me. But that night, he was shouting at me to get out of the room. He was on edge. I was scared thinking 'Why would he do that?'

"There was something in there he was hiding, you could tell. At the time I didn't think he had Milly in there. Now I do think that."

Ms Bellfield added: "I feel very angry. I hate him that much. I feel sick to my stomach that someone can do that to a human being.

"I've cried myself to sleep. She was only a few years older than me. How terrified must she have been?"

Daily beatings

Ms Bellfield also recalled how her father would sound his car's horn at girls whilst on the school run.

She said: "He was always beeping at girls walking down the street. They were clearly in uniform. He would shout 'Oi! Oi!' and things like that."

Bellfield had four children with Ms Bellfield's mother Ms Wilkinson, 40, who he was with for six years. He raped her twice - once at knifepoint and again after she had left him - and beat her so badly she ended up in hospital several times. He also stalked her, trashing her house when she left him.

Ms Wilkinson has waived her right to anonymity over the attacks.

Ms Bellfield, who witnessed what became daily beatings of her mother, said: "He beat mum up quite a few times - I saw it happen. I felt scared and shocked. It was bad. It wasn't just a few slaps, it was more horrific than that."

'Hatred and shame'

Bellfield used his daughter for cover whilst he dealt drugs, getting her to hide his marijuana stash from the police, and he once kept her in his burglary get-away vehicle.

She said: "In 2000, when we were coming back from a drug deal, he told me what to do if the police came. He told me to hide as much 'puff' as I could. There was a lot of it. The police pulled us over, but he talked his way out of it.

"Another time we went to a massive field full of weed. I'd gone with him to collect it.

"Then there was a burglary at a hairdresser's. He was the driver. There were a couple of other blokes. They got out, the alarms went off and then they came out with loads of black bags full of hair straighteners and hairdryers."

Ms Bellfield lost touch with her father before his arrest on suspicion of a separate murder, of which he was later convicted, in November 2004.

The next time she heard from him was in a letter to her mother in which he claimed he was innocent.

She continued: "When mum told us about his arrest over the Amelie Delagrange murder, I can't really say I was shocked, because I wasn't. I knew he was capable of it.

"When he was convicted I felt hatred, shame and humiliation. And when he was arrested over Milly Dowler's murder, it wasn't a surprise at all.

"Milly's parents have now got closure and justice. He hasn't just ruined our lives but those of all the victims as well.

"I hope he rots in hell. I know it sounds harsh but I really do. I don't ever want to see him again."