Milly Dowler killer finally `admits abduction, rape and murder` of teenager to police

Serial killer Levi Bellfield has finally admitted the abduction, rape and murder of schoolgirl Milly Dowler – nearly five years after being jailed for the killing, police have said.

Surrey Police confirmed that Bellfield had, for the first time, confessed to killing the 13-year-old.

Bellfield, 47, was found guilty in June 2011 of murdering Milly after abducting and raping her while she walked home from school. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

On Wednesday (January 27), detectives from the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team said they arrested and released a man in his 40s in relation to allegations of rape and assisting an offender.

The force said the arrest followed new information about an accomplice involved with Bellfield in Milly`s abduction and rape, but not her murder.

Detectives say while they “thoroughly investigated” the claim, the man was subsequently released with no further action as no evidence was found to support the allegations.

However, during this investigation, police said they also spoke to Bellfield, who “has admitted his responsibility for the abduction, rape and murder of Milly Dowler”.

A police spokesperson said: “Despite his conviction, this is the first time Bellfield has made such admissions to police.”

The Dowler family says the news has had a “devastating” effect on them as the Metropolitan Police Service is reported to be looking at “fresh information” as they continue to investigate as many as 20 other serious sexual attacks which could be linked to Bellfield.

Surrey Police launched Operation Ruby following the disappearance of Milly Dowler in 2002 when she was snatched from the street while on her way from school to her home in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.

Bellfield was convicted of abducting and killing Milly following a trial at the Old Bailey.

The judge described Bellfield as a “cruel and pitiless killer”.

After he had been convicted of Milly`s murder Bellfield yawned as he was led from court.

When he refused to return to the Old Bailey for sentencing the next day, Mr Justice Wilkie said Bellfield had “not had the courage” to come to court.

Bellfield subjected Milly`s family to the “appalling anguish” of many months of not knowing what had become of her, the judge said.

He added: “But most cruel of all, in an attempt to divert responsibility from himself, he instructed his lawyers in this trial to expose to the world her most private, adolescent thoughts, secrets and worries, and sought to hint that she was a dark, unhappy and troubled person.”

In February 2012 he lost a bid to challenge his conviction at the Court of Appeal in London.

In 2008, he had been given a whole life term for murdering Marsha McDonnell, 19, in 2003, and Amelie Delagrange, 22, and attempting to murder Kate Sheedy, 18, in 2004.

Milly`s body was found in a wood in Yateley Heath, Hampshire – 25 miles from Walton-on-Thames. Experts could not say how she died.

Bellfield, who now calls himself Yusuf Rahim, lived 50 yards from where Milly vanished but did not become a suspect until he was arrested by police in London for the later crimes.