Dowler killer gets life

Levi Bellfield has been sentenced to life imprisonment and told he will never be released from jail after being found guilty of the abduction and murder of Milly Dowler.

Bellfield was convicted in 2008 of murdering 19-year-old Marsha McDonnell and 22-year-old Amelie Delegrange and is serving life sentences for both crimes.

A jury at the Old Bailey also convicted him of abducting and murdering Milly in March 2002.
However, the jury was discharged by the judge on the attempted kidnap of 11-year-old Rachel Cowles due to the inappropriate level of media reporting.

Following the sentencing Detective Chief Inspector Maria Woodall, from Surrey Police, said: “It has been a long and challenging fight to obtain justice for Milly, and I hope that this verdict, proving who was responsible for her murder, will enable the Dowler family to return to a private life once again. This has been an incredibly difficult process for them and it is important to remember who has been on trial here – it is not the grieving and loving family of a 13-year-old girl.”

She added that the police investigation into the murder was long, complicated and challenging for everyone involved, and it had taken many years of painstaking, detective work to reach this conclusion.

Unlike most similar crimes, there were no witnesses, no immediate suspects and no forensic material to work with.

The chief constable of Surrey Police, Mark Rowley, has also met and apologised to both the Dowler and Cowles families, and said the force’s house to house enquiries following Milly’s disappearance, although extensive, were not exhaustive.

The force also acknowledged that there was a poor initial response to Rachel Cowles’ allegation of attempted kidnap the day before Milly went missing, and that lessons have been learnt and changes have been made to procedures.

Bob Dowler, Milly’s father, although welcoming the guilty verdict, said the conclusion is not “true justice” for the 13-year-old.

He said: “My family has had to pay too high a price for this conviction. The pain and agony that we have endured as a family since March 21, 2002 has been compounded by the devastating effects of this trial.

“During the past nine years there have been many occasions when the police investigation has left us in despair. The trial has been a truly horrifying ordeal for my family. We have had to relive all the emotions and thoughts of nine years ago when Milly first went missing and was then found murdered.

“During our questioning my wife and I both felt as if we were on trial. The questioning of my wife was particularly cruel and inhuman, resulting in her collapse after leaving the stand. We despair of a justice system that is so loaded in favour of the perpetrator of the crime. It has often appeared almost incidental that this is a trial concerning the murder of our daughter.”
Roger Coe Salazar, Chief Crown Prosecutor of the Crown Prosecution Service in the South East said:

“There is no doubt that this experience has been extremely distressing for the Dowler family and it is impossible not to be moved and disturbed by the sentiments they have expressed today. I and my staff find the courage that they have displayed over such a long period of time, and most recently during the trial, most humbling.”