‘Scalp Hunter’ serial killer John Sweeney, 66, serving life sentence for two gruesome murders is now linked to ‘three further killings of unidentified women in the Netherlands’
- John Sweeney, 66, is behind bars for the murders of two former girlfriends
- One was killed in the Netherlands, where Interpol is looking into cold cases
- READ MORE: Can YOU help identify these murdered women?
A killer known as the ‘Scalp Hunter’ is believed to ‘hold the key’ to at least three cold case murders of unidentified women.
John Sweeney, 66, is already behind bars for the murders of two former girlfriends, whose bodies he cut up and dumped in canals in Rotterdam and London.
Now his name is being linked to some of the cases included in an Interpol appeal which is seeking to uncover the names of 22 women – each of whom are suspected murder victims from across Europe since 1976.
Three of those pictured by Operation Identify Me were women who were decapitated and had their remains left in canals in the Netherlands.
Sweeney worked in the country in the 1990s, and one of his victims, 33-year-old model Melissa Halstead, was found there.
‘Scalp Hunter’ John Sweeney, 66, is already behind bars for the murders of two former girlfriends, whose bodies he cut up and dumped in canals in Rotterdam and London
Interpol are seeking help identifying 22 women (12 pictured) who have been found since 1976
Former Metropolitan Police Detective Colin Sutton has urged Dutch Police to look into the possible link, pointing to similarities between the murder methods.
‘The Met will have lots of information on his movements,’ he told The Sun. ‘They will willingly share that.
‘The striking similarity of these murders is such that efforts should be made to eliminate or implicate him — and I am sure that will happen.’
Liverpool-born Sweeney was given a whole life sentence in 2011 for murdering US-born Halstead in 1990 and mum-of-three Paula Fields, 31, in London in 2001.
He also attacked ex Delia Balmer with an axe at her London home in 1994 but she survived.
Who is serial axe monster ‘Scalp Hunter’ John Sweeney?
Former carpenter John Sweeney, 66, was once regarded as one of the most dangerous men in Britain.
He was sentenced to a whole life tariff in 2011 for butchering two girlfriends and dumping their remains in city canals.
The Merseyside-born killer was found guilt of the murder of US model Melissa Halstead, whose remains were found in a Rotterdam canal in 1990.
Over 30 years after his first gruesome crime, her missing head and hands have still never been found.
A decade later, he killed mum-of-three Paula Fields, 31, in London.
Melissa Halstead, a 33-year-old American model and former girlfriend of Sweeney’s, whose remains were found in a canal in Rotterdam in May 1990
Sweeney also murdered Paula Fields, a mother of three from Liverpool
Sweeney was tracked down by police in 2001, and was then convicted of the attempted murder of another girlfriend, Delia Balmer, in 1994
He cut her body up and dumped her remains in the Regent’s Canal.
Sweeney was tracked down by police in 2001, and was then convicted of the attempted murder of another girlfriend, Delia Balmer, in 1994.
During their three years together during the nineties – shortly after he killed Ms Halstead – Ms Balmer faced a campaign of violence from Sweeney.
Just before Christmas in 1994, he attacked Ms Balmer with an axe, leaving her with stab wounds and without her left little finger.
By the time police arrived Sweeney had fled.
He spent years on the run before he was eventually brought to justice for the two murders and attempted murder.
The evil killer earnt his morbid nickname from the vile sketches he drew of him attacking his victims.
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