Levi Bellfield Biography

Levi Bellfield was born Levi Rabetts, on May 17, 1968, at the West Middlesex Hospital in Isleworth, Greater London, England, to Jean and Joseph Rabetts.

Levi has Romani roots. Levi lost his father to leukaemia when he was 10. He grew up on a council estate in southwest London, with two brothers and two sisters.

Levi initially studied at the Forge Lane Junior School and then joined the Rectory Secondary School in Hampton. He later joined the Feltham Community College.

He had worked as a nightclub bouncer for a while, before opening his own wheel-clamping business, in West Drayton, West London.

It is believed Levi Bellfield has 11 children with three girlfriends. He fathered the three youngest of his children with Emma Mills, his last girlfriend.

According to his girlfriends, Levi was a controlling boyfriend. He allegedly once forced one of his girlfriends to sit on a stool for a whole night.

Levi often boasted about his crimes to one of his girlfriends. He told her he had raped several women. The girlfriend apparently found a knife and a magazine with the faces of blonde ladies in them scratched out. He also reportedly told her that he despised blonde women and that they deserved death.

Levi Bellfield had delved into the world of crime back in 1981, when he burgled a house and was convicted. In 1990, he was convicted of assaulting a police officer.

He was also charged with theft and driving offenses. By 2002, he had been convicted of nine separate crimes and had also been in jail for a year.

Levi’s first known victim was Amanda Jane "Milly" Dowler, a schoolgirl aged 13, who disappeared after leaving the railway station in Walton-on-Thames on March 21 2002. Her corpse was discovered in Yateley Heath Woods after 6 months. Levi could not be connected to Milly's death initially.

In February 2003, 19-year-old Marsha Louise McDonnell became his second murder victim. She was beaten on her head with a blunt weapon, in Hampton, London. Apparently, she had just gotten off her bus (from Kingston upon Thames) at the Percy Road bus stop when Levi hit her. She died of her injuries 2 days later, in hospital. Levi had apparently sold his Vauxhall Corsa car just 6 days after killing Marsha.

On May 28, 2004, Kate Sheedy had a lucky escape from being Levi's third victim. She got off her bus in Isleworth, West London, and was about to cross the road, when Levi ran her over multiple times before speeding away in his car. Kate, however, managed to survive her ordeal. After 4 years, she recorded her statement with the police and helped convict Levi.

A 22-year-old French exchange student named Amélie Delagrange was Levi’s third murder victim. Levi had reportedly hit her on the head with a hammer. She was discovered at Twickenham Green on August 19, 2004. She later died of her injuries in hospital. Soon after her death, the police felt there was something similar about Marsha’s and Amélie’s murders.

Throughout the time when Levi committed all his known murders, he stayed in West London and was often seen driving around and trying to talk to young girls waiting at bus stops. In fact, Amélie Delagrange was recorded by CCTV cameras. The footage showed her walking toward Twickenham Green. The police later suspected she may have stopped and spoken to Levi.

However, the seeds of crime were sown in Levi’s head much before these murders had taken place. Psychologists who have studied Levi feel his hatred toward young women, and blonde women in particular (all his victims were blonde), was perhaps triggered by an incident that had taken place long back.

Apparently, Levi had been rejected by a 14-year-old blonde girl named Patsy Morris when he was about 12 or 13. She had disappeared soon after. Her body was found after 2 days, and she had apparently been strangled to death.

Reportedly, Patsy’s father had received a phone call from a boy who had threatened to kill her. However, nobody was convicted in this case, though Patsy’s family suspects Levi was the killer.

Levi was also later charged with the abduction and false imprisonment of 17-year-old Anna-Maria Rennie at Whitton on October 14, 2001. She identified him in a video parade 4 years after the incident.

He was also later charged with the attempted murder of 39-year-old Irma Dragoshi at Longford on December 16, 2003. However, both Anna-Maria’s and Irma’s cases were inconclusive.

On November 22, 2004, the police finally arrested Levi Bellfield on suspicion of the murder of Amélie Delagrange. Three days later, he was charged with three rapes in West London and Surrey.

On December 9, 2004, he was charged with sexually assaulting a lady in Twickenham sometime between 1995 and 1997. On March 2, 2006, Levi was arrested again, this time for Amélie Delagrange's murder and the attempted murders of Kate Sheedy and Irma Dragoshi. On May 25, 2006, Levi was charged with Marsha McDonnell’s murder.

On February 25, 2008, he was eventually found guilty of the murders of Marsha and Amélie, and the attempted murder of Sheedy. The next day, he received a life sentence, with a recommendation to never ever be released.

In August 2009, Surrey Police submitted the evidence they had of Levi Bellfield’s involvement in the murder of Milly Dowler. In March, 2010, Bellfield was charged with the abduction and murder of Milly and the attempted abduction of 12-year-old Rachel Cowles on March 20 2002.

Levi denied having murdered Milly, but was convicted of the murder on June 23, 2011. He thus received a second life sentence and became Britain’s only serial killer to have received two full life sentences.

On January 27, 2016, Surrey Police declared that Levi had confessed to raping and murdering Milly, but Levi later denied any such confession.

Levi now remains imprisoned at HMP Frankland, Durham, a men’s “Category A” prison. He was earlier imprisoned at the HM Prison, Wakefield.

Reportedly, Levi Bellfield converted to Islam in 2016 and is now known as Yusaf Rahim. Over the years, he has also earned the nicknames “The Bus Stop Stalker,” “The Bus Stop Killer,” and “The Hammer Man.”

In July 2020, Levi Bellfield’s story inspired an episode of the Channel 5 docu-series titled 5 Mistakes that Caught A Killer.

The three-part ITV series named Manhunt was inspired by the memoir of Colin Sutton, the chief investigator who found a connection between the murders of Marsha McDonnell and Amélie Delagrange and eventually led to Levi’s conviction. The program premiered in 2019.