Serial killer John Sweeney, convicted of dismembering two women, dies in custody

John Sweeney, aged 69, died on 14 August at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire after serving a whole-life sentence for the murders of two former girlfriends. Paula Fields, 31, was slain in London and her remains were discovered in six floating holdalls in Regent's Canal, while Melissa Halstead, 33, from the United States, was killed in 1990 and her dismembered body was later recovered from a canal in Rotterdam, identified only after 18 years.

Police had found hundreds of violent paintings and poems in Sweeney's north-London home, including depictions of a blood-stained axe and self-references as the “Scalp Hunter.” He had previously been imprisoned for a 1994 axe assault on ex-girlfriend Delia Balmer, whose memoir inspired the 2024 ITV drama “Until I Kill You.” A prison service spokesperson called the crimes “horrific” and expressed condolences to the victims’ families. As with all inmate deaths, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman is conducting a formal inquiry.