The Canal Killer:John Sweeney·Paula Fields·Melissa Halstead

In 1990 John Sweeney was traveling in Europe with Melissa Halstead, an American photographer. That year a woman’s torso was recovered from a canal in Rotterdam, but for 18 years no one could put a name to her. In 1994, in north London, Sweeney attacked his former girlfriend Delia Balmer, a nurse, with an axe. She survived, and he fled.

In January 2001, Paula Fields, 31, was reported missing in London. Sweeney had been in a relationship with her. The next month, bags containing parts of her body were pulled from Regent’s Canal, and in March Sweeney was arrested over the attack on Delia. He was later given life sentences for trying to kill her. Detectives kept working on the murders, studying his paintings and writings, which showed violence against women. In 2008, DNA testing identified the remains from Rotterdam as Melissa Halstead’s.

In April 2011, a jury at the Old Bailey convicted Sweeney of murdering Paula and Melissa, and he received a whole-life order. Police believed he might have killed other women but could not prove it. Delia Balmer’s ordeal was later dramatized in the 2024 ITV series Until I Kill You. Sweeney died of cancer at HMP Whitemoor on August 14, 2026, at 69. He never revealed what he had done with the rest of his victims’ remains.