“Canal killer” John Sweeney has died in prison without ever revealing what he did with the heads of his two murder victims.
Sweeney, 69, was one of Britain’s most notorious serial killers. He was jailed for murdering two former girlfriends, Melissa Halstead and Paula Fields, whose dismembered bodies were discovered in canals in England and the Netherlands. Sweeney is understood to have died at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire on August 14 after a battle with cancer.
He called himself the “Scalp Hunter” after disposing of the women’s bodies without their heads, hands and feet. Police also suspected he may have been responsible for the disappearances of other former partners, although he was never charged over those cases.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “These were horrific crimes and our thoughts remain with the victims and their loved ones. As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman is investigating, and it would be inappropriate to comment further before the conclusion of its findings.”
Halstead, a 33-year-old former American model, was killed in 1990. Her mutilated body was later discovered in a canal in Rotterdam, Netherlands. She was identified through DNA 18 years later, but her head and hands were never found.
Fields, 31, was killed more than a decade later. Her body was cut into six pieces and placed in holdalls before being dumped in Regent’s Canal in Camden, north London, in February 2001. Her head, hands and feet have never been recovered. Sweeney had also attacked another girlfriend, nurse Delia Balmer, with an axe. She survived after a neighbour intervened, while Sweeney fled and remained on the run for six years.
When police eventually arrested him, they discovered disturbing drawings depicting Satan, women’s body parts and mutilated victims. One sketch titled “The Scalp Hunter” showed a female skull hanging from a belt. Sweeney, a carpenter, had also written violent poems and produced paintings that appeared to reflect his obsession with murder and dismemberment.
Despite being questioned about three other former girlfriends who had disappeared, detectives never charged him in connection with their cases. Balmer later wrote a memoir about her experience with Sweeney, which was adapted into ITV’s 2024 television miniseries Until I Kill You.