Who were the Scalp Hunter victims murdered by John Sweeney? Remembrance of the women who lost their lives

John Sweeney, once considered one of the most dangerous men in Britain, was jailed for life in 2011 after committing gruesome murders and attacks on three of his former partners.

The former carpenter, now 67, was sentenced to life imprisonment for slaughtering two of his girlfriends and dumping their remains in the city canals of Rotterdam and London. He is also suspected of murdering three lovers, who were never found.

Prior to his arrest, the ‘Scalp Hunter’ also carried out a horrific ax and hammer attack on another girlfriend, Delia Balmer, now 71, who was scarred for life in 1994.

Thirty years after Ms Balmer was almost killed in the attack, she will appear in a documentary that will revisit her experiences of living with one of Britain’s most notorious serial killers.

I Survived a Serial Killer: The Delia Balmer Story airs tonight at 10pm on Channel 5 as the first part of a docuseries capturing first-hand accounts of those who survived society’s most depraved killers.

As the documentary revisits one of the country’s most blood-curdling cases of femicide, FEMAIL remembers the women who tragically died at the hands of the ‘Canal Killer’.

John Sweeney, once considered one of the most dangerous men in Britain, was jailed for life in 2011 after committing gruesome murders and attacks on three of his former partners.

Melissa Halstead

Melissa Halstead was an American-born model, originally from Ohio, whose torso was discovered in a Dutch canal on May 3, 1990.

It wasn’t until 2008 that her remains were identified using an advanced DNA test, paving the way for Sweeney to be charged with murder.

Ms Halstead met a recently divorced Sweeney in 1986 while working internationally as a model and photographer.

About a year into their relationship, he had been charged with domestic violence against her at least once, and was issued a number of fines until the couple moved to Austria.

Shortly after her move, Sweeney was jailed for attacking Halstead with an axe, leaving her with a head wound.

After being released and ordered to leave Austria, the couple settled in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

On May 3, 1990, Mrs. Halstead’s dismembered body was found in a bag floating on a canal in Rotterdam.

It later emerged that Sweeney transported Mrs Halstead’s body from Amsterdam to Rotterdam in a duffel bag

Sweeney, who has a history of violence against women, returned to Britain in 1991 where he struck up a relationship with nurse Delia Balmer before attempting to kill her with an ax in 1994.

Melissa Halstead was an American-born model, originally from Ohio, whose torso was discovered in a Dutch canal on May 3, 1990

An undated Metropolitan Police handout photo of a drawing by John Sweeney, which prosecutors say is a self-portrait of him and Melissa Halstead

An undated Metropolitan Police handout photo of a note seized from John Sweeney in 2001 referencing Melissa Halstead’s death before she was identified

Metropolitan police undated photo of the bag containing Melissa’s body at the location where it was found on the Westersingel in Rotterdam

Delia Balmer

In 1994, Delia Balmer was hacked to within an inch of her life by Sweeney, who attacked her with a hammer and an axe.

The survivor, now 71, reveals how she met Sweeney in a pub in Camden, north London, in 1991 and talks about the violence that infiltrated their relationship soon afterwards.

Prior to the attempt on her life, Sweeney had held her captive and raped her repeatedly during a week-long ordeal, for which he was arrested but released on bail.

Mrs Balmer told how he tied her to the bed and threatened her with a gun and a knife, warning her that if she screamed he would cut out her tongue.

After his release, he immediately tracked down Ms Balmer – with whom he had been in a relationship for three years – and attacked her with a wooden ax and a dull hammer, causing her to lose a finger and suffer several other injuries.

Amazingly, retired nurse Mrs Balmer eerily predicted that she would be Sweeney’s next target before she knew of his murderous past when she found a ‘body disposal kit’.

At the time, she had no idea that he had already killed a former partner, Melissa Halstead, and would also kill Paula Fields.

In 1994, Delia Balmer was hacked to within an inch of her life by Sweeney, who attacked her with a hammer and an axe.

Mrs. Balmer eerily predicted she would be Sweeney’s next target before she knew of his murderous past when she found a ‘body-discovery kit’

Paula Fields

Sweeney was on the run for six years and murdered 31-year-old mother Paula Fields, whose body was found in Regent’s Canal, London.

The body of Ms Fields, a prostitute with a crack cocaine addiction, was cut into six pieces and stuffed into overnight bags.

The Halewood woman’s head, hands and feet have never been found.

Prosecutors said during the killer’s trial in 2011 that this was a deliberate attempt to avoid being identified and expose Sweeney as responsible for the murders.

Sweeney fled for six years and murdered 31-year-old mother Paula Fields, whose body was found in Regent’s Canal, London.

Potential victims

In 1994, detectives attempted to interview Sweeney about the unsolved murders of two women and the disappearance of two others.

He has previous convictions for violent attacks on ex-girlfriends and is suspected of taking revenge on women when they rejected him.

Two South American ex-girlfriends from the late 1990s have mysteriously disappeared, although there is no evidence that they were harmed and no one has reported them missing.

The police are trying to track down the Brazilian Leani and the Colombian Maria through their consulates, but only have the first names of the women.

Last year it was reported that Sweeney “holds the key” to at least three cold case murders of unidentified women.

His name has been linked to some of the cases included in an Interpol appeal seeking to discover the names of 22 women – each of whom are suspected murder victims from across Europe since 1976.

Three of the people depicted during Operation Identify Me were women who were beheaded and whose remains were left in the canals of the Netherlands.

Sweeney worked in the country in the 1990s and one of his victims, 33-year-old model Melissa Halstead, was found there.

Former Metropolitan Police detective Colin Sutton has urged Dutch police to investigate the possible link, pointing to similarities between the killing methods.

“The Met will have a lot of information about his movements,” he told The Sun. ‘They will be happy to share that.

I Survived a Serial Killer: The Delia Balmer Story airs on Channel 5 bee 10pm tonight.