Canal killer John Sweeney, who dismembered victims, dies in jail

A double killer who murdered and dismembered two women before dumping their bodies in canals in London and the Netherlands has died in prison.

John Sweeney, 69, was serving a whole-life sentence after being convicted in 2011 of the murders of his former girlfriends.

Paula Fields, 31, was killed in London. Parts of her body were found in six holdalls floating in Regent’s Canal in Camden in February 2001. Her head, hands and feet were never recovered.

Melissa Halstead, 33, from the US, was killed in 1990. Her dismembered body was found in a canal in Rotterdam, but she was not identified for 18 years.

Sweeney is understood to have died at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire on 14 August.

Police found hundreds of violent paintings and poems at Sweeney’s north London home, including artwork depicting a bloodied axe and references to himself as the “Scalp Hunter”.

Police suspected he had murdered other former partners who had not been seen for years.

He had previously been jailed for attempting to murder former girlfriend Delia Balmer in a 1994 axe attack in north London.

Balmer later wrote a memoir about her experiences, which was adapted into the ITV drama Until I Kill You in 2024.

A prison service spokesperson described the crimes as “horrific” and said their thoughts remained with the victims and their loved ones.

As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman is investigating.

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