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Levi Bellfield seeks leave to appeal against Milly Dowler murder conviction

PUBLISHED February 8, 2012
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Convicted killer's application is due to be heard by a panel of three judges at the court of appeal

Levi Bellfield is due to seek permission to appeal against his conviction for the kidnap and murder of Milly Dowler.

Bellfield's application for leave to appeal is due to be heard by a panel of three judges ? the lord chief justice, Lord Judge, Mr Justice Wyn Williams and Mr Justice Maddison ? at the court of appeal.

Bellfield was given a whole-life term in June last year after being found guilty at the Old Bailey of abducting and killing 13-year-old Milly, who was snatched from the street while on her way to her home in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, in March 2002.

Bellfield, who was 43 when convicted, was already serving a whole-life term for the murders of Marsha McDonnell in 2003 and Amelie Delagrange in 2004 and the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy. The trial judge, Mr Justice Wilkie, described Bellfield as a "cruel and pitiless killer".

Bellfield yawned when found guilty of Milly's murder and refused to return to the Old Bailey a day later when the sentence was handed down. Wilkie said Bellfield had "not had the courage" to come to court.

Milly's body was found six months after she disappeared, in a wood in Yateley Heath, Hampshire. Experts could not say how she died.

Bellfield, who worked as a bouncer and wheelclamper, lived 50 yards from where the teenager vanished but did not become a suspect until he was arrested in London for the other crimes in 2004.

Surrey police apologised for errors that allowed Bellfield to go undetected for more than two years, during which time he killed McDonnell, 19, and Delagrange, 22, and attempted to murder 18-year-old Sheedy.

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