TRUE CRIME
Who is John Sweeney? Canal Serial killer dubbed the Scalp Hunter & Cana Killer in C5’s The Delia Balmer Story
Delia Balmer is the only known surviving victim of Sweeney
CHANNEL 5’s chilling new documentary, I Survived a Serial Killer tells the story of how Delia Balmer survived a relationship with the serial killer John Sweeney.
The film explores the haunting stories of Sweeney's known victims, including American model Melissa Halstead and mother of three Paula Fields.
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Who is the ‘Scalp Hunter’ serial killer John Sweeney?
John Sweeney is a convicted killer notoriously known for his gruesome murders in the UK and the Netherlands.
He has been in prison serving a life sentence tariff without parole since 2011.
John Sweeney has been dubbed the “Scalp Hunter” due to the devastating nature of his crimes.
He was given the name due to one of his many gruesome sketches depicting his murders.
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Sweeney was born in Kirkdale in 1956 and married Anne Bramley in 1976.
The couple had two children but went on to get divorced in 1979.
The pair got back together and remarried two years later, but in 1982 Anne told police her husband had threatened her.
Sweeney moved to London in the mid-eighties when the couple got divorced again.
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He is serving time in prison for the murder of two former girlfriends whose bodies he cut up and dumped in canals in both Rotterdam in the Netherlands and London.
It is believed that he could be connected to multiple other deaths from across Europe going back to 1976.
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Who did John Sweeney kill?
Sweeney was convicted for killing two of his former girlfriends.
He was working in the Netherlands in the 1990s and one of his victims, 33-year-old model Melissa Halstead, was found there.
He killed US born, Melissa, whose remains were found in a Rotterdam canal in 1990.
It has been reported that her head and hands have never been found.
These were terrible, wicked crimes.
Judge Mr Justice Saunders
10 years later, Sweeney killed 31-year-old mum Paula Fields and dumped her remains in Regent's Canal in London.
Sweeney was tracked down by police before being convicted of the attempted murder of another girlfriend, Delia Balmer, in 1994.
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Survivor
The pair were together for three years during the nineties, during which Balmer was a victim of Sweeney’s violence.
Just before Christmas in 1994, he attacked Balmer with an axe which left her with stab wounds and cut off her left little finger.
“These were terrible, wicked crimes.”
Credit: Judge Mr Justice Saunders
Delia Balmer is the only known surviving victim of Sweeney.
She went on to write a memoir called Living With a Serial Killer, detailing the domestic abuse she suffered at the hands of Sweeney.
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The Documentary
Episode 1 of Channel 5’s new factual documentary, I Survived a Serial Killer: The Delia Balmer Story airs on October 22, 2024.
In the documentary, Delia Balmer reveals how she met Sweeney in 1991 at a pub in Camden and speaks about the violence that she endured during their relationship.
Viewers can watch, I Survived a Serial Killer: The Delia Balmer Story on the My 5 app or on Channel 5 between 10pm - 11:30pm, on Tuesday October 22.
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Where is John Sweeney now?
Sweeney is now serving a whole life tariff in prison.
After spending years on the run from police, Sweeney was arrested for the attempted murder of Balmer in 2001.
In 2011 he was convicted of the two murders.
While sentencing him, Judge Mr Justice Saunders said: "These were terrible, wicked crimes.
“The heads of the victims having been removed, it is impossible to be certain how they were killed.
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“The mutilation of the bodies is a serious aggravating feature of the murders.
"Not only does it reveal the cold-blooded nature of the killer, but it has added greatly to the distress of the families to know that parts of their loved ones have never been recovered."
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