Horrifying murder
Paula Field’s fatal encounter with Scalp Hunter John Sweeney explained
Paula had only known John for three months before he murdered her
PAULA Fields was a 31-year-old from Liverpool who was murdered and dumped in a canal by her boyfriend John Sweeney.
Paula was the second victim of the man known as the Scalp Hunter, who had previously murdered Melissa Halstead. Here’s everything you need to know about her.
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Murdered by the Scalp Hunter
Paula was living in North London when she first crossed paths with the Scalp Hunter.
She was a mother of three and was making money as a sex worker at the time, while also battling an addiction to crack cocaine.
Within three months of knowing John and two years of being in London, she vanished without a trace.
Her body was later found in Regent’s Canal in 2001, but it was missing her head and her hands.
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Police speculated that this was part of an attempt to obscure the body’s identity.
Years later, when John was revealed as the killer, Paula’s sister talked about the time before her sister had lived in London.
She said: "For 29 years Paula was a normal girl, a loving mother, daughter, sister and an aunt.
“We know she is never coming back and we never said goodbye."
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John Sweeney’s first victim
Paula was John’s second victim, but his first was also a former partner of his.
Melissa Halstead was originally from Ohio, USA, but had moved to London to work as a freelance photographer.
John claimed to have met her in December 1986 and claimed in court that she was unpredictable when she was drinking.
He was arrested in 1988 when he hit her in the head with the back of a hammer, but the pair continued their relationship after he only received a suspended sentence for his crime.
When Melissa’s work visa ran out, the couple went on a trip around Europe.
Melissa was murdered in Rotterdam, Holland, in 1990 before John dumped her body in a canal.
As he would later do with Paula’s body, he separated the head and the hands from Melissa’s body before dumping it.
Like Paula, her head and hands were never found.
Melissa’s body would later be identified through DNA testing, conducted almost two decades later in 2008.
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John Sweeney’s arrest
John went on the run in 1994, after attacking a nurse that he was in a relationship with.
Unlike his previous victims, Delia Balmer survived her encounter with her ex-partner.
The Scalp Hunter was given a life sentence for attacking Delia and didn’t even leave his cell at HMP Belmarsh, when he was sentenced for his murders of Melissa and Paula in 2011.
In court, several poems written by the killer were used as evidence.
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: A bad trip in Vienna, blood spilled, Amsterdam was not much better, blood killed.
: "Poor old Melissa, chopped her up in bits, food to feed the fish, Am*dam was the pits."
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