The trial of Levi Bellfield has heard how 13-year-old Milly Dowler vanished 'in the blink of an eye' as she walked home from school in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, on 21 March 2002. Bellfield, 42, formerly of West Drayton, west London, denies murder and kidnapping. Her remains were found six months later in woods in Yateley Heath, Hampshire.
Prosecutor Brian Altman QC told the Old Bailey that the day before Milly's disappearance, a man resembling Bellfield tried to abduct another 11-year-old schoolgirl, Rachel Cowles, in Shepperton, Surrey. He offered her a lift but she declined. Mr Altman said there was 'no doubt' Bellfield was responsible for both incidents.
CCTV showed a red car Bellfield was using leaving the area within 22 minutes of Milly's abduction. Bellfield and his family had rented a flat 'literally just yards away from where Milly was last seen alive', Mr Altman said. The day after the abduction, Bellfield moved his family with 'indecent haste'.
Milly had had an ordinary school day and called her father to say she was on her way home. She was last seen walking along Station Avenue in Walton-on-Thames. Mr Altman said she 'had simply disappeared in a flash from a street in a suburban town in broad daylight'. Her remains were later found by mushroom pickers 25 miles away; cause of death could not be determined.
Bellfield, a former wheelclamper, was convicted in 2008 of murdering two women and attempting to murder a third in west London. He killed Marsha McDonnell, 19, and Amelie Delagrange, 22, by striking them on the head, and ran over Kate Sheedy, 18. The trial continues.
