Double murderer John Sweeney has died in prison without ever revealing where he hid his victims' body parts - including their heads. Sweeney, 69, was given a whole-life order at the Old Bailey in 2011 for the murders of his ex-girlfriends Paula Fields and Melissa Halstead. Their bodies were dumped in canals in London and The Netherlands and discovered a decade apart.
Death at HMP Whitemoor
Sweeney is understood to have died at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire on August 14. A Prison Service spokesperson said: “These were horrific crimes and our thoughts remain with the victims and their loved ones.
“As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman is investigating, and it would be inappropriate to comment further before the conclusion of its findings.”
Crimes and victims
Sweeney, a carpenter, boasted of his violence in lurid paintings and verse found at his home and, in one picture, showing a bloody axe. He also branded himself the Scalp Hunter.
Following his conviction in 2011, Ms Halstead's family described her as being an “intelligent and very attractive young woman” who left the US in order to “seek her fortune.” The statement added: “The family's hope for the future is that John Sweeney will never be allowed free to carry out such crimes again.”
Paula's sister added: “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.”
Additional attack and missing remains
In addition to the two murders, he also launched an axe attack on a girlfriend, nurse Delia Balmer, who was only saved when a neighbour arrived to help. Ex model, Miss Halstead, 33, from the US, was killed in 1990. Her dismembered body was thrown into a canal in Rotterdam in The Netherlands. She was only identified 18 years later by DNA, although her head and hands have never been found.
The body parts of Paula Fields, 31, were found in six holdalls floating in the Regent’s Canal in Camden, north London, in February 2001. Her head, hands and feet are still missing.
Ms Balmer wrote a memoir about her near-fatal experience living with Sweeney which was adapted into a television miniseries called Until I Kill You by ITV in 2024.
