‘Predator’ denies killing Milly Dowler

Milly, 13, disappeared “in the blink of an eye” when she walked within yards of where burly Levi Bellfield was living. The day before, Bellfield had tried to lure Rachel Cowles, 11, into his car, it was alleged.

But Rachel, who like Milly was dressed in her school uniform and had her hair in a pigtail, escaped when the car drove off as a police car approached, the jury was told yesterday. Rachel, who is now 21, recalled that the man appeared to be bald with a “chubby” head which she said was “sort of round and large”.

Milly allegedly fell into Bellfield’s clutches after taking a different route home from her Surrey school so she could eat chips with her friends. Her remains were found six months later in September 2002 in woods in Yateley, Hampshire, 25 miles away. Her body had decomposed and it was not possible to say how she died, said Brian Altman, QC, prosecuting.

Bellfield left his flat in Collingwood Place, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, the day after Milly vanished on March 21, 2002. Mr Altman said Bellfield went on to kill two women and attempt to kill a third in little more than two years.

Bellfield was convicted in 2008 of murdering Marsha McDonnell, 19, in February 2003 and Amelie Delagrange, 22, in August 2004. He attempted to murder Kate Sheedy, 18, in May 2004.

Mr Altman said Milly, whose birth name was Amanda, spent the day at school in Weybridge, Surrey, before taking a train with friends and spent time with them in the station cafe at Walton-on-Thames, where they ate chips. Then she began to walk to her home about a mile away along Station Avenue where 22 minutes later, Bellfield had driven from an access road to his flat.

Mr Altman said: “Within moments of leaving the station, she vanished – gone in the blink of an eye. Milly had simply disappeared in a flash from a street in a suburban town in broad daylight. This was of course every parent’s worst nightmare. For six long months the Dowler family suffered the excruciating pain of not knowing what had become of their daughter.”

Bellfield, 42, formerly of West Drayton, west London, denies Milly’s kidnap and murder on March 21, 2002. He also denies the attempted kidnap of 11-year-old Rachel Cowles in Shepperton, Surrey, on March 20, 2002.

The trial continues today.