The killer was born in Kirkdale
New ITV crime drama Until I Kill You follows the real life experiences of Delia Balmer, who was in a relationship with murderer John Sweeney. Sweeney, originally from Kirkdale, is serving life in prison for murdering his former girlfriends, cutting their bodies into pieces and dumping them in canals.
Sweeney, now in his 60s, was born in Kirkdale in 1956 and spent most of his early years living with his mother in Skelmersdale, where he trained as a carpenter and joiner. He married Anne Bramley in 1976 and the couple moved in together in Skelmersdale, where they had two children.
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Their marriage was troubled and this led to divorce in 1979. The two remarried two years later and in 1982, she went to police and told them he had threatened her. Following the divorce, Sweeney moved to London in the mid-1980s. It was here Sweeney met Melissa Halstead, a 33-year-old American model turned photographer. Sweeney followed his then-girlfriend to Vienna and Amsterdam.
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In 1990 Melissa’s remains were fished out of the Westersingel canal near Rotterdam. Despite her remains being found in 1990, Melissa was not formally identified until 2008 when her family in Ohio provided matching DNA. Sweeney’s next known victim was a woman from Liverpool whose body would be cut into pieces and dumped in a canal just like Melissa.
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Paula Fields was a 31-year-old mother from Halewood. In 2000 she was addicted to crack cocaine and her two children were taken into care. She was working on the streets of London as a sex worker. It was while she was in this vulnerable situation that Paula met John Sweeney, who was back in London and living under an assumed name.
Paula’s dismembered remains were found in the Regent’s Canal in 2001. Paula’s body had been cut up into 10 pieces and dumped into the canal in a number of holdalls. Paula’s feet were missing from the bodyparts found in the water.
Delia Balmer first met John Sweeney in a Camden pub in 1991. The pair got into a relationship after they shared their love of travel with one another. Sweeney got more controlling over Delia as the relationship progressed, criticising her appearance and ways she’d spend her free time.
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During their three year relationship, Delia was subjected to a terrifying campaign of violence at the hands of Sweeney. At one point, she claims he kept her prisoner in her flat and placed a gun to her head. Three days before Christmas in 1994, Delia got home from her job as a nurse to find Sweeney waiting for her with an axe. He attacked her with an axe and pulled out a rusty knife.
Following his attack on Delia Balmer in 1994, John went on the run but was finally arrested six years later at a central London building site after the discovery of Paula Fields’ remains. Police found clues of his hatred of women at his home when they discovered a hoard of more than 300 violent paintings and poems. One, entitled the Scalp Hunter, depicted a female victim and a bloody axe.