Schoolgirl's killer '˜should not have been let loose in society'

Yesterday, for the first time, Bellfield, who now calls himself Yusuf Rahim, admitted raping and killing schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

The 13-year-old went missing as she walked home from school in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, in 2002. Her remains were discovered in Hampshire six months later. Bellfield was found guilty of her murder in 2011.

He was already in prison after being convicted in 2008 of murdering two women in west London and attempting to murder a third.

Following that conviction, the Chichester Observer reported how Bellfield was a notorious and uncompromising clamper at Chichester Gate car park, working for Borough Enforcement Parking for just over a month from the end of January, 2004.

Bellfield was pictured smiling in the Observer in February, 2004, after being caught on camera patrolling the car park. During the lead-up to Bellfield’s arrest in November 2004, two detectives from the Metropolitan Police visited the Observer office to trawl through back issues of the paper relating to his work as a car clamper.

In February, 2008, the Observer featured an interview with David Worcester, who had been a victim of the car clampers – one of whom was Bellfield – four years previously.

“He was a very unpleasant man,” said Mr Worcester. “He was extremely aggressive and unco-operative. He was the sort of person who really should not have been let loose in society.”

His wife Phyllida came to his rescue on the day as he did not have enough money to pay the £155 fine. She said: “He was a very aggressive individual. He was not going to budge an inch on getting the money. He was just a thug. It is not something you expect to find on the streets of Chichester. He was a nasty piece of work.”

A month after stories about the clampers had featured in the paper by the then Observer reporter Richard Andrews, Chichester Gate suspended the clamping.

Mr Andrews said: “They were ruthless in their approach, targeted the most vulnerable users such as the disabled and elderly and chose to use no discretion at all.”

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