Was Brit double killer the Butcher of Mons?

Belgian crime expert calls for probe into monster Sweeney

- TOM PETTIFOR

A BRITISH double killer should be investigated over the unsolved "Butcher of Mons" murders in Belgium, a cold case expert says.

The dismembered remains of five women were found in and around the city in the mid-90s when carpenter John Sweeney, 66, was on the run in Europe.

Sweeney, played by Shaun Evans in gripping ITV drama Until I Kill You, had already murdered and dismembered at least one woman in neighbouring Holland.

Kurt Wertelaers is now calling for the killer, known as the Scalp Hunter, to be investigated over a total of eight unsolved murders.

The founder of Bureau van Meerbeeck, Belgium's cold case investigation bureau, said: "A cross-border investigation involving the UK, the Netherlands and Belgium would be very interesting. I'm not saying all unsolved the cases are linked, but we at least should try to figure out if some are or are not. Killers don't stop at borders."

Merseysideborn Sweeney killed and chopped up his American model girlfriend Melissa Halstead, 33, in Amsterdam in 1990 after pursuing her across Europe.

ALIASES

He went on to attack ex Delia Balmer, now 71, with an axe outside her home in Kentish Town, North London, on December 22, 1994.

He was on bail at the time after a previous assault on the nurse, played by Anna Maxwell Martin in the TV show.