The Investigation

Artistic styleings that gave him away

Police investigating the dismembered bodies of two young women are presented with a particular gruesome challenge; the bodies were missing their heads and hands, making identification an almost insurmountable problem. It would take years of detective work in the UK and the Netherlands, forensic advances and the discovery of Sweeney’s macabre confessional artwork to establish the truth.Detective Chief Inspector Norman McKinlay from the Metropolitan police had led a successful investigation against Sweeney for the attacks in 1994 against his ex-girlfriend, Delia Balmer. Delia had survived the murderous attack in London but lost a finger and suffered horrendous scars to her chest.When Sweeney is arrested in 2001 for his attack on Delia Balmer, police discover gruesome artwork that links him to the murders of Melissa Halstead and Paula Fields. Detectives begin to build their case against Sweeney.

It is a remarkably tough investigation: no forensics, no confession, and no witnesses. However, police are convinced that the court would be persuaded that Sweeney’s artwork can be viewed as a confession of sorts.With Sweeney refusing to co-operate with the police, his artwork and poems tell the police all he isn’t saying about his crimes. He had drawn a picture of Melissa, naked, headless and handless with the ankles and wrists bound.One painting featured Miss Halstead’s gravestone – but Sweeney had covered it with correction fluid. Once investigators treat it with ultra-violet light, it reveals the inscription: ‘RIP Melissa Halsted born on 12th December 56’ (sic). The word ‘died’ is followed by a dash.There was one significant feature the Fields and Halstead cases had in common: both women had been in a relationship with Sweeney at the time they went missing.