Paula Fields murder accused: John Sweeney appears by videolink at the Old Bailey

Friday April 30, 2010

By DAVID ST GEORGE at the OLD BAILEY

A CONSTRUCTION work accused of murdering two women whose bodies were recovered from canal made a brief Old Bailey appearance today.

John Sweeney, seen over a video link with Belmarsh Prison, was only asked to confirm his identity in the three minute hearing before being remanded in custody.

Arrested on Monday, he will be in court for a fuller hearing on August 4.

Sweeney, 53, of Charteris Road, Finsbury Park, was not asked to enter a plea by Judge Brian Barker QC, who denied to grant bail, even though it was not sought by defence lawyer Melanie Krudy.

He is accused of murdering Paula Fields, 31, a mother of two from Highbury Grove, Islington, whose dismembered body parts were found in six holdalls dumped in the Regent's Canal in Camden Town in February 2001.

He is further charged with killing Melissa Halstead, 36, an American model and photographer, whose headless remains were not identified for 18 years. Parts of her body were recovered from the Westersingel canal in Amsterdam in 1992. She was killed in 1990.

Cheryl James, counsel for the prosecution, said “a large amount of evidence” from Holland was still awaited, and much of it had to be interpreted.