Regent's Canal killing is denied by John Sweeney

Published: 05 August, 2010
by JOSIE HINTON

A MAN accused of killing a 31-year-old mother and dumping her dismembered body in the Regent’s Canal in Camden Town denied the murder at the Old Bailey yesterday (Wednesday).

John Sweeney, of no fixed address, appeared via prison videolink and was remanded in custody to face trial on March 1.

He is alleged to have murdered Paul Fields, a mother of two from Highbury Grove, Islington, whose dismembered body parts were found in six holdalls dumped in the Regent’s Canal  in February 2001.

He is also charged with killing Melissa Halstead, 33, a model and photographer, whose remains were discovered in the Westersingel waterway in Rotterdam in 1992 and not identified for 18 years.