Levi Bellfield’s ex says ITV's Manhunt has given her flashbacks to killer saying 'all blondes are s**gs and deserve to die'

Now Bellfield’s former girlfriend, Joe Collings, 47, has revealed the ITV drama brought back memories of one particularly chilling clue to her ex’s vile crimes.

“While we were together I found a women’s magazine, like Cosmo or Vogue, in a black bin bag in a pocket cut out of his jacket,” she told Sun Online. “It was hanging in my garage and I was looking for something else.

“The faces of all the blonde women in the magazine had been stabbed.

“I went mad. We had one of the biggest fights ever – a huge punch up. I wanted to know what it was, and told him he was a sick c***.

“He went mad, said all blondes were slags and deserve to die.

“I’ve always been blonde – it wasn’t until I finished with him that I went brown. I went the complete opposite. I just wanted to be a different person.

“Seeing it just brought everything back. I think he hated blondes as his mum had jet black hair and he idolised her, really bizarrely. She was the female version of him, and was vile.”

Joe – who was routinely raped and beaten by the man who fathered two of her children – later took the magazine to the police, as revealed yesterday in our exclusive extract from the memoirs of DCI Colin Sutton, the man who finally tracked serial killer Levi Bellfield down.

The detective – played by Martin Clunes in the series – pieced together evidence to convict Bellfield of the murders of Amélie Delagrange and Marsha McDonnell before finally linking him to the death of 13-year-old Milly Dowler.

In his book Manhunt, DCI Sutton revealed that Bellfield’s white van was the first link to the murder of French student Amelie, 22, who was battered to death on Twickenham Green in 2004.

But Joe said he kept her well away from the van, which was seen in the vicinity of Amelie’s murder.

“I didn’t go in the van and wasn’t with him but I knew of it,” she said. “I followed him one time and he kept it in a lock up in Bristol.

“He didn’t care about cleaning it – he just thought he was untouchable so didn’t bother. He drove a different car all the time.”

Police soon linked the murder to that of Marsha McDonnell, 19, who died from head wounds in Hampton yards from her home after getting off a bus in 2003.

DCI Sutton then realised that Bellfield had been living in Walton-On-Thames when 13-year-old Milly Dowler was abducted and murdered in 2002.

Horse-groomer Joe recently revealed Bellfield’s obsession with schoolgirls and compared his house to a “nursery”, because it was full of 15-year-olds.

She helped shop Bellfield by going to police with evidence. He was convicted of the murders of Amelie and Marsha in 2008 and of Milly Dowler's murder in 2011.

Even though she cooperated with ITV on the making of the show Joe says it has been bringing back horrific memories.

"The whole episode was hard to watch but I have to, for my own peace of mind.” She said.

“So far they've got everything right and I hope it's kept as it is for the next two episodes.

"It takes me back to the time I was interviewed by the police, sitting with them for so many hours. It was mentally and physically draining, and the show just reminded me of how exhausting it was.

"Even when the show's finished, it will never go away. It's never going to end. Because the drama is on, old documentaries are now re-running.

“On every channel there's something about him – you can't get away from it, and I never will. It's just something I will have to live with."

Joe – who finally found the courage to leave Bellfield after he beat her up when she was pregnant with their second child in 1997 – revealed that she watched the episode with their daughter.

"I watched some of it with my daughter, who said it was weird to watch, as she used to play on Twickenham Green as a child as they went to school nearby.

“I wouldn't let him around them, but Levi used to stand on the other side of the green and watch our son play football there too. It bought back everything and it's bizarre. It was harder for me, as she was so young at the time.”

But she says Levi,  who would want his crimes to be glorified, won’t be happy with the show.

"Levi will be annoyed he wasn't featured as much in the first episode,” she says. “He'll probably say there are things wrong. Little things annoy him, but he'll love the fact it's now a drama, and it's all about him.

“I can understand why people are annoyed he's being given airtime – I've always said it should never have been made into a drama.”

Joe has nothing but praise for DCI Sutton – and says Martin Clunes carries off the role well.

"To start off with I thought Martin Clunes was a bit stiff, but I actually don't think they could have cast a better person to play Colin Sutton. Martin Clunes is a brilliant actor, and so like Colin in the show. He properly researched the role.

"Colin has always said if it hadn't have been for me going into that incident room as a key witness they would have got there eventually, but they wouldn't have known half of what they did.

"In real life Colin is a top bloke. I've met him a few times over the years. A lovely genuine guy – a real gentleman, and so committed to what he did."

Manhunt concludes tonight on ITV at 9pm

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