Serial killer John Sweeney, known as the "Scalp Hunter," died in prison aged 69 last week after serving a whole-life sentence for murder. Convicted in 2011 of murdering two former girlfriends, Melissa Halstead and Paula Fields, he disposed of their dismembered remains in canals across London and the Netherlands. The case remains significant because Sweeney refused to disclose the locations of his victims' remains, thereby denying families closure or the possibility of a dignified burial.

Halstead, a 33-year-old American photographer and model, was discovered dismembered in a Rotterdam canal in May 1990, though her remains were not identified for 18 years; Fields, aged 31, was found in February 2001 in ten pieces inside six holdalls floating in Regent's Canal, north London. Sweeney displayed contemptuous arrogance throughout his trial at the Old Bailey, wearing earplugs to block evidence and refusing to leave his cell for sentencing. Believed to have murdered numerous women over decades, the Liverpool-born carpenter kept violent paintings and poems at his bedsit alongside weapons including sawn-off shotguns, and the investigating detective expressed regret that Sweeney carried his final secrets to the grave.