All language subtitles for Until.I.Kill.You.The.Real.Story.2024.720p.WEBRip.400MB.x264-GalaxyRG.srt - eng(2)

MUSIC: 'Clair De Lune'
by Debussy

I was very quiet and shy.

Didn't have proper friends,
and I was scared of kids.

My mum took me to the ballet.

I've always danced when I could.

If I travel and there's music,
I'll dance.

I'm a perfectionist, but my life
is the opposite of perfect.

It is the sort of thing you read
in the papers or watch in a movie.

It doesn't happen for real,
but it did.

It happened to me.

ANNA MAXWELL MARTIN: What happened

was a relationship
with John Sweeney,

a man who would turn out to be
a serial killer.

Sweeney fears rejection.

And the ultimate form
of rejecting them

is to take their life.

A man who triggered
a decade's long investigation

that would crisscross Europe.

REPORTER: 'They fear the killer

'may have kept parts of body
as a grisly trophy.'

It was the Rotterdam cold case
investigation team,

"I need to speak someone
about a man called John Sweeney."

It was a eureka moment.

A man who documented his crimes
in terrifying artwork.

They're just horrific.
It's utter contempt for his victims.

Those things were crucial.

He was telling us about his life
and his relationships.

A man who could have
other gruesome secrets

yet to be uncovered...

Chances are very slim
that there are only two victims.

We still have a lot
of unidentified bodies.

..and a man brought to justice
by the determination of one woman.

John Sweeney told them things.

So he could use them
to punish me more.

And he enjoyed that.

As far as I was concerned...
WHOOSH

..I died that night.

PRODUCER: Before we start, Delia,
how are you...

how are you feeling about this?

I'm nervous about the interview,
but talking about it,

it doesn't bother me
because I want the truth known.

I've never been able
to get my true story out properly.

Growing up in America,

Delia Balmer had always dreamed
of becoming a dancer.

Instead, she spent years travelling,
leaving her family behind in Texas.

I remember when she was young,
she didn't want kids.

She wrote down what she...
wanted to do in her life,

and she said
she just wants to travel.

My dad would get three weeks off
for vacation,

It made me always want to travel.

I liked the idea of being free.

I was all mixed up
when I first came to London.

I was a mess,
and I didn't know what I was doing.

I started an auxiliary nurse,

and that was OK,
and was a student nurse.

I was still shy, and I've never,
ever had much confidence.

The ground war in the Gulf
has begun.

We got called a national disgrace.

REPORTER: 'Exactly six weeks
since Terry Waite arrived home...'

'This was a well-planned attack
aimed at the centre of government.'

DELIA: It was a bank holiday Monday.
I went to the Hawley Arms pub.

They had a good jukebox there.

And I was sitting at the bar,
and then he came over to my side,

stood next to me.

Thought you could do with a hand.
What are you drinking?

Oh, er... a pint of real ale,
please.

Thank you.
Let me give you some money.

That's all right.
Go on, I've got this. Enjoy.

"Would you like a beer?"
And I thought, "Oh, well, I'm bored.

"And he's somebody to talk to."

He was hippy looking.

He told me that he worked
in Germany and whatever,

and I thought,
"Oh, he's a traveller."

And he sounded so carefree
and he could do, like,

what he liked, and he was free,
and I like the idea of being free.

I wasn't looking for a boyfriend.

But me, into travel so much,
that was the attraction.

John Sweeney was a carpenter
from Merseyside.

He'd go off to Europe
to work as a carpenter.

He bought me the pink silk cushion
with "Ich liebe dich" written on it.

Before long, he'd moved in with her.

When he came to stay, he...

little by little,
he made all this furniture.

So this is the massage table.

This was the last thing,
I think, he made for me,

and underneath,
he wrote his name and the date.

So often, murderers
are not dysfunctional loners.

They are people who have charm.
They are people who can seduce.

They are people
who can establish relationships,

and often what they're doing
is that they're mirroring them.

They're mirroring their interest.

Sweeney would've been good at that.

MUSIC: 'Fairytale Of New York'
by The Pogues

Oh, I love this song.

Ah!

Oh, I love this one.

John.
HE CHUCKLES

Come and dance with me, John.

Come on. Will you?

Yeah?

Come and dance with me, lover.

Fucking sit down.
Everyone's looking at you.

Well, I was trying to make myself
to believe it was for real,

but I was so vulnerable,
and I was so alone.

I did have doubts, I'm sure,
in the back of my mind.

Then there was his artwork.
Strangely dark and very disturbing.

He could draw, and he was very good.

But... most of his art is bizarre.

The first ones I remember
is the girl lying down naked.

The naked woman
was Melissa Halstead,

an American model.

She was his ex-girlfriend,

and she'd gone missing
four years earlier.

Melissa arrived in the UK 1986.

She met John Sweeney, they
then lived together for a while.

And then we got to a point
where Melissa,

who was from America,
was deemed to be an overstayer

in the United Kingdom.

She is clearly
an attractive, striking woman,

and, of course,
it's difficult to understand

why she would fall
for somebody like John Sweeney.

He would probably talk
about the fact

that HE liked drawing,
that HE was interested in art.

He lived a very bohemian lifestyle.

She was slightly vulnerable
because there was a distance

between
her familial support network,

her friends support network.

Melissa needed to leave

not just because
she'd overstayed her visa,

but because
John Sweeney had become violent.

She had to run away
because he was beating her up,

and she...
that he went to collect her,

to go get her in Vienna.

Sweeney had tracked her
from Italy to Vienna,

where he was arrested
for attacking her with a hammer.

Shockingly, she bailed him out,
then fled to a new country.

Melissa landed in Amsterdam.

And shortly after,
Sweeney, then, he arrived there.

And then they moved in together.

Melissa had sent a voice message
on an answerphone to her mother.

The spring of the following year,

she's seen in a photograph
with Sweeney,

and then
she's not seen after that.

She had a very adventurous life,
and so her parents in the US,

they had no clue
where she was at what time.

So, of course,
then it takes very long time

to figure out
there is something wrong.

Fears began to grow
amongst the Halstead family

that something terrible
had happened to Melissa.

But with no body and no clues,
Dutch police had nothing to go on.

The case ground to a halt.

Four years later,
another woman found herself

under Sweeney's coercive
and controlling behaviour,

and was desperately wanting
a way out.

Delia took Sweeney to Texas,

hoping that introducing him
to her family might ease tensions.

I thought it might change him.
My mum and dad didn't like him.

I could see when we got there
that he just did not fit in.

I met him '94.

He came here and, you know,
he was a well-built, tall guy,

and I just thought he was OK then.

We were in Stewart's apartment.
We had a bottle of wine.

Us two were sitting on the floor.

I asked him,
"Have you ever killed anyone?"

HE CHUCKLES
And I don't know why I asked it.

I just had these vibes about him.

He wouldn't say yes or no.

He said, "The white men
taught the Indians how to scalp."

Really strange.

Back home,
his behaviour became even worse.

"Where have you been?

"Why are you wearing
that short skirt?

"Did guys look at you?"
And all the rest.

Delia knew she had to end
the relationship.

I want you to move out.
This again?

You use me.

You're rude to me,
and you don't respect me.

Respect? Has that dyke
been putting ideas into your head?

This has nothing to do with her.

I don't wanna go out with you
any more!

I said, "I'm going to bed now.
I have to work tomorrow."

Then the door burst open...
BANG

..and he came in.

He grabbed my ankle, and I says,
"What are you doing?"

This is the bed
where Delia was attacked.

Out comes these ropes,
and then he tied it to the bed,

and then he tied the other ankle.

Then he grabbed my arms.

He held me down.

He tied that one first to the top,
and then the other to the top.

And at first I struggled,

and I found out
it's best not to struggle

because he'd fixed it

so that the rope
would get tighter and tighter.

Sweeney pulled out a knife
and a gun

he'd been hiding by the bed.

Then he began to interrogate her
about ex-boyfriends.

He's waving the gun
and the knife around,

and threatened to cut my tongue out
if I screamed.

With Delia tied down,
she says that Sweeney

made a chilling confession

about his former girlfriend
Melissa Halstead.

He said, "She was in our flat
in Amsterdam with two German guys.

"They were in bed with her."

He said, "I shot them all.

"They were there for three days.

"Didn't know what to do
with the bodies,

"so I cut them up,
and I threw them in the canal."

In May 1990,
a dismembered female body

in a large duffel bag.

It was quite clear that there was
what appeared to be blood

leaking from the bag,

and when they opened it,
to their horror,

they found the dismembered
remains of a white female.

Her head and her hands
had been removed,

and her torso
was effectively trussed up, really,

with lengths of rope.

Quite a horrific discovery.

Rotterdam police quickly
launched a murder investigation

to identify the unknown woman.

There were no features
or identifying marks

with which they could identify her,

Back in London, John Sweeney,

armed with a gun and knife,
was holding Delia Balmer hostage.

That is the flat right there
where I was in.

I was tied up to the bed
all night long.

I thought there was no way
of escape.

There wasn't.

You just do what he wants.

Drink the can of beer
he holds to your mouth, just do it.

Been sick as a dog,
I've had food poisoning.

'Food poisoning?
John said your nan was sick.'

Family emergency?
No. No, he's just being silly.

He assaulted her multiple times.

Then, after a week, he let her go.

When I went back to work,

I had a mark on my left wrist
from the tight rope.

I told them
he had me tied to the bed.

They said, "Go to the police."

I said, "No, I can't do that.
They won't do anything."

'He's gonna want revenge,
and he'll take it out on me.

'I knew it.'

For months, Delia was terrified
he'd attack her again.

She asked a council advice centre
for help,

and they called the police.

When officers came to her flat,

she tried to convince them
that Sweeney was a killer.

Come on, Delia.
Get off me.

Why won't you look
at the pictures?

They prove he killed Melissa.

They're just drawings, Delia.
They don't prove anything.

How can you say that?

The truth is staring you
in the goddamn face!

Delia, listen to me.

Our main priority right now
is keeping you safe.

Oh, no. I'm not going.

I know my rights.
You can't force me out of my home.

Delia...
No. Get out.

Her warnings were ignored.

His violence
and controlling behaviour

was escalating.

Then, in November,

just before she was due
to visit a friend,

she came home
to find Sweeney waiting for her.

I opened the door slowly.

And, of course, there he was.

Then he pushed it open.

He stuck his fingers down my throat.

And used that to shove me
onto the bed, which was just there.

And I was lying there
with my legs dangling

over the edge of the bed.

He said, "Stop screaming."

He says,
"I'm just going to talk to you.

"I won't be here for long."

PHONE RINGS

My friend kept phoning because
I had not turned up at the pub.

Her friend knew
Sweeney was dangerous,

so when Delia didn't answer,
she immediately dialled 999.

The police came and they knocked
on the front door.

He said, "Just answer the door,
and tell them everything is OK."

I stood up and I walked to the door.

I could feel his presence behind me.
I opened the door.

I said, "Help me!"

I ran down the stairs.

I asked the policewoman after,
I said,

"What did I look like?"

She said, "You looked like
you were running for your life."

Sweeney was arrested.

Then detectives searched
his possessions.

They came across a holdall
or some sort of rucksack

that belonged to Sweeney.

All the items he would need to use
to dispose of Delia's body.

I saw them taking him away
in the van.

All I know is that
for a few minutes, I was OK.

Sweeney was charged
with false imprisonment

and actual bodily harm,

but shockingly,
he was released on bail.

Delia was now incredibly vulnerable.

She should
have been informed straight away

and there should have been
a much more rigid process

to make sure that he didn't go
within a mile of her.

I told the police,
"He knows what time I finish work.

"He'll be waiting for me."

On the 22nd of December,
exactly what I said happened.

Delia arrived home
after finishing

her last nursing shift
before her Christmas break.

I was halfway up the steps
with the bike.

It was the darkest day of the year.

Nobody was on the street.

I kept looking around like this,

and then I looked like...
around this way, and there he was.

He took hold of one hand,
and he pushed.

He says, "Come on in.
I want to speak to you."

I said, "No," and I pulled back.

The bicycle fell against the wall.

He brings the axe out.

He bashes me
in the side of the head.

I held my arms up.

He bashed this arm
and gave me a compound fracture

of the ulna bone.

He bashed this arm...

..and gave me two torn tendons.

He dropped the axe,
and he pulled out a knife.

I thought,
"I've got to do something."

So I pushed.

And then he came up the step again.

Stabbed me through the breast,
stabbed me in the thigh.

I saw my finger fly
through the air over to there.

Sweeney had the axe in his hand,
ready to come down.

I turned around and squatted,
and I said, "I'm going to die now."

Then the neighbour came out.

I heard another noise.

And Sweeney went "Argh"
with the axe in his hand.

And he ran away.

MAN: Stay with us. Delia?

ECHOING: 'Delia, stay with us.'

SIRENS BLARE

As Delia lay on the brink of death,
Sweeney vanished.

There was a raid on Sweeney's home
to try and find him

in the days following the attack.

He disappeared without trace,

and after a period of time,
the trail went cold.

No-one really knew
where Sweeney was.

WALKIE-TALKIE:
'PK1, are you doing all right?'

In February 2001,

two boys who were fishing pulled
a holdall out of Regent's Canal.

The bag contained
a woman's dismembered body.

engineering bricks and other pieces
of sort of concrete material,

in the hope
that they may never get recovered.

The woman's remains had been in
the water for days, possibly weeks.

Her head, hands and feet
were missing,

making identification difficult.

The pathologist was able to say

that all the pieces
belonged to one person.

NEWSREADER: 'Paula Fields' remains
were found in several holdalls

'in the Regent's Canal
a fortnight ago.

'They fear the killer
may have kept parts of her body

'as a grisly trophy.'

Paula was a mother of two boys.

She came down to London
from Liverpool

and found life very difficult.

Police made
fairly extensive enquiries

into Paula's friends
and people that she mixed with.

And one name kept cropping up,
and that was a nickname, really,

it was Scouse Joe or Joe Scouse.

Since her disappearance,
he had completely disappeared.

So the police were very keen
to find out who this man was.

The police began to watch
where Scouse Joe lived.

Then they discovered his real name -
it was John Sweeney.

Of course, the investigators
very quickly realised

through intelligence

and going through
their criminal record systems

that John Sweeney was on the run

for the attempted murder
of Delia Balmer in December '94.

And this was now in March 2001.

After more than six years
on the run, the net was closing in.

Delia had spent months in hospital
following Sweeney's vicious attack.

Now she was moving on with her life.

She went back to university
and was making new friends.

I met Delia in 1997.

We did talk an awful lot,
so we did become quite good friends.

Then one day,
she told me about John Sweeney.

She showed me drawings.

And she told me
that she had been held hostage...

..and that she
was nearly killed by this guy.

I just remember looking at her,

crying and, like, holding her.

I just said, "God, it sounds
like a really awful film.

"And I can't imagine it happening
to anyone I know."

Four weeks
after Paula Fields' body was found,

Sweeney was arrested in London.

While there was no direct evidence
linking him to the murder,

he was still wanted
for the attack on Delia.

He was remanded in custody

while detectives
continued their investigation.

They searched his tool chest at the
building site where he was working.

They found a loaded Luger pistol.

And then when they did further
searches of where he was living,

they found some shotguns
and ammunition.

In his Scouse Joe flat,

they uncovered more
of his gruesome artwork.

The drawings were found during
a search that I was present at

of Sweeney's flat,
where he'd been living.

The ones that we suspect
were the murder victims

where he has got the head,
hands and feet cut off,

and then almost like sticks of rock,
he'd have the writing on the wrists.

Just, it's utter contempt
for his victims.

One of the things
that interests me about Sweeney

He documents them
by writing rather crude poetry,

and he documents them
by drawings and paintings.

These are clearly
autobiographical poems

and autographical
drawings and paintings.

It's a way
of keeping memories alive.

It's a way of taking him back
to the moment when he exercised

the ultimate form of power
and control over a former partner.

So there's a sense in which these
drawings and poems and paintings

are also a form of trophy taking.

Among the women he'd drawn
was his ex, Melissa Halstead,

who was still listed as missing
by Dutch police.

But there were
no obvious drawings of Paula.

The police could not link Sweeney
to her murder.

It's almost like dealing
with two separate enquiries.

We had the Paula Fields
murder enquiry,

which ran in tandem
alongside the assault on Delia.

The evidence we had
was for the crimes against Delia,

not for the crimes,
at that time, against Paula.

So the only way
to get Sweeney off the streets

was to convince Delia
to testify against him in court.

That wasn't going to be easy.

I didn't give a damn
what happened to Sweeney.

That's their trip.
It's too late for me, I didn't care.

All I knew is that
I was gonna be punished in court.

It was hell for Delia.
Delia didn't want to go.

I was glad I was there for her.

Delia was a mess.

I never was scared of him.
He'd done it.

I got the worst fear in my life.
I got my... this body messed up.

And it didn't matter any more.
I didn't care any more.

But Delia was struggling
physically and mentally

with the trauma of the attack
and lashed out in court.

Delia, she was probably one
of the most anti-victims of a crime

that I'd ever had to deal with.

When Delia got into the witness box,
she was asked to swear an oath,

which she didn't do.

And then, at that point,

she started getting very abusive
towards members of the court.

She was extremely difficult.

You may sit down, Miss Balmer.
Yeah, well, I don't wanna sit down.

Miss Balmer!
Please control yourself.

This is a court of law,
not your personal stage.

Yeah, but the law is a load of shit.

The law is a load of fucking shit!

They treated me
as though I was guilty.

They made a mockery

out of all the scars and pain in...
that I have.

This damage to this body.

They made a mockery out of it
to prove what they already knew.

And John Sweeney told them things

so they could... he could use them
to punish me more.

And he enjoyed that.

After Delia's outburst,
the trial judge called for a recess.

Fearing Sweeney could go free
if Delia blew up again,

Sue Kendrick took drastic action.

Myself and another detective
took her to a cafe.

Delia, listen to me.

My job is to get you
to give evidence in court.

This is all going to shit
cos of what you just did in there.

I did something I'd never done with
another victim of crime in my life.

I swore at her a lot. I was
so angry with her for doing this.

Delia returned to court.

She faced Sweeney and told the jury
how he tried to kill her.

We got her to give the evidence.
That was just a wonderful moment.

I felt incredibly relieved.

A man's been given
four life sentences

for carrying out a terrifying knife
and axe attack on his girlfriend.

Sweeney will now be interviewed over
the unsolved murder of Paula Fields,

whose headless body
was found in Regent's Canal.

Barnes Green Serious Crime Command.
DI Steve Smith speaking.

One case that I noted on the list
was the Paula Fields case.

It was what I would describe
as a cold case.

It wasn't
actively being investigated.

The trail had gone cold, really.

The investigation
into Paula's murder had gone nowhere

until Steve received
an unexpected call from Holland.

It was a detective sergeant,
or the equivalent.

The opening line was effectively,

"I'm from the Rotterdam
cold case investigation team.

"I need to speak someone
about a man called John Sweeney."

Well, of course my ears
immediately pricked up.

'We've identified the remains
of a former girlfriend of his,

'a young American woman -
Melissa Halstead.'

"Bring all the cases over, and I
would go through the decision logs."

So, we were trying to be
one step ahead of the game.

This was what I can only really
describe as a eureka moment.

My immediate thoughts was that,

"What are the chances of two women,

"11 years apart,

"being murdered, dismembered...

"..effectively trussed up
in bags or holdalls

"and deposited in canals?"

And really, there is
only one common denominator,

and that is John Sweeney.

For the first time,

British detectives teamed up with
investigators from another country

to investigate a murder.

The bit of legislation that allowed
us to do that basically said,

"If a British subject commits murder
anywhere in the world,

"they can be tried
in the United Kingdom for that."

If we didn't bring the two together,

the chances of a success
were going to be diminished.

With no confession
and no forensic evidence,

the detectives' only hope

was to build a case out of Sweeney's
disturbing pictures and poetry.

are gonna become central in the case
that's built against John Sweeney.

One in particular depicting Melissa
in the centre of the picture.

Then the correction fluid,

and underneath the correction fluid,
you've got, erm,

"RIP Melissa",
and then her birthday,

and then it's got written "died".
You're thinking, "Well...

"..only the killer, surely,
would know that Melissa had died."

Those things were crucial

in terms of proving to a jury
that he was the author of those.

He had an axe, and it had in it
"Made in Liverpool".

So when you put
all those things together,

this is not just someone
who's just made an innocent drawing.

He was telling us about his life
and his relationships.

It was compelling evidence,

but detectives needed more
to be certain of a conviction.

Once again,
they asked Delia to testify.

We know the trial in 2001
was very difficult for you.

Ha!
But if we can get the case to court,

we'd greatly appreciate it if
you would consent to give evidence.

It would be much easier this time.

You'd just have to talk about
what he told you he did to Melissa.

No, no.
That's all.

They started pestering me again.

And I carried on
the same as I did the first time.

I was damned if I was going.

And near the end,
this policewoman, she said,

"If you don't go,
we'll make you go."

And I thought, "I don't care."

Faced with her continual refusal
to testify,

the police called in a psychologist.
Their conclusion was clear.

Taking the stand could seriously
harm Delia's mental health.

Sweeney's trial for the murders
of Paula and Melissa

would have to go on without her.

Crucially, the judge allowed
Delia's previous statement

that Sweeney confessed to killing
Melissa to be read to the jury.

That was the thing
that really, shall we say,

was the sort of
final nail in his coffin.

John Sweeney had always
convinced himself throughout

that he would never be convicted
of this heinous crime.

after Melissa and Paula
had been killed,

that the family had finally

got the justice
that they had craved, really,

and what they deserved.

But some investigators believe

Sweeney may well be responsible
for the brutal deaths

of many more young women
across Europe.

I was a journalist for a Belgian
newspaper for a very long time,

for 20 years,

and I've worked with... on stories
of disappearances and murder cases.

I created a foundation

that actually helps the people
that are left behind in cold cases.

In 2023,
Interpol launched an appeal

to identify
nearly two dozen murdered women.

Many of the deaths
bear striking similarities

to Sweeney's known victims.

Kurt's foundation believes

he was in Europe
when some of the women were killed.

What we've done here
is we created some timelines.

And what's very interesting to see
is that Sweeney,

before the Melissa Halstead case,

he already travelled to
the Netherlands and probably beyond.

What really strikes me is that

the moment Sweeney
is being looked for in the UK,

December '94,

well, stuff starts to happen
in the Netherlands and in Belgium.

And stuff that's unsolved.

And again, we don't know
if Sweeney is our guy. We don't.

But he's worth looking at.

It's very hard to believe
that somebody that kills

and mutilates
and decapitates a woman in 1990

actually waits until 2001,
until another body is found.

That's 11 years. That's way too long
to not do anything.

For Delia, who's watched as
a TV drama is made about her story,

life since Sweeney
has often been hard.

Three decades on, there is hope
that both the drama and her own book

might offer hope to others
trapped in abusive relationships.

..just everything, just huge.

He's ruined her life,
mentally and physically.

Delia Balmer.
You know, what a brave woman.

What an extraordinary woman
to have survived that attack

and to be able to have given
testimony and evidence,

which is gonna be central in getting
justice, not just for herself,

but also for Melissa and for Paula
and for their families.

She's the one that we can truly say
brought John Sweeney to justice.

I'm an angry person.

You know, I've been very bitter,
and I'm still quite bitter.

And I don't like
the damage done to this body.

It need not have happened.

MUSIC: 'Clair De Lune'
by Debussy

I think Delia is misunderstood.

She is a really bright,
inquisitive person. Compassionate.

She is actually friendly.
It's... It's...

She's prickly, but...

but she's my friend,
and I, I love her.

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