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When police finally found him, they also discovered grim paintings which revealed his violent mind and hatred of women. Decades later, parts of his victims' bodies remain unfound.

Sweeney was born in Kirkdale in 1956 and married Anne Bramley in 1976. The couple had two children but divorced in 1979. They remarried two years later, but in 1982 Anne told police her husband had threatened her. They divorced again, and Sweeney moved to London in the mid-eighties.

In London, Sweeney met Melissa Halstead, a 33-year-old American model turned photographer who was to be his next victim. She was deported in 1988, but he followed her to Europe and in 1990 her remains were removed from a canal near Rotterdam.

Her torso was found, but the head and hands were missing, and to this day have not been found. It took until 2008 for Melissa to be formally identified after her family in Ohio provided matching DNA.

In 1991, Sweeney met Delia Balmer at the Hawley Arms in Camden and the two started a three-year relationship. Throughout their time together, Delia suffered terrifying violence at the hands of her boyfriend. She claims he kept her prisoner in her flat and placed a gun to her head.

In 1994, a few days before Christmas, Delia returned home from work to find her boyfriend waiting for her with an axe. He attacked her with the axe and pulled out a rusty knife, leaving Delia with stab wounds to her breast and thigh. He also cut off her left little finger.

For the next seven years, Sweeney was on the run evading capture by the police. In 2001 he was arrested for the attempted murder of Delia, but by then he had also murdered another woman.

In 2000, Sweeney met Paula Fields, a 31-year-old who was addicted to crack cocaine and had two children who were taken into care. She was working as a sex worker in London when the pair got into a relationship. Sweeney was living under a different name. 

Paula Fields© Metropolitan Police/PA Wire

In December Paula went missing and two months later her dismembered body was found in the Regent's Canal. Her body had been cut up into 10 pieces and thrown in the canal in holdalls. Paula's feet weren't found amongst the remains.

In 2001, Sweeney was convicted of the attempted murder of Delia Smith. In 2011, while he was serving time for that attack, he was convicted of the two murders. It was at this time that press referred to him as 'Scalp Hunter'.

In 2001, police found violent artwork in Sweeney's London flat, including sketches of women tied up and blades dripping with blood. One painting included a drawing of a woman thought to be his victim, Melissa. Correction fluid had been painted over a part of the painting, underneath which forensic experts found a gravestone with the inscription "Melissa Halstead, born 7 November 1956. Died". 

A drawing by John Sweeney which prosecution said is a self portrait of him and Melissa Halstead© Metropolitan Police/PA Wire

Sweeney continues to serve a life sentence without parole for the murders.

Sentencing him, Judge Mr Justice Saunders said: "These were terrible, wicked crimes. The heads of the victims having been removed, it is impossible to be certain how they were killed. The mutilation of the bodies is a serious aggravating feature of the murders.

"Not only does it reveal the cold-blooded nature of the killer, but it has added greatly to the distress of the families to know that parts of their loved ones have never been recovered."

Detective Chief Inspector Norman McKinlay visited Sweeney in Whitemoor Prison in Cambridgeshire, to ask him about Melissa and Paula. He told BBC News: "He said nothing at all. He just looked at me, staring and smirking. His eyes always got me. He had piercing eyes."

In the wake of the murders of Melissa and Paula, detectives appealed for information about five other people they though Sweeney could have killed. They include three women in the UK and two German men in Amsterdam. None of the bodies have been found.