Canal killer dies in prison without revealing victims' remains locations

John Sweeney, a convicted double murderer known as the "canal killer," has died in prison at the age of 69, taking with him the secrets of where he hid the missing body parts of his victims. Sweeney died at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire on August 14, 2026, while serving a whole-life sentence for the murders of his former girlfriends, Melissa Halstead and Paula Fields. His death, reportedly from cancer, means the families of the two women may never learn the full truth about what happened to their loved ones.

Sweeney was convicted at the Old Bailey in 2011 for the murders, which were committed years apart. Halstead, a 33-year-old American model and photographer, was killed in 1990. Her dismembered remains were discovered in a canal in Rotterdam, Netherlands, but her identity was not confirmed until 18 years later through DNA testing. Her head and hands were never recovered. Fields, 31, was killed more than a decade later. Parts of her body were found in six holdalls floating in London's Regent's Canal in February 2001. Her head, hands, and feet were also never found.

Despite his conviction, Sweeney never revealed where he had disposed of the missing remains. This refusal left...