1:58pm Tuesday 30th March 2010
Levi Bellfield has been charged with the murder of schoolgirl Milly Dowler.
The charges come after the Crown Prosecution Service was handed a dossier of evicence by detectives from Surrey Police’s Operation Ruby team last August.
It is said to contain dramatic new evidence which was obtained by investigators in December 2008.
The 41-year-old, who worked as a clamper at the Chichester Gate car park in 2004, is already in jail at Wakefield Prison after being convicted of the murders of Marsha McDonnell, 19, and Amelie Delagrange, 22.
He was also convicted of the attempted murder of schoolgirl Kate Sheedy, 18. All of the women were attacked near bus stops in south west London.
The murder of 13-year-old Amanda Dowler, known as Milly, is one of Britain's most notorious unsolved crimes. She vanished while walking home from school in Walton-on-Thames on March 21 2002. Six months later her skeletal remains were found 30 miles away in Yateley Heath, Hampshire.
A home video of Milly Dowler in her bedroom, opening presents, playing the saxophone and ironing her jeans
Today, her parents Bob and Sally Dowler thanked detectives for their "painstaking work" over the past eight years.
In a statement issued through Surrey Police, they said: "It's very hard to say how we feel after eight long and difficult years.
"We are extremely grateful to Detective Superintendent Maria Woodall and her investigating team for their painstaking work and support to us over the years.
"We are pleased that Levi Bellfield has been charged with abduction and murder and hope this will go some way towards providing justice for our darling Milly."
Officers have been painstakingly building a case against Bellfield since he was arrested by the Metropolitan Police in November 2004 over other matters.
The former nightclub bouncer and wheelclamper was arrested and interviewed over Milly's death four years ago.
When the dossier was handed over to the CPS, officers said they believed they have compelling circumstantial evidence which links him to the appalling crime.
Police continue to search for a red Daewoo Nexia car caught on CCTV which they believe was used to transport Milly's body. They searched a lake near Heathrow Airport and questioned scrap dealer Nirmal Gharu last year.
Bellfield has admitted in a newspaper interview to being behind the wheel of the vehicle, owned by his then girlfriend, Emma Mills. He was living with her a short distance away from where Milly was last seen outside the railway station.
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