By day Levi Bellfield boasted of earning up to £1,000 a day as a car clamper. By night he became the “bus-stop stalker”, using the cars to which he had access to sell drugs and prey on blonde women in southwest London.

When Court 5 was sitting, Bellfield showed charm and confidence, and respect and courtesy for legal proceedings. But when the jury left and Judge Mrs Justice Rafferty was led out, he would turn to the relatives of his victims in the public gallery and wink or stare threateningly. At one point he turned to Jean-Francois and Dominique Delagrange, the parents of Amelie, and shouted: “F*** off, leeches.”

Afterwards the couple said that he had indulged in a “remarkable level of arrogance” in court. Mrs Delagrange said she was horrified that he had been allowed to make rude gestures at her and shout obscenities. Mr Delagrange, who suffered a heart attack after losing his daughter, added: “He thought he was above the law and would be found not guilty.”

Bellfield saw himself as an affable family man when, in reality, he was a dangerous psychopath who may have gone on killing had he not been stopped. Today the true extent of his intense loathing and predatory attitude towards women can be revealed. The judge ruled that much of the evidence gleaned while Bellfield was a suspect was too prejudicial for the jury to hear.

It included how undercover detectives had watched him sexually insult teenage girls at a bus stop and how, while on remand in custody, he earned a reputation as a “caveman”. Paul Jarvis, a fellow inmate, said that Bellfield had confessed to killing Amelie Delagrange, 22, and had boasted that “you can do what you want” to women. “He is like a caveman. He treats women like dogs,” Jarvis told police.

Bellfield had a reputation for pestering underage girls for sex and trying to chat them up as he followed them in his vehicle. Behind the blacked-out windows it contained a mattress, blankets and a baseball bat. Bellfield’s criminal career – he has convictions for assaults and driving offences – began when he was 13. By the age of 23 he had been jailed for a year for hitting a police constable in the face when he was asked to turn down the music at a house party.

He went on to marry four times and had 11 children by five women. On his shoulder he had a tattoo of the devil. Even while married he approached teenagers for sex. To some he offered drugs – a ploy that police believe he had tried on at least one of his murder victims and possibly even Milly Dowler – or boasted of his body building exploits. He had enhanced his physique with steroids.

While his motives remain unclear, it is thought that Bellfield could not tolerate rejection. One former partner said that she had found a magazine with the faces of blonde models slashed. He told her that he would go to alleyways and wait to watch blonde women passing, claiming that he wanted to “hurt them, stab them”.

Ricky Brouillard, who had worked for Bellfield, told police that his former boss had even offered to sell sex with his “naive” girlfriend, 16, and her sister, just 14. “I would describe Levi as an animal,” Mr Brouillard told police. “I remember being disgusted. I met his girlfriend on one occasion and he said, ‘Do you want to buy her off me?’”

Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton, who led the murder inquiry, said that Bellfield had a deeply unhealthy interest in women, which turned to violence when his advances were rejected. With access to hundreds of cars through his clamping firm, he was able to prowl the streets, reasonably confident that he could evade detection. He also worked as a bouncer, and used up to 40 aliases.

His immaturity and obsession with his build is evident even in his entry on the Friends Reunited website. “I feel stupid coming on here. I was short at school and am now over 6ft,” before referring to his wheel clamping business, adding: “I hope I ain’t clamped you.” He continues: “I haven’t grown up. I still think Im 18. I’m out clubbing: Ibiza, Tenerife.

“Doing OK, good laugh, the slippers ain’t out yet. A bit flash, like the labels. Am I sounding a prat????” He closes his message: “Any single girls out there, e-mail me.”

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