Murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler 'disappeared in a flash' on her way home from school, the Old Bailey heard today at the trial of the former wheelclamper and bouncer accused of killing her.
The 13-year-old was 'gone in the blink of an eye' and her body was not found until six months later in a field 25 miles away, a jury was told.
The prosecution say Bellfield abducted and murdered Milly then went on to murder two other young women and attempted to murder a third.
Levi Bellfield has denied murdering Milly Dowler, who disappeared in 2002 on her way home from school. Her body was found six months later"
He killed Marsha McDonnell, 19, in February 2003 and Amelie Delagrange, 22, in August 2004, by striking them on the head with a blunt instrument. He was convicted at the Old Bailey in 2008.
In May 2004, he attempted to murder Kate Sheedy, 18, by deliberately running her over in a car.
Belfield killed Amelie Delagrange, 22, in August 2004 and Marsha McDonnell, 19, in February 2003"
Lucky escape: Bellfield tried to murder Kate Sheedy in 2004 when she was 18 by deliberately running over her in a car"
Brian Altman QC said the offences bore 'similarity in many respects' to Milly's murder and the attempted abduction of 11-year-old Rachel Cowles.
The prosecutor added that the day before Milly went missing, a man alleged to be Bellfield tried to abduct Rachel a few miles away.
Now aged 21, Rachel was approached in Shepperton by a man who tried to trick her into getting into his red car until he was 'spooked' by a nearby police car.
Bellfield, 42, formerly of West Drayton, west London, denies Milly's kidnap and murder after she left Walton-on-Thames train station in Surrey on March 21, 2002.
He also denies the attempted kidnap of Rachel on March 20, 2002.
Mr Altman said today that Milly Dowler's fateful decision to go for chips with her friends at a station cafe had cost her her life, the Old Bailey heard.
The 'slim, pretty and intelligent' 13-year-old was a Year 9 pupil at Heathside School in Weybridge, Surrey, where her mother Sally taught maths, he said.
Jurors were shown photographs of Milly, who was 'popular' among her friends but, according to her mother, was not a confident girl.
The teenager would normally have taken the train home from Weybridge to Hersham station, which was nearer to her home than the Walton-on-Thames stop.
But on the day she was snatched she took an 'entirely innocent and ordinary diversion' to buy some chips there with school friends.
Mr Altman told jurors it was 'a decision that was to cost Milly her life'.
He said: 'It meant her taking a fateful journey along Station Avenue where, unbeknown to her, her abductor and killer was soon to strike.'
The court heard that Milly lived with her parents, Robert and Sally Dowler, and older sister, Gemma, in Walton.
Mr Altman said: 'She was attaining the usual milestones to be expected of a young teenager.'
'Within moments of leaving the station to walk along the road, just a few minutes after 4pm, she vanished - gone in the blink of an eye,' said Mr Altman.
'Milly had simply disappeared in a flash from a street in a suburban town in broad daylight. This was of course every parent's worst nightmare.'
Walton-on-Thames Station in Surrey, where Milly Dowler was last seen alive"
After Milly vanished her parents released videos of her playing the saxophone and ironing her jeans"
Bellfield, wearing a dark-grey suit, sat in the dock as he listened to the opening of the case along with the five women and seven men of the jury.
The trial. which opened today, is due to last two months.
The trial. which opened today, is due to last two months.
Mourning: Father Robert, sister Gemma and mother Sally at Milly's funeral"
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