One of the UK's most notorious killers, Levi Bellfield is currently serving life without parole for a series of horrific murders.

The former nightclub bouncer is suspected of involvement in many more attacks - including the Chillenden hammer murders.

Despite his modus operandi of attacking females with a blunt object, as well as his resemblance to an original photofit issued following the killings, the Met Police ruled out any possible links after an inquiry across 10 forces.

But today, it was revealed Bellfield had apparently confessed to the murders of Lin and Megan Russell in 1996 - including details not already in the public domain.

Born in Isleworth, London in 1968, Bellfield's criminal career began in 1981 when he was convicted of burglary, followed by an assault on a police officer in 1990, and various theft and driving offences.

In 2008, Bellfield - who has converted to Islam in prison and now goes by the name Yusuf Rahim - was convicted of the murder of Marsha McDonnell, who was attacked in Hampton in 2003, and 22-year-old French student Amelie Delagrange, found at Twickenham Green in August, 2004 with serious head injuries

He was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy, 18, who he ran over near her home in Islington in May, 2004.

Then in 2011, he was convicted of the murder of Milly Dowler, who vanished while walking home from school near Walton-on-Thames in March 2002. Her body was discovered in woods six months later.

Detectives believe Bellfield could be responsible for many other unsolved attacks dating back to 1990.

Michael Stone, who is serving life for the murders of Lin and Megan Russell and attempted murder of Josie Russell in Chillenden, has long argued Bellfield should be investigated for the killings.

In 2011, Stone's lawyers called for police to look into similarities between Bellfield's murders and the Chillenden case.

Lawyer Paul Bacon said: "Police do need to say ‘if we got it wrong, we got it wrong’. They need to be able to say ‘let’s try and make sure we got the right person’."

Bellfield previously denied any involvement in the Chillenden case, and in January this year, reportedly challenged Stone to take a lie detector test with him.

Then in June, he claimed Stone had attempted to bribe him to confess to the murders.

He said Stone passed notes between their maximum security cells at HMP Frankland offering him a cut of the cash he expected to make from press interviews if he was cleared.

A BBC documentary in the summer then questioned if the right man was in prison for the murders, and whether Bellfield could have been a more likely suspect.

The accusation reportedly angered Bellfield, who is said to have penned letters to Stone’s lawyers asking for the notes to stop.

He wrote: “Over the past 18 months your client has bombarded me with verbal messages and notes.

“Within the smuggled note he is asking me to watch the second part of his forthcoming programme on BBC2 and to take down details of his crimes.

“He wants me to lie and confess to the Russell murders with the promise of a later payout from his media deals. This has to stop.”