John Sweeney's murder timeline explained from Melissa Halstead to Paula Fields

Melissa Halstead and Paula Fields were John Sweeney's two known victims whom the axe murderer disposed of in different canals.

Until I Kill You is airing on ITV and the harrowing true crime drama goes inside the minds of serial killer John Sweeney (played by Shaun Evans) and his victims.

Delia Balmer (Anna Maxwell Martin) is the only known surviving victim, and the series is based on her chilling memoir titled Living With A Serial Killer.

The series explains how Melissa Halstead was Sweeney's first victim and he admitted to Delia he had chopped her up and stayed with her body for days before disposing of it in a canal.

Then, whilst on the run after his near-fatal assault on Delia, he murdered Paula Fields and he had documented the murders in a series of disturbing drawings and poems.

This article explores how the two victims met Sweeney and what their lives were like beforehand, as the series pays tribute to them and their families.

Melissa Halstead

Melissa was just 33 when she was killed by Sweeney and her body was found in a Rotterdam canal in 1990.

Sweeney, who lived in Hackney and Camden in London, said he had met her in December 1986.

In a statement during Sweeney's murder trial, Ms Halstead's family described her as an "intelligent and very attractive young woman" who had left the US to "seek her fortune".

The family said they had been "in agony" when she went missing for years and were "destroyed" when her remains were identified.

"The family's hope for the future is that John Sweeney will never be allowed free to carry out such crimes again," it continued.

Sweeney had told Delia about killing the American model.

During the trial, the court heard Melissa had predicted her own death before she went to Amsterdam with Sweeney.

She had told her sister if she ever went missing "John Sweeney would have killed her".

A scratchcard belonging to Sweeney had the following poem written on the back: "Poor old Melissa, chopped her up in bits, food to feed the fish, Amsterdam was the pits."

Another drawing showed a gravestone with the words: "RIP Melissa Halstead."

Paula Fields

Paula was 31 when Sweeney took her life and her body was found in Regent's Canal in 2001.

A statement read by a sister of Paula said the two years in the run-up to her death were "a small part" of her life.

She said: "For 29 years Paula was a normal girl, a loving mother, daughter, sister and an aunt. We know she is never coming back and we never said goodbye."

Paula, from Liverpool, moved to London in 1998 and worked for a short time in a launderette.

She had experienced drug addiction after visiting London.

Another statement from her family explained: "In 1990 Paula came to London for a while to stay with family and then returned to Liverpool. During this time she was not taking any drugs.

"Paula came back to London in 1999 with her sons, a few months later during 2000, some family members noticed changes to Paula's lifestyle.

"Then in December 2000, Paula went missing. Paula had only been in London for 14 months. During that time she had become involved in taking drugs and prostitution."

Until I Kill You continues on ITV at 9pm