John Sweeney's son opens up on chilling moment his axe murderer father showed him disturbing sketch

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Until I Kill You is returning to ITV, inspired by the harrowing memoir of John Sweeney's only known surviving victim, Delia Balmer.

The drama, with Anna Maxwell-Martin taking on the role of Delia, delves into a chilling discovery of a cache of sketches depicting decapitated women and violent images.

In a terrifying turn of events in the series, Delia barely survives an attack, while the real-life Sweeney evaded capture for six years before his arrest and conviction for two murders.

Police discovered hundreds of Sweeney's macabre artworks during their investigation. Among these, he had scrawled a poem about his first girlfriend and murder victim, Melissa Halstead, behind a scratchcard: "Poor old Melissa, chopped her up in bits, food to feed the fish, Am*dam was the pits." One of his paintings, named One Man Band, included an illustration of a woman believed to be Melissa, obscured by correction fluid, which revealed under ultraviolet light a gravestone marked "Melissa Halstead, born 7 November 1956.