Three of south London's most notorious murderers formed a twisted prison gang and dubbed themselves "The Ladykillers", a police expert has revealed.

Levi Bellfield, Mark Dixie and Karl Taylor, who were locked up together in 2008, would apparently "coach" each other for their upcoming trials in an attempt to "play the system", according to Laura Richards, previously head of Scotland Yard's homicide prevention unit.

2008 

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This week

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The grim revelation comes days after Bellfield, 47, finally admitted to the abduction, rape and killing of 13-year-old Walton schoolgirl Milly Dowler in 2002.

Surrey Comet:

He had already been found guilty of killing Miss Dowler in 2011, after being convicted in 2008 for the murders of Amélie Delagrange on Twickenham Green and Marsha McDonnell in Hampton.

Fellow killer Dixie, now 45, was found guilty in 2008 of raping and murdering 18-year-old model Sally Anne Bowman outside her home in Blenheim Crescent, South Croydon, in September 2005.

Taylor, a children's football coach, was convicted in 2008 of stabbing 32-year old Kate Beagley to death 31 times with a carving knife while on a first date in a Richmond park.

Surrey Comet:

Kate Beagley

In an interview in today's Sunday Times, Ms Richards describes how Bellfield and Dixie developed a "bizarre relationship" after being put into adjoining cells at Belmarsh.

The pair later befriended Taylor to complete their sickly-named trio, and took to "burning prison psychologists with their ploys and their tactics" and poring over their own case files in an attempt to escape justice.

All three stood trial at the Old Bailey within weeks of each other in the spring of 2008.

Ms Richards also claims that Bellfield later formed another gruesome bond with Soham killer Ian Huntley while both locked up at Wakefield prison.

On Wednesday Bellfield, who has renamed himself Yusuf Rahim in prison, admitted to the murder of Miss Dowler to detectives who had been investigating a man over claims he was an accomplice in Milly’s death.

Despite being convicted of the killing, Bellfield had for years refused to admit his guilt - a trait common among his sadistic gang of three.

During his 2008 trial Dixie, who had a string of previous convictions for sex offences, claimed he had found Miss Bowman dead and had sex with the corpse following a drink and drugs binge.

Surrey Comet:

Sally Anne Bowman

Taylor, who was 27 when he killed Ms Beagley, claimed she had committed suicide by stabbing herself 31 times with a knife that fell out of his pocket.

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