Bouncer in court for two student murders

LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) A former nightclub bouncer accused of murdering two female students and attacking three other women across London over a three-year period appeared at the Old Bailey.

Father-of-three Levi Bellfield, 38, is due to stand trial in April next year for attacks on five young women and killing two of them, teenager Marsha McDonnell and French exchange student Amelie Delagrange Bellfield, who appeared by video link spoke only to confirm his name, and was remanded him in custody to return to court on December 15.

He is accused of killing gap student McDonnell, 19, with three hammer blows to her head just yards from her home in Hampton, West London, in February 2003.

Prosecutors say he bludgeoned to death Delagrange, 22, on a cricket pitch in Twickenham, southwest London, in August 2004,as she took a short cut home after an evening out.

Bellfield is also accused of the attempted murder of former convent school head girl Kate Sheedy, 18, in May 2004 and trying to kill Irma Dragoshi and causing her grievous bodily harm in December 2003.

Dragoshi, a 33-year-old hairdresser, was struck from behind while waiting for a bus in Longford Village near Heathrow airport.

He is also charged with the kidnapping and false imprisonment of 17-year-old Anna-Maria Rennie, who was grabbed at a bus stop in Twickenham, in October 2001.

Reuters DKS VP0435