Update: Amelie accused 'felt tearful and depressed' (From Your Local Guardian)

Update: Amelie accused 'felt tearful and depressed'

6:29pm Tuesday 16th October 2007 in News By Guardian Reporter

The man accused of killing a French student told a friend he was feeling tearful and depressed six days after her murder, a court was told.

Bouncer Levi Bellfield, 39, of West Drayton, is accused of murdering Amelie Delagrange, 22, in Twickenham, on August 19, 2004.

The jury heard how he asked a friend, Richard Hughes, to take him to hospital on August 25 and admitted overdosing on Diazepam.

When asked what the matter was, Bellfield said to Hughes: "You don't know what I've done."

He was admitted to Hillingdon Hospital that evening.

Bellfield also mentioned to staff that he had tried to hang himself twice in the last six months.

Prosecutor Brian Altman: "He said he had felt signs of anxiety for two years and had felt low for the past six months."

The court heard that Amelie was found in a foetal position after being battered about the head and left for dead on Twickenham Green.

She had been drinking with friends in Cristalz in London Road on the night of August 19.

She left the bar and caught a R267 bus home at 9.39pm but missed her stop and got off at Fulwell Bus Garage.

CCTV captured her at various points walking along Hampton Road. The prosecution said cameras also show a white Ford courier van - which they alleged belonged to Bellfield - "cruising" the Twickenham area before parking in a bus lane next to the green.

The court heard how Bellfield made an unplanned visit to his colleague Richard Phillips' home in Feltham on August 19 when he had tried to sell his van for scrap metal. Mr Phillips refused.

Mr Altman said: "Following Bellfield's arrest, Phillips saw a news programme featuring a small white van.

"He recognised the van immediately as the van the defendant had driven to his home on August 19."

Analysis of Bellfield's mobile phone also connected him to the white van when it was spotted near Twickenham Green on the night of Amelie's murder, the jury was told.

Bellfield also denies the murder of Hampton gap year student Marsha McDonnell, 19, and five other charges, which include two attempted murders.

The trial continues.