A CONTROVERSIAL new ITV drama about Milly Dowler's killer Levi Bellfield aired on Sunday night – and it will have made particularly painful viewing for one woman.

Bellfield’s former girlfriend, Joe Collings, 47, was routinely raped, beaten and psychologically abused by the man who fathered two of her children.

18 Joe was brutally raped and beaten by Levi Bellfield, the father of her two children Credit: Oliver Dixon- The Sun

The evil killer was back in the news last weekend after it was claimed he was part of a child grooming gang that has never been brought to justice.

Bellfield - currently serving life for the murders of Amelie Delagrange, Marsha McDonnell and 13-year-old Milly - will be thrust even further into the public consciousness tonight when a TV drama portraying his crimes is aired. The ITV show, Manhunt, stars Martin Clunes as the detective who brought him to justice.

It has already attracted controversy and Joe tells Sun Online it's stirring up horrific memories.

She said: "I knew it was coming, but when I first saw the advert I just thought 'here we go, it's all going to start up again.'

“It took my breath away a little bit. It's like a tsunami - you know it's coming but when it hits you think 'oh f***, hold tight'.

18 Bellfield is one of the UK's most notorious serial killers, and his ex says he will love the attention the ITV drama will bring Credit: Handout - Getty

“Watching what I've been through will be mental and probably will be emotional as you're having to constantly relive it."

"It's glorifying him even more, but he is notorious and one of the most prolific murderers in the country."



'His house was like a nursery - there were so many kids'

Earlier this week, Joe was once again reminded of her killer ex when a new report claimed he was part of paedophile ring that groomed teenage girls.

Joe says she was not shocked by the news.

She said: “The sex grooming reports aren't a surprise to me. I've given names before. I'd already given the police two names years ago in numerous interviews.

“He had a fifteen year old living with him at one point and she used to have all her friends round. One of his friends told me it was like a nursery round there - there were so many kids.

“The fact that he's so obsessed with school girls anyway - it goes hand in hand. It's obvious.”

18 Bellfield killed 13-year-old Milly Dowler in 2002 but wasn't convicted until 2011 Credit: Rex Features

'I want to have sex with him and slit his throat'

Today, Joe is confident and bubbly, but she'll never be able to forget the campaign of abuse she endured at the hands of cruel Bellfield, who used to brag about raping other women while he was with her.

"I have a few questions I’d like to ask him," she says. "What actual pleasure did he get out of it all?”

Joe adds: “I told the police in an interview I did that I’d get back with him tomorrow - because he’d have the best meal, the best day, the best sex, and I’d slit the c***’s throat as he slept and put an end to all of it, because it’s all of us lot paying for him to live his life of luxury.”

18 Joe tells Sun Online that she'd like to slit her rapist ex's throat Credit: Oliver Dixon - The Sun

And she still stands by this sentiment, adding: "The victims haven’t got that, so why should he be allowed to be a fat f**k in prison?"

Joe initially met Bellfield in 1988 when she was 17 and regularly went to a bar in Cobham, called Rocky's, where he worked as a doorman.

But it wasn’t until some years later, in 1995, that they began dating - and another decade would pass before Bellfield's true depravity was revealed to the world.

18 Marsha McDonnell was hit over the head by Bellfield and died of her wounds Credit: Rex Features

Joe Collings reveals horror of living with rapist serial killer Levi Bellfield

Bellfield's first victim would turn out to be Milly Dowler, who went missing from Walton-Upon-Thames on her way home from school in 2002.

Her body was found six months later, dumped in a wood in Yateley Heath, in a horrific case that went unsolved for nine years, with Bellfield eventually convicted in 2011.

Then in 2003 Marsha McDonnell was hit over the head with a blunt instrument after she got off the bus near her home in Hampton, London, and in August 2004 French student Amelie Delagrange was found battered to death in the street in Twickenham.

18 French student Amelie Delagrange was another of sick Bellfield's victims Credit: Handout

18 Joe was a witness when Bellfield was tried for the murders of three young girls Credit: Rex Features

'He hit me with a rubber mallet and burnt me with cigarettes'

Joe, who is now a horse groomer, can still remember in vivid detail the start of her horrifying relationship with the hulking killer.

says: “He was huge. He was a big bloke. I didn't fancy him at first, but he was a proper ladies’ man - everyone knew that.

“Then my dad died, and I was in a vulnerable place. He kept on asking if I wanted to go for a drink and a meal, and in the end I did.

“He stayed that night, and never left.”

18 Joe is now a horse groomer and a keen rider Credit: Oliver Dixon - The Sun

At the start of their relationship, there weren’t any signs Bellfield was evil. She says: “He’d turn up with flowers and was a gentleman. When he wasn’t psychotic, you couldn’t want for a better boyfriend.”

However, almost immediately after Joe fell pregnant with their daughter Bellfield turned aggressive.

Joe says: "He started with the odd slap. He came home annoyed one night - there was no reason, it was out of the blue.

“I was shocked, but my hormones were all over the place and I was still upset about my dad.

18 Bellfield is guilty of three killings including the murder of Milly Dowler Credit: Handout

“I believed him when he said it was because he loved me and he was jealous.

“He was convinced I'd been having affairs even though I hadn't even left the house - and he couldn’t help it and he was really sorry.”

From there the abuse got worse, and by the time Joe fell pregnant with her son in 1997, daily life had become hell.

Joe says: “One time he came home from work and I answered him back and he went mental – punching, biting, kicking, pinching.

“Towards the end of the relationship he’d use weapons. He hit me with a rubber mallet, he’d burn me with cigarettes - he’d bruise and cut me but it was always from the neck down."

18 Joe says Bellfield used to beat and rape her throughout the course of their relationship Credit: Oliver Dixon - The Sun

A vicious cycle of control

And the torment didn't end there, with rapist Bellfield frequently forcing himself on her at any hour of the day.

"He'd rape me. It didn't matter where we were - if he wanted it, he took it", she says. "You didn’t argue. You could fight but you’d always lose. It could be weekly, daily - over that period it was over 100 times.

“He’d call me fat, stupid, say how useless I was as a mum, that I had no friends. You start to believe it.”

Life became a vicious cycle of control. She says: “He was brilliant when my daughter was born. He'd always have time for the kids, and they were always well-dressed.

"This is why I don’t understand how he can take other people’s children away from them, because as a father he was very good.

18 Joe had two children with the sick killer before she was able to leave him for good Credit: Oliver Dixon - The Sun

“Even after he beat the s**t out of you he’d still buy you things – sovereign rings, Kickers shoes, take you on holiday, clothes, stuff for the horses.

"Sometimes he’d say he was sorry but he would then start to say it was your fault. It was like he had multiple personalities.

“They make you believe you’re a piece of s**t on the floor.

“When people say 'why didn’t you walk away the first time?' Until you’re in this situation and you’re living that life, you can’t know what it’s like.

“I was just target practice. He was just warming up.”

18 Joe feels guilty that she didn't speak up earlier about Levi's rape claims Credit: Oliver Dixon - The Sun

18 Horse fanatic Joe says she was just target practice for Bellfield

Killer's boast about raping disabled girl

Bellfield – who has converted to Islam now and goes by the name Yusuf Rahim while in HMP Frankland – regularly bragged about raping girls when he returned from work as a doorman, according to Joe.

But without evidence, she was too scared to say anything.

Joe says: “I knew about a lot of the rapes. He’d come home bragging about it, but when I was in that position with two kids, what could I do?

"I’ve got to live with the guilt every day knowing potentially I could have stopped him, but there was never enough people to come forward.

"Imagine knowing what he is, and what he’s like - he gets arrested, gets questioned and gets let out - who’s going to get it? I fought for my life everyday - I was terrified for my own life.

“He bragged about raping a disabled girl on the bonnet of the car in the car park of a club. There were doormen who were there that knew, and nothing was ever done about it."

Joe eventually split from Bellfield after he beat her up while heavily pregnant with their son, who was born in 1997. She sought an injunction but Bellfield ignored it.

18 The twisted killer stalked Joe for years after she finally broke up with him Credit: Rex Features

Life after Bellfield

Despite moving on with another girlfriend, Bellfield continued to terrorise Joe for years – while going on to commit multiple murders over a three year period.

And it was Joe who finally exacted revenge on her evil ex by helping to bring him to justice.

Joe got in touch with police after spotting Bellfield’s car on a Crimewatch programme about the attempted murder of schoolgirl Kate Sheedy in 2004.

18 Bellfield almost killed Kate Sheedy in a terrifying hit-and-run attack Credit: Handout

The 18-year-old had been hit by a white people carrier Joe recognised as Levi’s, reversed over, and left for dead.

With the help of Joe’s statements, Bellfield was convicted in 2008 and given a full life sentence for the murder of Marsha and Amelie, and the attempted murder of Kate.

He was later given the same sentence in 2011, when he was found guilty of murdering 13-year-old Milly Dowler.

18 Joe has tried to move on from her time with sick killer Credit: Oliver Dixon - The Sun

Recalling the time that she saw his car on Crimewatch, Joe says: "I was still in touch with Levi, but no longer felt scared of him. He'd moved on, he wasn't living with me anymore and I had more freedom so it was totally different.

"I called the police anonymously and told them that white people carrier had been on my driveway a couple of weeks before and it was my baby father’s car. However nothing was done at that point.

“I can tell you nearly all his cars – the reg, the colour – because he stalked my life daily for 11 years, and would be in different cars all the time. You were always aware of him being around."

Later that year Joe went to the police again, after the murder of Amelie.

18 Joe had two children with Bellfield, who has been recommended to never be released from prison Credit: Oliver Dixon - The Sun

“I went into the incident room on Twickenham Green and told them Levi was a wheel clamper, had a white van and hated blondes.”

Joe came face-to-face with Bellfield once again while giving evidence at Milly Dowler’s court without a screen.

She says: “The last time I saw him was at the Old Bailey, and he stared back at me, he was so p***ed off.

“I had photos showing he'd been to Yateley horse show - the same area Milly's body was found.”

18 Joe has now forged a new life for herself and her children away from Bellfield Credit: Oliver Dixon - The Sun

Today, Joe is eager to put her old life as far behind her as much as she can. She has created a new life and has been in a new relationship for nine months.

“My son initially wanted to go and see Levi in prison when he was about ten," she says. "I wasn’t happy about it but thankfully he changed his mind. It’s not my place to stop them seeing him if they want to.”

She spends most of her time travelling for work or looking after her kids, her elderly mum and five horses, but she’s still scared by the psychological torment she suffered.

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She says: “I still don’t trust any guy. The minute they tell you they’ll never hurt you or cheat on you, they’re gone.

“I’ve had one serious relationship since I’ve split up with him. Some friends laugh and call me ‘man hater’, but why should you trust when you’ve been through that?

“There’ll be god knows how many things he’s done that the police don’t know about and they’ll never know about.”