BUS stop killer Levi Bellfield, the prime suspect in the Milly Dowler murder, was facing three life sentences today.

Bellfield, 39, was convicted at the Old Bailey yesterday of murdering students Amelie Delagrange, 22, and Marsha McDonnell, 19, and the attempted murder of schoolgirl Kate Sheedy, 18.

Bellfield trawled bus stops and followed buses late at night looking for young blondes on their own.

He would follow them, offer them lifts and, if they turned him down, react with rage.

Ms McDonnell was struck over the head with a hammer feet from her home in Hampton, west London, after getting off a bus in February 2003.

Bellfield, a former nightclub bouncer, stalked convent school head girl Kate Sheedy as she got off a bus near her house in Isleworth, in May 2004.

When she crossed over to avoid him, he aimed his vehicle at her and ran her over – reversing back over the girl to make sure she was dead.

But the plucky teenager survived to give evidence against Bellfield.

Ms Delagrange was battered over the head with a heavy instrument such as a hammer in August 2004, after getting off at the wrong bus stop.

Bellfield followed her as she walked back towards her home in Twickenham Green, west London, and attacked her after trying to pick her up on the local cricket green.

Ms Sheedy and the families of the dead girls had held hands with friends and supporters as the verdicts were delivered. They burst into tears of relief.

Now a 21-year-old university student, Ms Sheedy courageously faced the media outside court, saying: “The fact that Bellfield has been found guilty means more to me than I can possibly say. I have waited for four years for this day.”

Ms Delagrange’s mother Dominique Delagrange paid tribute to her daughter and said of Bellfield: “This guilty person has showed an unbelievable level of arrogance.”

Bellfield had denied the crimes but Brian Altman, prosecuting, told a pre-trial hearing: “He hated women. He hated blonde women.”

The attacks were consistent “with someone who has great animosity to women”.

Bellfield was arrested in November 2004 after a police appeal for information on a white van with distinctive markings used in the Delagrange murder.

Bellfield was found guilty unanimously of murdering Amelie and by a 10-2 majority of the crimes against Marsha and Kate.

The jury, who had been deliberating for six days, could not reach verdicts on charges alleging he attempted to murder hairdresser Irma Dragoshi, 33, who received head injuries, and kidnapped Anna-Maria Rennie, 17.

Prosecutors said later that they would not seek a retrial on the offences which occurred at bus stops.

After the case Surrey police said they would be interviewing Bellfield in connection with Milly Dowler’s murder in 2002.

She disappeared in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, whilst going home from school.