After being on the run for seven months, John Belfield was deported back to the UK, and police officers handcuffed him as he exited a plane at Manchester Airport
Police bodycam footage captured the moment murderer John Belfield was arrested and removed from a plane in handcuffs at Manchester Airport.
The video emerged as the twisted drug dealer, who tortured his love rival to death for two gruelling hours, was sentenced to life in prison. In court, it emerged that Belfield hired a team to help him kill Thomas Campbell, after the victim formed a relationship with Demi-Lee Driver; his killer’s ex-partner.
The victim suffered fatal injuries in the attack on July 2, 2022. Belfield fled in the aftermath of the murder and was on the run for about seven months, Manchester Crown Court heard. Greater Manchester Police said he used a false passport to flee the country on July 4, 2022.
Thomas Campbell’s heinous two-hour torture ordeal before brutal murder by love rival
During his time on the run, Belfield said he travelled to Holyhead, before taking a ferry to Dublin. He said he then travelled to Amsterdam, then on to Spain before flying to Brazil. He then went on to travel to Suriname, where his cousin was.
However, he was eventually arrested and later deported from the country to the Netherlands. He was then deported back to the UK, with police – including lead investigator DS Paul Davies – waiting on the tarmac at Manchester Airport on March 9 last year.
Bodycam footage, shared by the Manchester Evening News, shows Belfield being marched off an aircraft and putting his head down as four police officers waited to arrest him. As he is arrested, Belfield stares intently through the window of the van, sizing up the officer as he reads him the caution.
Belfield denied being one of three people who “pounced” on Mr Campbell outside his home in Mossley, Tameside, before the 38-year-old was attacked and “tortured to death” for over two hours. The victim was discovered wearing only socks and bound by duct tape at the ankles.
It was found that Mr Campbell had suffered 61 injuries consistent with “restraint” and “asphyxia”, the court heard. The injuries to Mr Campbell’s head and neck were consistent with a “sustained blunt sharp force physical assault” and there was evidence of “burning” to his thigh and buttocks caused by a “hot liquid such as hot water”. He also had a “gaping stab wound” to his right upper arm which would have bled “extensively”.
The court heard Mr Campbell’s ex-wife had been in on the plot. Coleen Campbell had fed her former spouse’s killers vital information about his whereabouts and was found guilty of manslaughter following a trial in 2023.
Reece Steven, who Belfield recruited into the crime, was found guilty of murder. Stephen Cleworth, who Belfield also recruited and planted a tracking device on Campbell’s car, was convicted of manslaughter. All were jailed in 2023. The third attacker who formed part of the group who attacked Mr Campbell remains unknown and is wanted by police.
Belfield pleaded not guilty to murder and conspiracy to rob Mr Campbell. However, he was found guilty on July 3. Mr Justice Garnham told Belfield: “You have been found guilty of murder. The result of that is that I am bound by law to impose on you a sentence of life imprisonment.”
Belfield got a minimum term of 34 years and 261 days, after having been convicted of murder and conspiracy to rob. Mr Justice Graham, who sentenced John Belfield, described the injuries as nothing short but “horrendous”. He said he had no doubt that Belfield “took pleasure in his pain”.
The judge added: “Thomas Campbell was no saint. Like you, he was involved in the sale and distribution of drugs. He was also a human being. The manner of his death was horrific. His family and friends have had to listen to the description of his injuries.
“His father has described his family’s prolific grief – it’s plain he was greatly loved. I find you, John Belfield, were the leading role in the conspiracy to rob and the attack itself.
“This gang of thugs, with which you were the leader, attacked Mr Campbell and stole from him the drugs you believed he had. No one knows what exactly happened in Riverside. It cannot be said who delivered the blows with knives, fists or boots.”
