{"id":237285,"date":"2025-07-04T11:33:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T11:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/237285\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T11:33:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T11:33:16","slug":"screams-of-rot-in-hell-and-you-fing-freak-as-john-belfield-jailed-for-life-for-murder-of-love-rival-thomas-campbell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/237285\/","title":{"rendered":"Screams of \u2018rot in hell\u2019 and \u2018you f***ing freak\u2019 as John Belfield jailed for life for murder of love rival Thomas Campbell\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

“You wanted Thomas Campbell to suffer. I have no doubt you took pleasure in his pain\u201dThomas Campbell, left, and John Belfield(Image: GMP)<\/p>\n

A court erupted in screams of \u2018rot in hell\u2019, ‘rat’ and \u2018you f***ing freak\u2019 as John Belfield was jailed for life for the murder of Thomas Campbell.<\/p>\n

Belfield, 31, recruited a team to help him kill Campbell <\/strong><\/a>after he began a relationship with Demi-Lee Driver, his killer’s ex-partner. Belfield was one of three men who lay in wait as Campbell arrived home late on a Saturday night on July 2, 2022.<\/p>\n

Manchester Crown Court<\/a> heard the killing followed a week of hostile surveillance carried out on 38-year-old Mr Campbell by Belfield and his conspirators.<\/p>\n

When they struck, Campbell could be heard to scream as the trio attacked and subdued him on his front drive, before bundling him inside the house on Riverside in Mossley, Tameside.<\/p>\n

Over two hours he was stabbed, strangled and had hot liquid poured on his genitals. Prosecutors said he was ‘tortured to death’, having suffered 61 separate injuries.<\/p>\n

A huge murder investigation was launched, which revealed that Campbell’s ex-wife had been in on the plot. Coleen Campbell had fed her former spouse’s killers vital information about his whereabouts.<\/p>\n

John Belfield(Image: GMP)<\/p>\n

She even used her daughter to confirm where he lived. The pair, who had two children together, had been together for 10 years, but divorced in 2019 following a messy break-up.<\/p>\n

Coleen Campbell was found guilty of manslaughter following a trial in 2023, for her role in the horrendous plot. Reece Steven, who Belfield recruited into the crime, and was one of the three attackers to kill Thomas Campbell, was found guilty of murder.<\/p>\n

Stephen Cleworth, who Belfield also recruited and planted the tracking device on Campbell’s car, was convicted of manslaughter. He was not present at the scene as he was on a ‘bender’ at a swinger’s club. The trio were all also convicted of conspiring to rob Thomas Campbell.<\/p>\n

The third attacker who formed part of the group who attacked Campbell remains unknown and is wanted by police.<\/p>\n

Coleen Campbell, Steven and Cleworth were all jailed in 2023. But Belfield evaded police and fled the country two days after the murder.<\/p>\n

He was eventually holed up in Suriname, a former Dutch colony north of Brazil, joining a cousin who was also hiding out there. He was arrested in Suriname in March 2023 and eventually flown back to Manchester a year later.<\/p>\n

Thomas Campbell(Image: GMP)<\/p>\n

At his trial, Belfield claimed he had agreed with Steven and Cleworth to try and steal drugs from Campbell, which they believed he hid in fields across Tameside<\/a> and east Manchester.<\/p>\n

He said Coleen Campbell suggested locations where the drugs would be buried. Belfield maintained that he did not want ‘trouble’ with Campbell and that he was not jealous of the relationship with his ex.<\/p>\n

But after a month long trial, Belfield was found guilty of murder and conspiracy to rob.<\/p>\n

At his sentencing hearing today, Mr Campbell\u2019s father, Terry Campbell paid tribute to him. He said: \u201cI\u2019m not going to waste words defending Thomas\u2019 lifestyle, that\u2019s for others to judge. I want to speak about my son Thomas, who has been referred to as the victim and the deceased throughout the trial, as a human being.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to tell you about the true person that Thomas was. A son, a loving father and a good friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up Thomas was a cheeky chap, and he was known for his politeness and his good heart. It\u2019s hard to find a photograph of Thomas where he isn\u2019t smiling, and he brought light into every room.<\/p>\n

\u201cThomas is the father of two children who he doted on. As I look at my grandchildren, although it is a beautiful time when we’re together, there is a thought in the back of my mind about the reality for them when they have to face this pain themselves, and learn of the reality of what happened to their dad who they adore.<\/p>\n

\u201cIts been so hard to endure the mockery of Thomas between those responsible for him no longer being here. The only context where soft boy would come into play is in the way he treated his family and friends. On the topic of friends, none of the people concerned in this trial were friends of Thomas. I have heard time and time again the phrase \u201cI know him really well\u201d. I can say with confidence that that simply isn\u2019t true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jailing him for life to serve a minimum term of 34 years and 261 days in prison, Mr Justice Graham said to Belfield: \u201cYou wanted Thomas Campbell to suffer. I have no doubt you took pleasure in his pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he was led to the cells below, Belfield looked to the public gallery where Mr Campbell\u2019s family were sitting. They then began to cackle, shout and scream \u2018rot in hell\u2019, \u2018rat\u2019 and \u2018you f***ing freak\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“You wanted Thomas Campbell to suffer. I have no doubt you took pleasure in his pain\u201dThomas Campbell, left,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[30,12,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-237285","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-courts","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114794751967778479","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}