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Bristol Post
Bristol Post
National
Chris Matthews, Carl Eve, Paul Greaves, James Johnson & Estel Farell Roig

Twisted Cody Ackland searched for Ted Bundy and Fred West days before Bobbi-Anne murder

When he got home, Cody Ackland searched the internet for a fashionable clothes store. But, prior to that, Ackland had murdered Bobbi-Anne McLeod.

Last month, Ackland pleaded guilty to one charge of murder after the student, 18, was found dead. The details of his search history - which revealed an obsession with serial killers, particularly Ted Bundy - emerged during the sentencing hearing of the 24-year-old, reports PlymouthLive.

Plymouth Crown Court heard that Ackland drove to Charles Cross and confessed to killing Bobbi-Anne before dumping her body, and he then told police where they could find her. Bobbi-Anne went missing after leaving to catch a bus near her home on the night of November 20.

Read more: 'Absolute chaos' as Bristol Airport travellers forced to queue outside for security

She had left her home around 6pm on the Saturday and had walked the short distance to the bus stop at the junction of Bampton Road and Sheepstor Road. Her family and friends raised the alarm later that night after she did not arrive at her boyfriend's home as expected.

Her murder sparked an outpouring of grief and worry throughout the city, with many questioning the safety of women and girls. A moving candlelit vigil was held at Smeaton's Tower on the Hoe.

Plymouth Crown Court heard that after he was arrested, police searched Ackland's devices. On the day he came home after murdering Bobbi-Anne, it was revealed he looked at clothing on Urban Outfitters.

In the months leading up to the murder, he searched for terms including "Ted Bundy", "Golden State Killer", "Ukrainian serial killer dead bodies", "Fred West", and in the weeks before her death returned back to searching for Fred West and Ted Bundy.

Ted Bundy was a serial killer who was confirmed to have murdered 30 people during the 1970s, and is suspected to have killed more. Fred West was an English serial killer who committed at least 12 murders, the majority with his second wife Rose West, in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

There were 3,216 images on Ackland's phone which included "disturbing and dark" subject matter from horror films, and prosecutor Richard Posner said the killer has a "deep-rooted fascination in death".

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