Cody Ackland

The aspiring musician's attack on Bobbi-Anne McLeod bore a striking resemblance to Bundy's modus operandi.

Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Bundy’s case captured the imagination of the US public, and his trial was one of the first to be broadcast live on television. Bundy confessed to the murders of 30 women in the across the states of Oregon, Utah, Florida, Colorado, and Idaho, beginning in the 1970s.

Cody Ackland faces minimum of 30 years for killing Plymouth teenager he kidnapped from bus stop.

Posner added: “There are numerous images of the American serial killer Ted Bundy in his telephone, and images of weapons he used to kill his victims. There was no scientific evidence to suggest McLeod was sexually assaulted and Ackland insisted this was not his motive. She was the best daughter, the best sister, and the best friend to so many people. West said: “My professional, personal opinion is, he went out with the intent to kill.” Ackland was not known to police, and friends had no idea of his obsession, but detectives believe he went out looking to kill a stranger. In a victim impact statement, Donna McLeod said her daughter had dreamed of going to college and becoming an interior designer.

Cody Ackland, 24, was obsessed with serial killers including Ted Bundy when he murdered an 18-year-old woman in Plymouth. | ITV News West Country.

We worked closely alongside our partners in the police to build the strongest possible case to ensure that Ackland was held responsible for what he did. "Violence against women and girls has a devastating effect on victims and their families. All focus turned to finding Bobbi-Anne in the hope that she was still alive. Bundy approached his victims in public places and knocked them unconscious before killing them. There were pictures of Bundy and the weapons he used on his phone. By 7.15pm her family had not heard from her and they were starting to worry. Crime scene investigators located the bag of clothes in the allotments. He then went home to bed. Ackland’s blood-stained trainers were also found in his wardrobe. She was the light of the family home. He was arrested on suspicion of murder. Devon and Cornwall Police launched an extensive missing person search and public appeal for help.

Cody Ackland murdered teenager Bobbi-Anne McLeod before returning home and searching the internet for a fashionable clothes store. The details of his search ...

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. A moving candlelit vigil was held at Smeaton's Tower on the Hoe. Bobbi-Anne went missing after leaving to catch a bus near her home on the night of November 20.

Cody Ackland, 24, has been jailed for life for the murder of 18-year-old Bobbi-Anne McLeod after abducting her from a bus stop in Leigham, Plymouth, ...

You would have been in trouble but not this trouble and Bobbi-Anne could have lived." He said: "You put her into the car unconscious and bleeding heavily. The statement read: "I took her from the bus stop and left her body at location. To know her final hours were spent being tortured kills us inside," she said. "We can only remember the awful things you've done to her. I decided to tell police to help them and her family. Asked why he came to the police station. Her life extinguished. It caused outrage and fear in this part of country and rightly so. The next day he went to work and in the middle of the day had a last beer in the car before handing himself in to the police as he thought it may have been his last for some time. He said he then drove up next to Bobbi-Anne and put her in the car and covered her in a jacket to avoid being seen. Utterly motiveless," he said.

The aspiring musician's attack on Bobbi-Anne McLeod bore a striking resemblance to Bundy's modus operandi.

In some instances he decapitated the dead bodies and stored the heads in his apartment. He would batter them unconscious with a hammer or other blunt weapon before moving them to a secret location where he would rape and strangle them. Bundy would typically approach them in public places and fake a disability in order to get them to assist him with a task, such as lifting something out of his car.

Ackland, who was obsessed with serial killer Ted Bundy, murdered 18-year-old Bobbi with a claw hammer and dumped her body in Bellever Forest.

The band’s profile picture is that of a candle in tribute to Miss McLeod. Ultimately after a decade of denial he admitted to 28 murders in seven states between 1974 and 1978. Ackland said “that was meant to be it” but as he returned to his car he saw Miss McLeod sit up and try to scream, adding: “I drove up to her and put her in the car.” He received three death sentences and was executed in 1989. The other members of Rakuda announced in November they would disband “with immediate effect” and said they were “extremely shocked and in complete disbelief” at what had happened and said their thoughts were with Miss McLeod’s family. “I did it again, I hit her again with the hammer and went to get back in the car and was going to drive away,” he said. In disturbing police interviews Ackland revealed the horrific circumstances about the night of the murder for which he said he was ‘solely responsible’. He confessed, he claimed, to help the police and Bobbi-Anne’s family. Ackland claimed he felt low on the day of the murder, had been for a drive to clear his head, and come across Miss McLeod when he took a short-cut through Leigham on his way to the town centre. The killing was the first time Ackland had ever come to the attention of the police, and not a single person who knew him had even the vaguest idea of his dark predilections. It was said he had not received “much comfort” from either his home or his school life and that the his father and other male role models had not provided much “in the way of succour or support”. He was diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia, depression and anxiety and by the age of 19 “had a seven-year depressive history”, the court was told. After attacking Miss McLeod with a claw hammer Ackland loaded the semi-conscious teenager into the footwell of his Ford Fiesta and drove her 20 miles to the Bellever Forest car park on Dartmoor where he killed her.

The guitarist's random attack on 18-year-old Bobbi-Anne McLeod when he had no past history of violence is “exceptionally rare”, detectives say.

“But none of it was a triggering event, none of it life-altering and none of it in anyway an excuse for what he did to Bobbi.” He had also conducted extensive searches of high-profile serial killers from around the world. “He felt hard done by, he claimed he was not understood very well as a youngster, claimed he did not have the same opportunities as others growing up, said mum and dad weren’t overly interested,” Mr West said. Ackland did remark that Miss McLeod looked a little like a former girlfriend, but Mr West said he believed Ackland posed as much a risk to men as he did to women on the night she was killed. But unlike Bundy, Ackland was emphatic there was no sexual motive behind the murder of Miss McLeod, and there was no evidence to suggest she had been the victim of a sex attack. Ackland claimed he felt low on the day of the murder, had been for a drive to clear his head, and come across Miss McLeod when he took a short-cut through Leigham on his way to the town centre.

Cody Ackland, 24, who was a guitarist with local indie band Rakuda, was leading a double life and had a secret morbid fascination with serial killers.

He also said that he kept the heads of some women at his home to engage in necrophilia. He went on trial in Florida on June 25, 1979, found guilty and sentenced to death. All the women were targeted in the evening and bludgeoned with blunt objects. 'She was the best daughter, the best sister, and the best friend to so many people. Ackland said this initial attack was meant to 'be it', but as he walked back to his Ford Fiesta he saw Bobbi-Anne moving, so drove back and kidnapped the bleeding teenager by violently bundling her in the footwell. She gave the first clear description and a blood sample from her jacket. At the beginning of January 1975, Caryn Campbell vanished from a Colorado ski resort. He also attended a practice session with his rock band. At a previous hearing, Ackland, of Southway, Plymouth pleaded guilty to murder. There will never be anything the justice system can impose that will ever come close to what he deserves.' Cody Ackland, 24, kidnapped Bobbi-Anne McLeod from a bus stop before bludgeoning her to death with a claw hammer at a Dartmoor beauty spot. He drove around Plymouth looking for a victim when he randomly chanced upon Bobbi-Anne, who reminded him of one of his past girlfriends.

The guitarist's random attack on 18-year-old Bobbi-Anne McLeod when he had no past history of violence is “exceptionally rare”, detectives say.

He had also conducted extensive searches of high-profile serial killers from around the world. “But none of it was a triggering event, none of it life-altering and none of it in anyway an excuse for what he did to Bobbi.” But unlike Bundy, Ackland was emphatic there was no sexual motive behind the murder of Miss McLeod, and there was no evidence to suggest she had been the victim of a sex attack. The killing was the first time Ackland had ever come to the attention of the police, and not a single person who knew him had even the vaguest idea of his dark predilections. Ackland claimed he felt low on the day of the murder, had been for a drive to clear his head, and come across Miss McLeod when he took a short-cut through Leigham on his way to the town centre. He then bundled her into the footwell of his car and drove her 19 miles to a remote car park on Dartmoor where he bludgeoned her to death.

A musician who brutally murdered a teenage girl he snatched from a Plymouth bus stop has been warned by a judge he may never be free again.

To know her final hours were spent being tortured destroys us inside.” In a victim impact statement, Miss McLeod’s family said: “Our lives have changed forever. He told a psychiatrist that he had been feeling low on the day of the murder, but afterwards he had “not felt the same feelings of depression and resentment as before”. “Psychiatrists characterise it as a kind of self-harm, someone who has developed an addiction to seeking out material, going back to it again and again,” he said. Ackland then struck her 12 times to the head and face with the hammer, before standing on her neck when he saw she was still breathing. In his confession to police, he claimed Ms McLeod could still walk, although he had to support her, when they arrived and had told him “I’m scared”.