TOWNSFOLK in Bicester have described coming face-to-face with "bus stop" killer Levi Bellfield who worked as a wheelclamper in the town.

Hammer murderer Levi Bellfield, 39, clamped cars in Bicester around the time he bludgeoned to death two women at bus stops in London - and just a day before he unsuccessfully tried to kill a third.

Bellfield, who killed Amelie Delagrange, 22, and Marsha McDonnell, 19, ran a clamping firm which operated in several pub car parks, including The Angel and The White Hart in Sheep Street, Bicester.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police interviewed Bicester residents as part of their investigation and one gave evidence during the four-month long trial.

Mandy Smith, landlady of The Angel, met Bellfield several times - sometimes on her own - because he worked with her brother-in-law.

She said: "I would not have said he had it in him. He used to come in the pub and stand very quietly and I used to make him bacon sandwiches. He would always say 'thank you'.

"I never saw any aggression whatsoever. We thought at first he was being set up. But later we thought there could not be any smoke without fire.

"I was shocked. My children used to sit in the car park with him. Even now I don't think he would have hurt them.

"I would say he was shy, polite and quiet."

Bellfield was also convicted of trying to kill Kate Sheedy, then 18, by trying to run her over in a white people carrier yards from her west London home in 2004.

During the trial, motorist Philip Lancaster told the Old Bailey he saw Bellfield in a white Toyota Previa, with blacked-out windows, the day before the attack after being clamped in Bicester.

Bicester resident Jim Collins, who was clamped in the car park of the White Hart pub, also believes he came face-to-face with the killer.

Mr Collins, of St Hilda's Close, said he was approached by aggressive men during the incident in 2003.

The 52-year-old said: "All I remember is they were well-built and had shaved heads.

"It was me on my own against three of them. It is quite scary. It is quite isolated and anything could have happened."

Mr Collins initially refused to pay the £245 the clampers demanded and stood in front of their van as they towed his car away, but later backed down.

Bellfield, from West Drayton, London, was last month found guilty of the 2003 murder of Amelie Delagrange and killing Marsha McDonnell, in 2004, with a hammer.

Thames Valley Police was unable to say whether they were linking Bellfield to any unsolved cases in Oxfordshire.