By Andrew Bardsley
“You ok??,” read the message she sent her partner, just after midnight on a Saturday night. About 45 minutes later, another text followed. “Do you want to let me know you are ok?,” she continued. A phone call also went unanswered. Thomas Campbell was in no state to answer her texts and calls. But he wasn’t out drinking or partying with pals. He was being brutally murdered in his own home. Demi-Lee Driver, Thomas’ partner, had no idea that as she texted and phoned him, Thomas was being ‘tortured to death’ by her ‘obsessed’ ex. READ MORE: John Belfield GUILTY of murdering and conspiring to rob love rival Thomas Campbell It marked the horrific end to a week’s-worth of meticulous planning masterminded by John Belfield, who, fuelled by jealousy and rage, wanted to send a murderous message to Demi. Thomas’ face was ‘disfigured’ during a ferocious and repeated attack, ‘so that the girls wouldn’t look at him’ anymore, as Coleen Campbell, his ex-wife would later say. He had even conspired with Coleen, and threatened to ‘sh**’ his former spouse, just to send a message to Thomas. It was only hours after those unanswered texts and phone call that the true horror of what had happened on Riverside in Mossley emerged. The smart, new build home was taped off by police for two weeks, as officers combed the scene for clues. Belfield tried to commit the perfect murder, leaving no trace of DNA or incriminating CCTV at the scene. But he was brought down by a meticulous investigation, using phone data to track his movements. Thomas had embarked on a new relationship with Demi after the end of his ten year marriage to Coleen Campbell, the mother of his two children. They married in June 2011 after the birth of their first child a year earlier, with a second following in 2015. They appeared to be doing well for themselves. A double storey extension at their semi-detached home in Clayton , east Manchester, and luxury cars including a Mercedes AMG and a BMW X5 on the drive, was evidence of this. Expensive holidays, including a £10,000 trip to Cancun with a stay at a five-star hotel, were also enjoyed. At the time, Coleen worked part time at Matalan and received working tax credits, while Thomas was registered as a self-employed fitness instructor. Police began an investigation into the source of their wealth, which ended with a jail sentence for Thomas and Coleen just about avoiding the same. Their home was raided in March 2015, and the Mercedes and BMW on the drive were both seized. They were jointly prosecuted and pleaded guilty to money laundering, enjoying around £100,000 of dirty money between 2009 and 2015. Eventually, in 2019 at Manchester Crown Court , Thomas was jailed for two years. Coleen escaped with a suspended prison sentence. Coleen visited him ‘every single week’ in jail, but after his release from prison their relationship began to break down. She claimed Thomas became paranoid and accused her of seeing other men while he’d been inside. Coleen made a number of allegations to police that Thomas had attacked her, placed tracking devices on her car, or threatened her. Thomas also made allegations about Coleen, claiming that she had thrown things at him, damaged his vehicle and abused him over the phone. Both did not pursue the allegations and no further action was taken. Coleen decided that their marriage was over after she accused Thomas of cheating on her with her best friend. “If he had an affair with someone I didn’t know, maybe I could have got over it,” she told her 2023 trial. So angered was she about her husband’s infidelity, she went to the woman’s house, smashed the windscreen of her car and drove into it. She was hauled before the courts again in 2021 and fined after admitting causing criminal damage. That year, their split became formal and they divorced. Thomas left the marital home and spent time in Spain and Dubai, before returning home and settling in Mossley. Coleen claimed he’d fled abroad because he feared he was being investigated by police over the hacking of EncroChat, a sophisticated encrypted communications network often dubbed ‘WhatsApp for criminals’. At the time of his death, there was an open investigation into his alleged role in drug supply, his murder trial was told. On Thomas’ return to the UK, he and Coleen appeared to resolve their differences. Their previously ‘hostile’ relationship became more amicable, and a schedule for visiting and caring for his children was agreed. The couple put on a united front and attended a prize giving ceremony together at one of their children’s schools. It was around this time that Thomas began seeing Demi-Lee Driver. She had also recently emerged from a nasty break up. She had split from her ex, self-confessed cocaine dealer John Belfield, about a year before the murder in July 2022. Belfield sent a series of vile messages to her in the week leading up to the killing, detailing exactly what he thought of her. “You’re mine,” Belfield said to her. “You belong to me now Demilee,” adding the chilling postscript ‘Forever’. As they continued to row, Belfield told her: “You will never have a boyfriend you will have to move country give it a week and you will see why and what happens when you take the pi**”. Demi saw exactly what Belfield was capable of, on July 2. In the lead-up to that night, a tracking device had been placed on Thomas Campbell’s car, after Belfield, with the help of Coleen Campbell, who confirmed where her ex lived. They had connected on Instagram, with Coleen evening using her child to confirm where Thomas was living. Belfield goaded Thomas about how close he was getting to his ex-wife. “I’m going to sh** her for the point of it as well as saying you like her you soft boy,” Belfield told him in a message, days before murdering him. Reconnaissance missions had also been carried out, to determine the time and location at which to strike. When she was texting and calling Thomas, it had already been an hour since he was ambushed at his front door by three men, one of which was Belfield, and bundled into his home. Inside that house of horrors, he was stabbed, strangled, and had boiling water poured on his genitals. Blood coated the walls after he was subjected to indignity after indignity. He suffered significant facial injuries, a hint that his attackers deliberately disfigured him. In the aftermath, Coleen Campbell, who at this stage was still posing as the grieving widow, told her mother that she’d been to see a psychic. Coleen Campbell claimed that Thomas had suffered facial injuries ‘so that the girls wouldn’t look at him’. This was at a time before the nature of his injuries had been made public. When she came to learn of Thomas’ dreadful fate, Demi may have wondered what he was going through in that period, as he experienced his last night alive. It must have been even more unthinkable when she discovered who was the ‘mastermind’ behind it all.