By Andrew Bardsley
Despite being thousands of miles away in his bolthole in South America, John Belfield exerted an extraordinary influence on a court case in Bolton . His interference in British judicial proceedings ultimately failed. But it revealed an arrogance and a belief that he was above the law. He thought was too clever to be caught. Even before the brutal murder of Thomas Campbell, Belfield, who said he had operated as a drug dealer for a decade, proved to be aware of police tactics. He was careful with his use of phones, regularly swapping numbers. And during the killing itself, he and his associates proved they sophisticated criminals. Despite searching the scene for two weeks, forensics officers did not find a trace of DNA relating to the attackers in Campbell’s home. The ripping out of his home CCTV security system also revealed how savvy they were. Belfield was one step ahead of the authorities in evading their clutches. Or so he thought. That changed after his arrest in Suriname. He had been using a phone with the encrypted app Signal, to communicate with the team he had recruited to help him rob and ultimately murder Thomas Campbell. Police delighted at the treasure trove of messages the seizure of the phone provided. In Belfield’s absence, Reece Steven, who was convicted of murder, Stephen Cleworth and Campbell’s ex-wife Coleen Campbell, both convicted of manslaughter, all faced the music during a trial at Bolton Crown Court in 2023, about six months after Thomas Campbell had been found ‘tortured to death in his own home in Mossley, Tameside . Steven was one of the three attackers; Cleworth had helped with the planning; and Coleen Campbell gave key information about her former spouse’s whereabouts to Belfield. His messages sent on Signal came back to haunt him when he would eventually face justice himself, at a second trial in connection with Campbell’s murder. As prosecutors laid out damning evidence against the trio during the first trial in 2023, Belfield, despite being in the safety of South America, could not help but follow the case by checking up on the Manchester Evening News coverage of the case. Steven also sent him pictures of case papers, so he could prepare for his own eventual day in court. From there, he told a contact named ‘James’, who he admitted was in fact Reece Steven, his strategy. “Listen I’ll be good in the doc [sic] but I’ll just wait because when people start getting no [sic] guilty they can’t use evidence on me then because it’s no [sic] guilty evidence. “I would love to come back and get the team a not guilty but your gunna [sic] have to do it yourself, just say ‘you will have to ask John that’.” With the trio all being convicted, that strategy went out of the window. At one point, apparently pleased with how the case was progressing, Belfield messaged another contact. “Yeah I’ll be back lad if it gets dropped.” He added: “They have even less on me on the conspiracy to rob. I don’t even put the tracker on or anything. “You don’t even see me in the case you just know I’m involved.” In a chat with another contact, Belfield posted a picture of Bolton Crown Court, with the caption: “Look like defo get away with murder there. If I’ve seen somewhere to slide it’s there.” His trial was actually held at Manchester Crown Court . That courtroom proved to be no more ‘somewhere to slide’ than its Bolton based counterpart. In further messaging, Belfield became seemingly resigned to the fact that he would at some stage have to answer to the courts. “Yeah just looking what it gonna be like for me there is a way to put myself away from the scene but I’ll have to say it was other people that why it’s good we are on trial different to each other and if I have an alibi I can’t get found guilty on what they have there’s just not enuff [sic] and I could have just been naive.” His older sister Holly Belfield gave evidence at the trial, claiming her brother was actually at her home watching Finding Nemo with their children at the time of the murder. Her account was rejected by the jury. But despite his bullishness, Belfield appreciated that the prosecution had evidence which would prove difficult to explain away, when he eventually had his day in court. “Not good tho they have the phone what tracks the tracker,” Belfield said in a message, “And that saying that travelled with my Phone a lot on the day of the murder. “The closest they get is a phone we have in our possession goes up that night and does it. And they have us at the house on a Monday late. And then a banger of text off me saying watch what happens next week.” Phone evidence did indeed play a key part in the case against Belfield. He tried to explain it away, claiming that at incriminating moments, others were using the ‘graft phone’, which he said was a drugs line operated by others. But it didn’t wash with the jury. An awareness of police tactics was a theme that struck throughout the messages. As the trial progressed, Belfield then tried to help his pal get away with murder. Coaching Reece Steven about what to say to the jury, Belfield sent him images from Google maps. Steven had asked for ‘the full directions’. “Just so I can drill it in me head,” he said. They were directions which Steven would claim meant that he could not have been at the scene of the murder in Mossley on July 2, and that he was actually at a cannabis farm. Steven was confident that he and Belfield’s plan could help him walk away scot-free. “If I get that thing right a say it properly its gunna [sic] put a lot of doubt in the jury mind about the full situation surely,” Steven told Belfield. But his efforts went unrewarded. Jurors saw through their bluster and lies and convicted Steven of murder. The messages were contained on a phone seized by police in Suriname when he was arrested over there. Handing it over to GMP, they provided a wealth of further evidence which they could use against Belfield. His primary strategy of returning after all his comrades had been acquitted lay in ruins. Belfield was left to face a second trial, this time in person, alone, with the full glare of the police and prosecution trained on him. That didn’t go well for him either. After a month long trial, Belfield was found guilty of murder and conspiracy to rob. His claim that he only wanted to steal drugs from Thomas Campbell did not hold sway with the jury. He now faces a life sentence and a huge minimum term, after Steven was ordered to serve a minimum of 37 years when he was sentenced in 2023. He will be sentenced tomorrow (July 4). Following the trial in 2023, Steven was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison, to serve a minimum of 37 years. Stephen Cleworth was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to life in prison, to serve a minimum of 12 years. Coleen Campbell was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 13 years in prison. The trio were all also convicted of conspiring to rob Thomas Campbell.