The son of a serial killer once talked about the moment his father showed him a terrifying drawing he had made.

case killer John Sweeney is gaining newfound attention for these reasons: ITV drama Until It Kills Youwhich stars Shaun Evans Sweeney and Anna Maxwell Martin as Delia Balmer, the nurse he attacked before running away for six years.

Events in the ITV drama range from the beginning of Balmer’s relationship with Sweeney to his eventual trial, and I don’t want to spoil things, but Balmer is found guilty.

it had happened sentenced to life imprisonment He was in prison for the attempted murder of Balmer and was back in court years later for the murders of his former partners Melissa Halstead and Paula Fields.

Halstead’s body was found in a canal in Rotterdam in 1990, but remained unidentified for 18 years until cold case investigators in the Netherlands investigated the matter again.

In 2001, Fields’ body parts were found in the Regent’s Canal, King’s Cross, but his head, hands and feet were not found among the remains.

Police find paintings and drawings at serial killer John Sweeney’s home (Metropolitan Police/PA)

Following his arrest, police found numerous pictures and drawings containing violent scenarios and dead women.

Accordingly Following his father’s second trial in 2011, Sweeney’s son Michael said his father had once given him a drawing of his own mother in a coffin, The Mirror reported.

He initially thought his father was angry about their separation, but after the hearings he realized it was a window into the world of a serial killer.

Michael said: “I knew straight away it was my mother. She was so real. It was like a photograph. At the time I thought it was strange but just a symbol of their bad relationship.”

“Now I know he did, and I can’t help but wonder why he didn’t kill my mother.”

The serial killer’s story is now an ITV drama starring Shaun Evans and Anna Maxwell Martin (ITV)

Michael also said that he begged his father to confess to other murders he had committed, and that after meeting him for the last time at a funeral, he never wanted to see him again.

Sweeney was taken from prison to attend his father Jack’s funeral, accompanied by guards, and his son shouted, ‘Michael, don’t make the same mistakes I made!’ he remembers saying.

Michael found it ‘disgusting’ that the serial killer was trying to give parental advice and replied: “No way, dad!”

BBC reported It was learned that other drawings and paintings Sweeney made during his trial included expressions such as ‘Never Die Until It Kills You’, ‘Crimes of Passion’ and ‘Wanted Man’.