Indie guitarist who killed Bobbi-Anne McLeod picked her ‘because she looked like his ex’

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A twisted Indie band guitarist joked to police how his 18-year-old victim was still able to ‘make a noise’ despite him hitting her 12 times with a hammer before he delivered a fatal stamp to her throat, Plymouth Crown Court heard today – as the serial killer obsessed fiend awaits sentencing. 

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. Describing the moments after he battered the teenager in a police interview, he said: ‘It’s not funny but she started to make a noise and I thought ”f****** hell, wow, I mean hats off to her”.’ 

The killer had been ‘acting out his fantasy’, the court heard today. He had almost 3,000 graphic, grisly images of dead and dismembered people on his phone and was morbidly fascinated by US serial killer Ted Bundy – who was executed in 1989 after kidnapping, raping and murdering at least 30 women and girls during the 1970s. 

Ackland told police he was ‘wound up and needed to get out of the house’ on the evening of November 20 last year. 

He drove around Plymouth looking for a victim when he randomly chanced upon Bobbi-Anne, who reminded him of one of his past girlfriends. After parking his car, he crept up on the 18-year-old along a path behind the bus stop before striking her over the back of the head with a claw hammer. 

The 4ft 11in college student fell to the ground and as ‘their eyes met’ he hit her over the head again, he later told police. 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.    

Ackland then drove her around 19 miles to a car park at Bellever Forest, on the fringes of Dartmoor, where he repeatedly hit her with a hammer, causing ‘multiple catastrophic injuries to her head and face’ during a ‘prolonged, frenzied, sadistic attack’. He recalled Bobbi-Anne say ‘I’m scared’ shortly before the savage assault. 

The killer then put her body into the boot of his red car and drove more than 25 miles to Bovisand, on the eastern side of Plymouth Sound, where he stripped her of her clothes and some jewellery and dumped her body in undergrowth down a slope.

Prosecutor Richard Posner said: ‘She had been dumped face down in the dirt and foliage. Her body was completely naked. Tragically, Bobbi was dead. The scene was closed off while her body was recovered. There were 14 lacerations to her head and face. Her body was identified through dental records.’   

After the attack in November 2021, callous Ackland threw away her clothes in an allotment before going out partying with friends. 

Witnesses told how he was laughing, joking and hugging people and went to a pub-lock-in before later ordering pizza. He also attended a practice session with his rock band. Friends said the only time they had seen the killer so happy was at one of the band’s gigs.  

Meanwhile, Bobbi-Anne’s worried family tried to find her after she failed to meet her boyfriend, Louie Leach, in Plymouth. 

Three days later, Ackland – a car valet – turned himself in and confessed, telling detectives where he had dumped her body. At a previous hearing, Ackland, of Southway, Plymouth pleaded guilty to murder.

Richard Posner, prosecuting, told the court Ackland was leading ‘a double life’ and harboured a fascination with serial killers in the UK, Australia, US and Russia.

Mr Posner said Ackland had conducted extensive searches about ‘their crimes, the aftermath of such crimes, and the bodies left behind in days leading up to Bobbi-Anne (McLeod’s) death’.

He said he had also been searching the web pages of DIY stores for ‘hammers, crowbars and cutting tools’.

‘Cody Ackland led a double life. When he left home on November 20 and drove through Leigham in Plymouth towards the bus stop where Bobbi-Anne was,’ the prosecutor said.

‘He held such an unhealthy fascination and desire to imitate serial killers. 

‘His fascination was to become an unimaneagable wicked reality for Bobbi-Anne.’ 

In disturbing police interviews, Ackland told how he had ‘panicked’ at seeing Bobbi-Anne was still alive after the initial attack at the bus stop.  

‘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.

Ackland described his reasoning as ‘an industrial way of thinking’ adding ‘I just thought, right, get rid of the problem.’

He said Bobbi-Anne was still able to walk when they arrived at Bellever Forest car park. 

The killer said he had lifted Bobbi-Anne McLeod and supported her as they walked towards woodland.

He said she had said something like ‘I am scared’.

Ackland told police: ‘I said (to Miss McLeod) so am I, I never done this, I’ve never seen this’, but I meant to say ‘I’ve never done this’.

He described striking her 12 times to the head with a hammer to the head and face, but she was still breathing.

The twisted murderer said in interview: ‘It’s not funny but she started to make a noise and I thought ‘f****** hell, wow, I mean hats off to her’.’

He added that he had also trodden on her neck to suffocate her. 

At 5.45pm on November 20, Miss McLeod left her home in Leigham to meet her boyfriend and walked to the nearby bus stop on Bampton Road, where she was last seen alive at 6.15pm.

By 7.15pm, the teenager’s family were starting to worry and a member of the public found her abandoned mobile phone and Apple AirPod case in the bus stop. 

Indie band guitarist who idolised US monster Ted Bundy: Bobbi-Anne McLeod killer Cody Ackland was obsessed with serial killers and researched human mutilation online before he bludgeoned petite 24-year-old to death and dumped her body in woodland

By Nick Constable for MailOnline 

The Indie band guitarist who snatched teenager Bobbi-Anne McLeod from a bus stop before murdering her and dumping her body on a beach was obsessed with serial killers, researched human mutilation online and idolised US monster Ted Bundy, MailOnline can reveal.

Detectives found almost 3,000 graphic, grisly images of dead and dismembered people on Cody Ackland’s phone – a horrific window into his grotesque double life.

Ackland, 24, was morbidly fascinated by Bundy, who was executed in 1989 after kidnapping, raping and murdering at least 30 women and girls during the 1970s.

He was so unmoved by his brutal claw-hammer attack on 18-year-old Bobbi-Anne that in the hours immediately after stripping and dumping her body he was out partying with friends.

Witnesses told how he was laughing, joking and hugging people and went to a pub-lock-in before later ordering pizza. He also attended a practice session with his rock band.

Friends said the only time they had seen the killer so happy was at one of the band’s gigs.

Ackland didn’t know Bobbi-Anne and randomly chose her as his victim as she stood at a bus-stop near her family’s home in Leigham, Plymouth, at 6.05pm on Saturday November 20th last year, heading for a night-out with her boyfriend.

He attacked her and walked backed to his car nearby, later telling police: ‘That was meant to be it.’

But when he saw her move he returned, bundled her into the footwell of his red Ford Fiesta and drove 19 miles to Bellever Forest on Dartmoor where he repeatedly battered her around the head with the hammer, causing ‘catastrophic’ injuries.

Her naked body was later found in woods near a disused military fort at Bovisand, Plymouth. Her clothes were found tossed into an allotment.

By 7.15pm on the evening she went missing, Bobbi-Anne’s family were already starting to worry that they hadn’t heard from her.

When her boyfriend called at 9pm saying she hadn’t arrived, they began to search and make appeals on social media.

By 10pm Police had launched a missing persons enquiry and made a public appeal for anyone who had seen her to come forward.

Three days later Ackland left his job as a garage car valet, sent ‘strange’ messages to friends and family saying he had ‘done something’ and walked into a Plymouth police station to confess.

He told detectives: ‘I did it. I was responsible for it’.

He then revealed where he had left the teenager’s body, claimed he wanted to help police and Bobbi-Anne’s family and said he had a ‘tendency to overthink things.’

He said he’d gone out on the night of the murder because he was ‘feeling low’ and ‘wound up’ and needed to get out of the house.

Moments later he attacked Bobbi-Anne at the bus stop with frenzied blows from his hammer.

Prosecutor Richard Posner told Plymouth Crown Court that Ackland’s interest in death was ‘sinister and relevant to his motivation.’

Mr Posner added: ‘His interest in the macabre presents as deep-rooted; a fascination with death, murder and murderers and the means to commit murder.

‘He had viewed and kept extreme and graphic images of dead and dismembered people, bodies of purported murder victims, post-mortem, deposition sites and artefacts linked to murders such as weapons and soiled and tainted items.

‘Ackland possessed images linked to serial killers and historic missing persons appeals by US police.’    

He went on: ‘There are numerous images of the American serial killer Ted Buddy in his telephone and images of weapons he used to kill his victims.

‘Bundy approached his victims in public places and knocked them unconscious before killing them.

‘It is not a coincidence that Bobbi-Anne McLeod met her fate the same way.’

In their statement Bobbi-Anne’s family thanked both police and the public for their help in trying to find her and, later, to bring Ackland to justice.

‘The help and support from everyone, not just friends and family but everyone, everywhere, who helped with all of the posters, posts and messages to bring our baby, our Bobbi, home – thank you.

‘To everyone in the police, the investigation team and all of the services, we thank you for everything you have done and for finally getting justice for Bobbi-Anne.’