THE family of Milly Dowler launched a scathing attack on the justice system as their daughter's "spineless and gutless" killer was given an unprecedented second whole-life jail term.

The Dowlers said they felt as if they were on trial while giving evidence against Levi Bellfield, who murdered their daughter nine years ago but went on to kill two more victims before being caught.

They were also critical of the initial Surrey Police investigation during which chances were missed to catch the serial killer.

Bellfield was convicted on Thursday of murdering the schoolgirl, but the jury was discharged yesterday without reaching a verdict on a charge that he attempted to abduct 11-year-old Rachel Cowles the day before he snatched Milly in March 2002.

Mr Justice Wilkie took the decision because of what defence lawyers described as an “avalanche of adverse publicity” after Bellfield’s conviction for Milly’s murder. He will not face a retrial on the attempted abduction charge and the judge will now ask the Attorney General to consider proceedings against media organisations for contempt of court.

Milly’s mother Sally welcomed Bellfield’s murder conviction but said the trial had been a “truly awful experience” for her family. Milly’s parents, Bob and Sally, both broke down while giving evidence at the Old Bailey when the defence probed into their lives and suggested their daughter may have run away because she was unhappy.

For Mr Dowler, an IT management consultant, there was the added humiliation of having to admit he had an interest in bondage sex. He was considered at one time as a suspect – the first of 54 checked out by Surrey Police over the years.

Milly’s sister Gemma said the day her parents were questioned by Bellfield’s lawyer in court was the “worst day of my life” adding: “It feels like we were the criminals and we were on trial.”

Milly’s father said his family had had to pay “too high a price” for Bellfield’s conviction, saying the trial had been a “mentally scarring process”.

He said: “During our questioning my wife and I both felt as though we were on trial. The questioning of my wife was particularly cruel and inhuman, resulting in her collapsing after leaving the stand.

“We despair of a justice system which is so loaded in favour of the perpetrator of the crime.”

Commissioner for Victims and Witnesses Louise Casey also condemned the treatment of the Dowlers as “quite appalling”.

Speaking of the Dowler family, trial judge Mr Justice Wilkie said: “I appreciate that the trial process has been excruciating for them by reason of the issues the defendant instructed his lawyers to raise in his defence.

“I understand that they feel let down by the trial process in that respect. Unfortunately, given the nature of the defence, it was unavoidable that these issues be pursued in court.

“All that I can do is hope that they may in time come to terms with that and that the outcome of the trial may in some small way contribute to their grieving process and assist them in coming to a semblance of closure.”

The conclusion of the Old Bailey trial threw the focus on the original investigation by Surrey Police and the family of one of his victims, Marsha McDonnell, called for an inquiry into the force’s handling of the inquiry into the death of Milly to see if lives could have been saved.

Bellfield lived 50 yards away from where Milly was last seen and police knocked on the door of his flat in Collingwood Place, off Station Avenue, 11 times, but did not try to contact the letting agent to trace him.

Diana Cowles rang police when a man in a red car offered her daughter a lift, but it was three years until officers interviewed her.

Surrey chief constable Mark Rowley apologised to the Dowler family for mistakes which allowed the killer to slip through the net.

Judge Mr Justice Wilkie said that with “great reluctance” he had decided that media publicity after Bellfield’s conviction had been so prejudicial that the jury could no longer be expected to consider the abduction charge, depriving Rachel of the chance to see her alleged attacker face a jury verdict.

He said: “This is most unfortunate and, in a sense, deplorable. The only person who is going to be affected by what has happened and most affected adversely has been Rachel Cowles and her family. She has had to live for nine years with what happened to her and she has given evidence in court which has no doubt been an ordeal for her.

“As a result of the trigger being pulled too soon on what would otherwise have been proper and appropriate material, I have been put in a position where I am obliged to discharge the jury from reaching a verdict in her case.”

Bellfield is thought to be the first person to receive a second whole-life sentence. He is already serving a whole-life term for the murders of Amelie Delagrange and Miss McDonnell and the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy.

He declined to come to court and face his accusers when he was jailed yesterday – just as he did the last time.

Meanwhile, a lawyer for Michael Stone, who is serving life for the murders of mother and daughter Lin and Megan Russell in 1996, claimed that Bellfield should be considered a suspect in that case. Stone has always maintained his innocence.