Christopher Halliwell

Case record: Christopher Halliwell

Status

Christopher Halliwell pleaded guilty to the murder of Sian O'Callaghan. He received a life sentence with a minimum tariff of 25 years on October 19, 2012. A second murder charge was withdrawn after a High Court judge ruled that evidence gained following his arrest was inadmissible.

Timeline

• 19 March 2011, 02:52 GMT — Sian O'Callaghan was captured on CCTV leaving Swindon's Suju nightclub to walk 800 metres (0.50 mi) to the flat in Swindon's old town that she shared with her boyfriend, Kevin Reape.
• 19 March 2011, 03:24 GMT — Kevin Reape sent Sian O'Callaghan an SMS; analysis later showed that her mobile phone was in the Savernake Forest area 12 miles (19 km) away at the time the message was received.
• 19 March 2011, 09:45 GMT — Kevin Reape contacted the police and reported Sian O'Callaghan as missing.
• 20 March 2011 — The police issued their first public appeal for information and announced that they had begun searching Savernake Forest.
• 22 March 2011 — Approximately 400 members of the public joined the police in searching Savernake Forest.
• 22 March 2011 — An anonymous donor offered a £20,000 reward for information leading to finding Sian O'Callaghan.
• 23 March 2011 — Police announced that analysis of Sian O'Callaghan’s mobile phone signals led to the identification of a number of “hot spots” to be investigated; members of the public were asked to stand down from searches.
• 24 March 2011 — Police made an urgent appeal for witnesses of a green Toyota Avensis with taxi markings seen between Swindon and Savernake Forest shortly after Sian O'Callaghan’s disappearance; police also arrested a taxicab driver from Swindon and seized a green Toyota Avensis taxi.
• 24 March 2011 — Sian O'Callaghan’s body was found in a shallow grave near Uffington, Oxfordshire.
• 26 March 2011, 21:20 GMT — The suspect was charged with Sian O'Callaghan’s murder.
• 31 May 2012 — Christopher Halliwell appeared in court at a plea and case management hearing and pleaded not guilty to murdering Sian O’Callaghan.
• 19 October 2012 — Christopher Halliwell appeared at Bristol Crown Court and pleaded guilty to murdering Sian O'Callaghan; he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum tariff of 25 years.
• 14 December 2012 — An appeal court upheld the sentence.
• 23 April 2013 — An inquest at Oxford Coroner’s Court into the death of Becky Godden-Edwards recorded a narrative verdict.

Background

Sian O'Callaghan was a 22-year-old British woman who disappeared from Swindon, Wiltshire, having last been seen at a nightclub in the town in the early hours of 19 March 2011. Her body was found on 24 March 2011 near Uffington in Oxfordshire.

The offence

A second murder charge against Halliwell relating to Becky Godden-Edwards was later withdrawn as a result of an error in police handling of the case.

Investigation

At a news conference on 26 March, Det Supt Steve Fulcher stated that tests revealed that Sian O'Callaghan had not been sexually assaulted.

Police investigation work involved analysis of mobile phone signals, including the identification of “hot spots” to be investigated.

Police issued appeals relating to sightings of a green Toyota Avensis with taxi markings between Swindon and Savernake Forest.

Police also asked for information about items believed to have been in Sian O'Callaghan’s handbag. Her handbag was described as a large dark-coloured bag with a beige flower on the side, and its contents included a distinctively-patterned front-door key, a black car key with yellow insulation tape, a Tesco Clubcard key fob, a yellow Kinder egg plastic casing containing a small animal with a furry belly, and lip gloss. Police stated she was also believed to have been wearing or have with her a DKNY watch with fake diamonds.

Police said the investigation was moving at a “rapid pace”, and that “significant lines of inquiry” were being developed.

Arrest and seizure

On the afternoon of 24 March, police arrested a 47-year-old taxicab driver from Swindon on suspicion of kidnapping at an Asda supermarket in north Swindon. Police also seized a green Toyota Avensis taxi at the same location.

Discovery of bodies and remains

Later on 24 March, Sian O'Callaghan’s body was found in a shallow grave near Uffington, Oxfordshire.

After the arrest, the body of Becky Godden-Edwards was found. Halliwell led police to the body.

An inquest heard that the last positive sighting of Becky Godden was by a police officer on 27 December 2002 in the Manchester Road area of Swindon. The court heard she was buried in a shallow grave at Baxter's Farm, Fyfield, in Gloucestershire, and it was believed she died sometime between the end of 2002 and the beginning of 2003. The inquest heard her remains were incomplete with the skull, arms and feet not present.

Trial

On 31 May 2012, taxi driver Christopher Halliwell appeared in court at a plea and case management hearing and pleaded not guilty to the charge of murdering Sian O'Callaghan.

On 19 October 2012, Halliwell appeared at Bristol Crown Court and pleaded guilty to Sian O’Callaghan’s murder.

After the guilty plea emerged that a second murder charge against Halliwell had been dropped as a result of an error in the police handling of the case.

Sentencing

Christopher Halliwell was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum tariff of 25 years.

Appeals

An appeal court upheld the sentence on 14 December 2012.

Admissibility ruling and consequences for the second case

Judge Mrs Justice Cox ruled that Halliwell’s confessions to killing both women were inadmissible as evidence. The judge ruled that Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher breached the guidelines of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 by failing to caution Halliwell and denying him access to a solicitor during the period the confessions were obtained.

This ruling meant that Wiltshire Police had no other evidence against Halliwell to link him to Becky Godden-Edwards’s death, and the murder charge was withdrawn.

Inquests and verdicts

Inquest: Becky Godden-Edwards

On 23 April 2013, an inquest at Oxford Coroner’s Court into the death of Becky Godden-Edwards recorded a narrative verdict stating that the cause of her death, believed to have been in 2003, was “unascertained but probably caused unlawfully by a third party.”

Oxfordshire Coroner Darren Salter said:

“limited remit”
under the Coroner’s Act the coroner could only express an opinion over the circumstances of the death and that any verdict should not appear to determine criminal liability on the part of a named person.

Darren Salter said:

“Specifically in relation to this case there is a police investigation into the death of Becky and it is still ongoing and it has not concluded,”

He also said:

“I am not going to prejudice any future criminal prosecution by naming in this court any suspect previously connected to the case. ”

He further said:

“For the same reason I am not going to deal specifically with the circumstances whereby the location of Becky's remains became known to the police. ”

He added:

“It is sufficient for me to say that the police received information leading them to the location.”

The inquest heard that Becky Godden was 20 when she died, had turned to prostitution after becoming addicted to heroin, and had broken contact with her family after saying she could not put her mother through the pain of watching her succumb to drugs. The inquest heard her family had previously paid for private rehabilitation treatment to help her “get clean”.

Her mother, Karen Edwards, said the verdict meant they would never know what happened. She also said:

“When they handed me back Becky's remains I was told not to open the box which I wouldn't have done anyway. ”

She said:

“I didn't realise how little there was in that box of my daughter. ”

She added:

“That was hard, really hard to hear all those little details again,”

Karen Edwards also said:

“I feel that, as her mum, I will get to the root of this even if it's with the last breath in my body; I will get a conviction of some description,”

and:

“And I'd also like to appeal to Christopher Halliwell - this is your chance now. Come clean, please, please, what have you got to lose? ”

She said:

“My personal opinion, I don't think he's ever going to come out, so why not put everyone out of their misery?”

She stated:

“What I would like to do today is appeal to anybody out there who knows anything at all - any tiny, tiny, little bit of evidence - anything that may help to convict Becky's murderer. ”

She added:

“Any tiny little thing and I would be eternally grateful... just please get in touch with the police. ”

She said:

“This is still very much an open murder investigation. The police are working very, very hard behind the scenes and I would like to think that I am working with them. ”

She said:

“I want Becky's murderer found and I want a conviction.”

Funeral

Sian O'Callaghan’s funeral was held at Kingsdown Crematorium on 18 April 2011.

Other details

• Sian O’Callaghan lived with her boyfriend, Kevin Reape, in a flat in Swindon's old town.
• Reape sent an SMS to Sian O’Callaghan at 03:24 GMT on 19 March 2011.
• Police said the time that elapsed between Sian O'Callaghan’s appearance on CCTV and the mobile phone signal (0252 and 0324 respectively) meant the journey from Swindon to the forest could only have been made by car.
• On 19 March 2011, CCTV captured Sian O’Callaghan leaving Suju nightclub alone at 02:52 GMT.
• Police said specialists dog teams were drafted in to help search woodland.
• On 24 March 2011, the reward to help find Sian O'Callaghan rose to £40,000.
• Police erected a police tent in the front garden of a house on Ashbury Avenue in Swindon.
• Police named Sian O'Callaghan as found on 24 March 2011, and later police named the second woman as Becky Godden on 5 April 2011.
• On 6 April 2011, Karen Edwards, Becky Godden’s mother, was joined by about 20 friends and family to lay flowers and a teddy bear at the site where Sian O’Callaghan’s body was discovered.
• On 4 April 2011, police said they had identified a woman whose remains were found near Eastleach in Gloucestershire.
• On 8 April 2011, Christopher Halliwell appeared via video link at Bristol Crown Court from Long Lartin prison, and the case was adjourned until 14 July for a plea and case management hearing.
• At a plea and case management hearing on 31 May 2012, Halliwell pleaded not guilty.
• On 1 April 2011, an inquest into Sian O'Callaghan’s death was opened and adjourned at Oxford Coroner’s Court, and it was told she was likely to have died of head injuries, with a forensic pathologist from the Home Office yet to confirm a precise cause of death.
• The appeal court upheld the sentence on 14 December 2012.
• After Halliwell’s arrest, police investigation into Miss Godden’s death recorded a narrative verdict at an inquest.
• Detective sergeant Peter Ritson said police were working on the basis that Miss Godden died in either December 2002 or early 2003.
• Karen Edwards said police were continuing the ongoing investigation into Becky Godden’s murder.