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Taxi driver Halliwell guilty of Becky murder

CHRISTOPHER Halliwell’s job as a taxi driver gave him the ability to cruise the streets late at night without suspicion.

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He was under arrest for kidnapping Miss O’Callaghan and was standing in Uffington, Oxfordshire, close to where her body was found, when he told police about Miss Godden’s remains.

Mr Fulcher said: “Halliwell is an evil and depraved violator of women”.

The decision cost him his police career but in a statement today he said: ‘I can not regret the decisions I took that day, ‘ I caught a serial killer; preventing any further girls being murdered’.

Miss O’Callaghan’s mother, Elaine Pickford, believes Halliwell would have killed other women.

“I don’t think a man started killing at the age he killed Becky, that’s my own personal take and I don’t think he’d have gone the length of time between Becky and Sian without needing his fix”.

“I am really open-minded”.

“I appeal to him to say: ‘You’ve put two families through absolute hell”.

A jury took just two hours to find Halliwell guilty of murder.

Judge Sir John Griffith Williams said he was considering either a whole life order or a “significant” minimum jail term for the killer.

Halliwell will be sentenced on Friday.

Members of Miss Godden’s family cheered, wept and hugged each other when they heard the guilty verdict.

As Halliwell was led away from the court he paused to stare and smile at them.

Halliwell, from Swindon, is already serving a life sentence for Sian’s murder.

After leading police to Sian’s body in a field, Halliwell – who admitted he was a “sick f***” – asked them if they wanted “another one”.

But because the officer in charge of the O’Callaghan inquiry, Steve Fulcher, had ignored some of the rules governing the way suspects should be treated, Halliwell initially escaped justice over Godden’s murder.

Miss Godden had turned to sex work to fund a drug habit and police believe Halliwell was a client who had become possessive.

But retired High Court judge Sir John Griffith Williams ruled the confession could be presented to the jury following two days of legal argument at Bristol Crown Court in July 2016.

“I also recovered a second victim of Halliwell’s murder, Becky, returning her to her loved ones after eight years of their misery”.

Both victims were young, attractive women with a slim build who had disappeared from nightclubs outside Swindon in a taxi.

Christopher Halliwell, a taxi driver from Swindon, killed the 20-year-old at some point between 2003 and 2005.

The judge’s ruling meant that prosecutors had no other evidence against Halliwell to link him to Miss Godden’s murder and the charge was withdrawn. Both bodies were deposited in rural locations on the eastern side of Swindon.

Over a three-hour period, Halliwell confessed to murdering Miss O’Callaghan and took a detective to her shallow grave.

Despite a major missing persons inquiry, no trace of her was found and in 2014 police said they believed she was murdered. He stranged her then buried her in a remote field in Eastleach, Gloucestershire, where her body lay for years without being detected.

But he refused to cooperate with officers after being taken to a police station – later claiming this was an act of revenge due to his “loathing” of Mr Fulcher.

DS Sean Memory, the senior investigating officer in the Godden case, said Halliwell may have killed others.

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“The defendant, who was not vulnerable, in fact knew his rights – he had earlier been cautioned and he knew he would consult with a solicitor once at the police station”.

Becky's mum Karen reads a statement outside court