Christopher Halliwell sentence: Becky Godden killer jailed for life for second murder

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A former taxi driver who murdered two young women has been sentenced to a "whole life order", meaning he will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Christopher Halliwell, 52, is already serving a life sentence for the murder of Sian O'Callaghan, 22, whom he abducted in his taxi as she made her way home from a night out in Swindon in March 2011.

He confessed to killing Ms O'Callaghan and took police to her body before offering “another one” and leading them to where he had buried missing prostitute Becky Godden in January 2003.

Mr Halliwell later denied murdering 20-year-old Ms Godden, claiming she had been buried by two drug dealers, but was convicted following a two-week trial at Bristol Crown Court, at which he represented himself.

He smirked at Ms Godden's family as the jury of six men and six women returned their verdict on Monday following fewer than three hours of deliberations.

Retired High Court judge Sir John Griffith Williams sentenced Halliwell to a whole life order on Friday.

Police told the court during the trial that Halliwell had confessed to picking up a sex worker from the streets of Swindon between 2003 and 2005, before having sex with her then strangling her. He showed police where Ms O'Callaghan's body was buried.

The body of Ms O'Callaghan, who had gone missing while on a night out with friends in Swindon in 2011, was found semi-naked in undergrowth in Uffington, Oxfordshire after Halliwell took police to the spot.

While in Uffington, the jury heard that Halliwell had told detective superintendent Steve Fulcher who was leading the investigation that they needed to “have a chat”.

The court heard that Halliwell had told detective superintendent Fulcher the “exact spot” where Ms Godden was buried and her remains were subsequently found “hidden in the middle of nowhere” in Eastleach, Gloucestershire.

Police believe Halliwell abducted Ms Godden from Destiny & Desire, a nightclub in Swindon town centre close to where he took Ms O'Callaghan, in January 2003.

“Both were taken in a taxi,” prosecutor Nicholas Haggan QC told the hearing.

Halliwell's whole life order, meaning he will die in prison, adds him to a grisly "who's who" of the most reviled criminals in Britain.

He joins the likes of one-eyed police killer Dale Cregan, paedophile Mark Bridger and Moors murderer Ian Brady when he was handed the “life means life” sentence.

According to the Ministry of Justice, 54 other prisoners are serving whole life orders, although that does not include those serving their terms in secure hospitals.

Also on the infamous list is the “Yorkshire Ripper” Peter Sutcliffe and club bouncer Levi Bellfield, who was handed the term for murdering two young women and trying to murder a third.

Steve Wright will also die behind bars for the murders of five prostitutes in Ipswich, as will Michael Adebolajo, one of the two murderers of soldier Lee Rigby.

There are only two women on the list.

Serial killer Rose West was convicted in 1995 of a murder spree with husband Fred at the Cromwell Street “House of Horrors” in Gloucester.

She is joined by Joanna Dennehy who was described in court as “arguably the most dangerous female prisoner in custody”. She was jailed at the Old Bailey in February 2014 for murdering three men and stabbing two more.

Additional reporting by Press Association