Swindon taxi driver Christopher Halliwell could have been prosecuted for the murder of sex worker Becky Godden five years sooner if a proper case had been built against him, the police watchdog has found.
A case against Halliwell for Ms Godden’s murder in 2011 collapsed when a judge ruled his confession inadmissible at trial, and he was not prosecuted for the murder until 2016.
A damning report by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) published on Friday found there had been plentiful evidence to prosecute Halliwell back in 2011, even without the confession.
Here is a summary of the evidence that was missed.
-SoilA soil sample taken from a spade belonging to Halliwell when he was arrested for a second murder, that of Sian O’Callaghan in 2011, was not forensically examined until three years later.
It was found to match the rare soil in the field where Miss Godden’s body was found.
-PondA pond in the Wiltshire village of Ramsbury where items of women’s clothing and other objects were found was identified as Halliwell’s “trophy store”, but was not thoroughly investigated until 2014.
Over that time, items had degraded and lost any forensic potential, the IOPC said.
-GamekeeperA gamekeeper near Ramsbury told Wiltshire Police’s incident room about seeing a taxi in the location at the time Miss O’Callaghan was abducted.
This evidence was not explored and no witness statement was taken until 2015, the IOPC found.
-BreakdownAn RAC recovery driver attended Halliwell’s broken down vehicle in the early hours of January 2003 – the night Miss Godden was last seen – about six miles from where she was buried.
The police knew of the RAC record of the call in 2011, the IOPC said, but only gathered detailed evidence three years later.-DoctorIn 2011, a GP told police Halliwell had visited their surgery on January 3 2003 with severe scratches and a damaged hand.
The IOPC said it was of note that Halliwell did not report this incident to police, despite reporting similar assaults in the past, and that this should have struck investigators as suspicious.
-Custody evidenceHalliwell told a medical officer at Gablecross custody suit in Swindon he had been arrested for killing two people, something investigators were made aware of on March 24, the IOPC said.
This evidence was not deemed of importance in 2011, but was later used against him at trial in 2016.
-Lack of leadershipIn June 2011, the senior investigating officer (SIO) in the case, Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher, stepped down amid a misconduct investigation into the way he had obtained Halliwell’s confession.
The case was without an SIO until a successor was appointed in October 2012.
