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| Rebecca Godden's mother urges taxi driver to 'come clean' on daughter's murder | Rebecca Godden's mother urges taxi driver to 'come clean' on daughter's murder |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The mother of a murdered woman found in a shallow grave after a taxi driver led police to her remains has pleaded with him to "come clean" and admit to her killing. | The mother of a murdered woman found in a shallow grave after a taxi driver led police to her remains has pleaded with him to "come clean" and admit to her killing. |
| Karen Edwards urged Christopher Halliwell, 49, to confess after a coroner in Oxford recorded a narrative verdict at the inquest into the death of Rebecca Godden, whose remains were found in a field in Eastlech, Gloucestershire, in March 2011. | |
| Halliwell, a father-of-three, is serving a life sentence after admitting murdering Sian O'Callaghan, 22, an office worker from Swindon. He had confessed to killing both women, taking Det Supt Steve Fulcher to where he had hidden each of the bodies. | |
| A high court judge ruled Halliwell's admission over the death of Godden, a sex worker who was not in contact with her family, was inadmissible because Fulcher breached guidelines during the three-hour period on the day of the arrest by failing to caution Halliwell and denying him a solicitor. It meant the charge of murdering Godden was withdrawn. | |
| On Tuesday her tearful mother said after the inquest: "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." | |
| Appealing to Halliwell, she said: "This is your chance now, come clean, please, please, what have you got to lose? | |
| "My personal opinion, I don't think he's ever going to come out, so why not put everyone out of their misery?" | "My personal opinion, I don't think he's ever going to come out, so why not put everyone out of their misery?" |
| She appealed to "anybody out there who knows anything at all – any tiny, tiny, little bit of evidence – anything that may help convict Becky's murderer. This is still very much an open murder investigation". | |
| The inquest heard the last positive sighting of Godden, then aged 20, was by a police officer on 27 December 2002 in Swindon. | |
| She had broken off contact with her family, saying she could not put her mother through the pain of watching her succumb to drugs, and had previously had private rehabilitation treatment paid for by her family to "get clean". | |
| The coroner heard that when her skeletal body was recovered from the field, her skull, upper limbs and feet were missing. Experts could not say with certainly how this happened, although disturbance by a plough or animals, or removal by the perpetrator could not be excluded. | The coroner heard that when her skeletal body was recovered from the field, her skull, upper limbs and feet were missing. Experts could not say with certainly how this happened, although disturbance by a plough or animals, or removal by the perpetrator could not be excluded. |
| Halliwell, from Swindon, was jailed for life in October last year after pleading guilty to murdering O'Callaghan, who disappeared after leaving a Swindon nightclub in the early hours of 19 March 2011 after a night out with friends. | Halliwell, from Swindon, was jailed for life in October last year after pleading guilty to murdering O'Callaghan, who disappeared after leaving a Swindon nightclub in the early hours of 19 March 2011 after a night out with friends. |
| Oxfordshire coroner Darren Salter said he had a "limited remit" regarding the circumstances of Godden's death. The Coroners Act states no verdict shall appear to determine criminal liability on part of a named person, he said. | |
| Salter also said he was not going to "prejudice any future criminal prosecution by naming in this court any suspect previously connected to the case". | |
| A postmortem examination was unable to give a cause of death, and there was no known location for her death. | |
| "On the available evidence it is very likely her death was unnatural and violent and due to the unlawful actions of a third party at an unknown location at the end of December 2002 or the beginning of 2003," he said. | "On the available evidence it is very likely her death was unnatural and violent and due to the unlawful actions of a third party at an unknown location at the end of December 2002 or the beginning of 2003," he said. |
| Godden's father, John, said afterwards: "We are devastated. We have got absolute nothing. It won't change until we get justice for Becky, when we get the perpetrator for this evil and heinous crime against my daughter." | Godden's father, John, said afterwards: "We are devastated. We have got absolute nothing. It won't change until we get justice for Becky, when we get the perpetrator for this evil and heinous crime against my daughter." |
| A Wiltshire police spokesman said: "The investigation into the murder of Becky Godden remains open. Our thoughts are with Becky's family and it is our intention to do everything we can to ensure Becky's family get the closure they deserve by bringing Becky's killer to justice." | |
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