BECKY Godden’s heartbroken parents broke down as their victim impact statements were read out to the man convicted of killing her.

Her mother Karen Edwards sobbed quietly as her victim impact statement was read which said her ‘world had fallen apart’ in the aftermath of Becky’s death.

“The fourth of April will never be the same again. That date will haunt me for the rest of my life. I will never forget the day that Steve Fulcher told me the most devastating news that no parent should ever have to hear," the statement said.

“It’s such an effort some days to get up and function, my thoughts are on my little girl.

“Your instinct is to protect your children. I’ll never be able to give her a hug ever again or make things right for her, take her shopping, moan at her for not tidying her room, things we all take for granted.

“I go to the supermarket and see her favourite biscuits and chocolates then I remember she’s not here, she’s dead and it is like a knife through my heart.

“What must she have gone through? My whole world has been destroyed.

“The only thing I can buy her is flowers for her grave. I never had a body to kiss goodbye before she was buried. Left to rot, in a field.

“She did come home but not in the way we wanted. I was told not to open her coffin because all that was in it was bones.

“I have a belief in the afterlife, sometimes my need to be with Becky was greater than my need to be here.

“I keep pacing around, going over what he must have done to her before she died.

“This arduous court process has taken its toll. What sort of person takes a life in such a horrific way? Digging a hole, dumping someone then leaving and carrying on as if nothing had happened.

“I have a life sentence now.

“Just pictures and memories, a broken heart and a grave. That’s all I have left of my daughter.”

In his statement John Godden said Becky would forever remain in his memory.

“I always blocked out what she was doing. I do not like to hear how she was used,” he said.

“All I ever wanted was to know the truth. I just wish we could’ve had closure when Becky was discovered years ago.

“Halliwell has played games with us. Becky will always remain with me, never forgotten, I will live with my memories of her."

Outside court he said his daughter was an ‘absolutely brilliant, beautiful girl’ with a ‘wicked sense of humour.’

The judge, Sir John Griffith Williams, praised Becky's family for their "quiet dignity and courtesy".

Addressing them, he said: "You have had to live with every parent's nightmare of a missing child and then the discovery that she had been dead for some years, buried naked in a field.

"You have been deprived of the opportunity we all want to say farewell to our closest and dearest. And then you have had to live through the criminal processes as Christopher Halliwell was brought eventually to justice.

"There must have been moments when you wondered whether the case would ever be completed. If I may say so, you have behaved throughout with quiet dignity and courtesy.

"I hope that you will feel justice has been done and while that cannot bring Becky back, that may at least bring you some solace.

"I will include Mr and Mrs O'Callaghan because this trial must have been an ordeal for them as they had to relive the evidence of how Sian died. They too behaved with dignity and courtesy. I pay tribute to you all."