Halliwell confessed murdering Becky Godden to police and led them to body, court hears

Halliwell, 52, admitted he had taken Becky, then aged 20, from the streets of Swindon, had sex with her and then strangled her.

Bristol Crown Court heard that Beckys' skeletal remains were recovered from a field in Gloucestershire in March 2011 after Halliwell had taken police to the location.

The jury of six men and six women listened as Nicholas Haggan QC, prosecuting, opened the Crown's case against Halliwell.

He told them: "What happened to Rebecca? We, the prosecution, say the short answer to that question is that she was murdered.

"Her naked body was buried in a clandestine grave in a field which might be described as in the middle of nowhere," he said.

"You might conclude that it was plain Rebecca was murdered.

"But secondly, this defendant, Christopher Halliwell, confessed to the police that between 2003 and 2005 - he couldn't be sure of the date - he had taken a girl from the streets of Swindon.

"He told the police he had sex with her and then he killed her by strangling her. He told the police he stripped the girl of her clothes and concealed her naked body.

"Not only that but the defendant took the police to the location."

Mr Haggan went on: "Had the defendant not told the police where he had buried that girl from the streets of Swindon, you might think that Rebecca's remains to this day would be in that field in the middle of nowhere."

Halliwell, wearing a dark grey suit, white shirt and light blue tie, carried his own bundle of documents into the dock.

Relatives of Becky sat in the public gallery, including her mother, Karen Edwards, and Mrs Edward's husband, Charlie, and her father, John Godden, listened to proceedings.

Also present was Miss O'Callaghan's boyfriend, Kevin Reape, and her mother, Elaine Pickford.

Earlier, the trial judge, retired High Court judge Sir John Griffith Williams, told the jury that Halliwell would not be represented by a barrister and would instead defend himself.

But Sir John directed the jury not to speculate on the reason why.

"It has no bearing on the issue of his guilt or innocence," he said.

"You will give his case the same careful consideration as if it had been advanced by counsel."

The judge said: "The prosecution case against Mr Halliwell, which will be developed this afternoon, is that there are similarities between the circumstances of the killing of Sian O'Callaghan and the killing of Becky Godden.

"The prosecution case is that these similarities are such that they prove the defendant was the killer of Rebecca or Becky Godden.

"That is one of the issues in the case and you will have to decide, on the evidence as you hear it, whether there are such similarities and whether that inference can be drawn from those similarities."

Mr Haggan told the court that Halliwell had murdered Sian O'Callaghan, a woman who disappeared after a night out with friends at the Suju nightclub in Swindon in March 2011.

He pleaded guilty to murdering Miss O'Callaghan and was jailed for life.

"What happened to Sian? She too was murdered," Mr Haggan told the jury.

"Her semi-naked body was found a few days after she disappeared. It was concealed by undergrowth in a remote location, not a great distance from the field where Rebecca's body had been buried.

"What relevance is that, you might think? The short answer is that this young woman was murdered by this defendant, Christopher Halliwell.

"How do we know that? We know that because he pleaded guilty to Sian's murder and is currently serving a term of life imprisonment for that offence."

Earlier, Mr Haggan told jurors that the "last reliable sighting" of Becky was in Swindon town centre in January 2003, possibly January 3.

"After that nothing more was heard from her. She made no contact with her family; she made no contact with any of the government and other agencies and financial institutions," he said.

"She quite literally disappeared. She was just 20 years old."

The court heard that Becky's parents separated when she was about six years old.

"It is right to say Becky had a troubled adolescence," Mr Haggan said.

"She became a heavy user of Class A drugs and, at some point during her early to mid-teens, she began earning a living as a sex worker operating in the Manchester Road area of Swindon.

"As is so often the case with people in her situation, her life became somewhat chaotic and contact with her parents became more sporadic."

Despite her lifestyle, Becky kept in contact with her family, especially on Mother's Day and her birthday on April 4.

Mrs Edwards last saw her daughter on December 16, 2002, when she collected her following an appearance at Swindon Magistrates' Court, the jury heard.

Having picked her up, Mrs Edwards took her to a friend's house in Swindon.

"She was the last member of Rebecca's family to see her alive," Mr Haggan said.

"No member of Becky's family heard anything from her after that date."

A community beat officer recorded seeing Miss Godden, who was known to the police, on December 27, 2002.

Rebecca Boast, a friend of Miss Godden, spent time with Becky outside a nightclub called Destiny And Desire in Swindon in early January 2003.

A taxi pulled up and Miss Godden approached it, returning to the car a short while later and arguing with the driver, Mr Haggan said.

"A short time later, Becky told her friends that she was leaving and she went back to the taxi," he told the jury.

"She got into the rear of the vehicle and the vehicle drove away. Rebecca Boast never saw her friend again, although she looked for Rebecca when she was out and about in Swindon town centre.

"Extensive inquiries by the police indicate that this probably was the last known reliable sighting of Becky.

"After that nothing more was heard from her. She made no contact with her family; she made no contact with any of the government and other agencies and financial institutions," Mr Haggan said.

"She quite literally disappeared. She was just 20 years old."

The court heard that Miss Godden did not make contact with her family on Mother's Day in 2003, nor on her 21st birthday in April that year.

While Halliwell was under arrest for kidnapping Miss O'Callaghan, who had disappeared after leaving a nightclub in Swindon, in March 2011, he offered police "another one", Bristol Crown Court was told.

Miss O'Callaghan's semi-naked body was discovered in undergrowth in Uffington, Oxfordshire, while the remains of Miss Godden were found in Eastleach, Gloucestershire.

Jurors heard that, while in Uffington, Halliwell said to Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher, who was leading the investigation for Wiltshire Police, simply: "We need to have a chat."

A civilian police worker was present and took notes of the meeting, it is alleged.

Halliwell allegedly went on to tell him: "I am a sick ******. Is it too late to get help?"

Mr Haggan said Halliwell told Mr Fulcher that he taken a prostitute from the Manchester Road area of Swindon between 2003 and 2005, adding: "He could not be any more clear about that."

"The superintendent asked 'would you be able to to take us back there', to which the defendant replied 'exact spot'," Mr Haggan said.

"He then said 'I know you are not a psychiatrist but what the ****'s wrong? Normal people don't go round killing each other'.

"Detective Superintendent Fulcher asked whether there had been any other incidents and the defendant replied 'no'.

"The superintendent asked 'only these two?' and the defendant replied 'isn't that enough?'

"The detective superintendent asked 'was it a similar sort of thing before?' The defendant said 'yes, she was a prostitute, on the game'.

"The officer replied 'you know Sian wasn't?' and the defendant replied to the fact that he was aware of that now."

The court heard that Halliwell directed officers to Oxo Bottom field in Eastleach, where the remains of Miss Godden - later identified by DNA - were discovered.

Halliwell, formerly of Ashbury Avenue, Swindon, denies murdering Miss Godden between January 1, 2003 and March 30, 2008.

The case continues