“I have to get myself sorted and then I will come home.”

Those were the last words 20-year-old Becky Godden said to her mother Karen, days before she disappeared.

Becky was last seen on December 27, 2002 by a police officer in the Manchester Road area and there are no confirmed sightings of her in 2003.

Becky, from Shaw, had broken off contact with her family after saying she could not put her mother through the pain of watching her succumb to drugs Her mother Karen Edwards said the breakdown of her marriage to John Godden was the start of Becky’s problems as a child.

A bright girl, Becky had initially excelled at Even Swindon Primary School but the cracks of a broken home began to show and bullying started.

She started self-harming and tried to take her own life when she was 13 by taking tablets.

She later attended Commonweal and then Hreod Parkway schools but became isolated and was home-schooled.

In a 2012 interview Karen said Becky was fragile and drifted into drug abuse.

“At long last she started making friends but she was vulnerable and fell into their ways. She started taking drugs. One day I found a piece of tin foil with brown markings in the house - she had tried to hide it from us. I found out it was heroin and I was out of my mind,” she said.

“We tried everything but the pull of her habit was much stronger and she would do whatever she needed to do to get her next fix.”

Becky started running away from home as the grip of the drug tightened and regular search parties brought the troubled teenager home again.

The family tried rehabilitation and counselling but nothing seemed to work.

Becky came before the courts in 2002 when she was aged 20. She had been a look-out for a gang to pay her boyfriend’s drug debt while they burgled a pub in Lechlade. Police wanted her to testify or face action herself.

She failed to turn up to court as a witness and was fined £50, which Karen paid, along with her legal fees.

It was DNA held from this conviction that police used to identify Becky’s remains.

Becky came home and wanted to see her boyfriend. She then told her mother she would not return home until she was free from drugs.

“She told me she loved me so much she could not keep putting me through hell and she was leaving and would not come home until she was clean, I never saw her again,” said Karen. Her mother never gave up hope that Becky would return home, continuing to buy her birthday and Christmas presents.

Up until 2010 Karen was still searching for Becky, posting on a missing person’s website: “Becky has been missing for eight years and I need to contact her urgent or just to know that she is ok! Can anyone help. She could also be in Bristol area.”

But hope died on April 4, 2011 - Becky’s 29th birthday - when her family were given the devastating news that her remains had been found.

“Call it mother’s instinct but I knew it was Becky. I have never felt anything so strong in my life. I felt physically sick,” said Karen of that day.

Karen was joined by friends and family as she laid flowers and a white teddy bear at a makeshift shrine. A note to Becky read: “When you were born and put into my arms, I cried with joy. I love you so much. But today I am crying for you my beautiful girl.

“I loved you the day you were born and I love you even more today. I was always there for you, my baby girl, words can’t be said about how I feel. Sleep tight my darling. Love Mum and Charlie.”

By not cautioning Halliwell and denying him a solicitor, his confession and the fact he had led Fulcher to the body meant it was inadmissible in court.

Becky’s death was erased from the charge sheet Becky’s family would not get justice that day but said Karen said she was prepared to ‘shout as loud as I can’ to see Halliwell punished for her daughter’s death.

The fight for Becky was about to begin.