She was the girl who fell through the cracks in society.

 

Becky Godden-Edwards was gripped by the evils of drug addiction and her desperate need for heroin had driven the attractive, blonde, 20-something on to the streets.

It was not until the date of her 29th birthday - April 4, 2011 - that Miss Godden-Edwards's mother, father and stepfather learned she was dead.
Christopher Halliwell, 48, confessed to police that he had taken her from Swindon between 2003 and 2005 and killed her.

 

The taxi driver then took detectives to a field at Eastleach, Gloucestershire, where Miss Godden-Edwards's body was found buried in a shallow grave.
Halliwell was later charged with her murder and her family believed that one day they would get justice.

|A judge's ruling that Halliwell's confession to Miss Godden-Edwards's
killing could not be put before a jury because of police bungling meant that her family were robbed of their day in court.
For those closest to Miss Godden-Edwards it was a double tragedy.
Not only did they have to come to terms with the loss of someone they loved but also that no one would be brought to justice for her murder.Miss Godden-Edwards's family did everything they could to help her overcome her addiction.

And having fallen into some very dark places she decided not to put those who loved her the most through any more pain and to move away.

Her disappearance caused barely a ripple, like many other young men, women and children who fall through the cracks of society.

For more than eight years, Miss Godden-Edwards's family had no idea where she was, believing she was living in Bristol.

Her mother, Karen Edwards, never gave up hope that she would one day come home and continued to buy her Christmas and birthday cards each year.

Mrs Edwards said her daughter had fallen in with the wrong crowd when she was a teenager and had started taking drugs.

"Life was hard before when she was living the life of an addict but we really did think she was alive and that one day she would come back home," she said last year.

"Becky gave me so much love and joy as a child. However, as a teenager she got involved with people who introduced her to drugs.

"She left school and her life spiralled - spiralled into some very dark places to feed her addiction.

"She became a very, very different person."

Mrs Edwards, who married Charlie Edwards when her daughter was 15, said:
"During her teenage years we did everything we could to help her overcome her drug addiction.

"We sought help from drug charities, doctors, we also asked for help from MP Julia Drown.

"We then put her into a private rehabilitation centre. We tried everything to stop her leaving home but on every occasion the pull of her habit was much stronger and she would do whatever she needed to do to get her next fix.

"It was not unusual behaviour for Becky to disappear for weeks and months on end.

"When she was in serious trouble she always phoned her mum, and usually my husband, my sister or her brother or me would go and get her.

"We would bring her home only for her to disappear again.

"Life was very tough for us all and we witnessed many, many awful things that we would not wish on any parent."

Mrs Edwards said that after her daughter's conviction for theft she left the family home in Swindon.

"She told me once that she loved me so much, she couldn't keep putting me through this hell and she was leaving and she would not come back to me until she was clean," she said.

"I never saw her again but I thought she was living in Bristol, she'd lived there before."

It was not until 2007 that they reported her missing to the National Missing Persons Helpline.

"Over the years I have tried to find her through the police, the hospital and other organisations that trace missing persons but to no avail," Mrs Edwards said.

"I was told by sources close to the family, time and time again, that they had seen Becky during the missing years, so I had a strong belief and really did believe that one day she would come back home.

"I continued to buy her birthday cards, Christmas presents and cards, so that when she did come back home she knew I had been thinking of her every year since she left, hoping for one day that I would be able to give them to her."