'It was pleasure ruining your career,' Halliwell tells senior detective at murder trial

Halliwell, 52, is on trail at Bristol Crown Court accused of murdering Rebecca Godden, 20. He is currently serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 25 years after admitting stabbing and strangling Sian O'Callaghan, 22, in 2011.

Prosecutors allege that Miss O'Callaghan and Miss Godden both disappeared from outside nightclubs in Swindon after getting into Halliwell's taxi.

Former Detective Superintendant Steve Fulcher was called by the prosecution to give evidence and told the jury he was now working as a consultant in Somalia.

Before Mr Fulcher started giving his evidence, prosecutor Nicholas Haggan QC set the scene to the jury of Halliwell being arrested on the morning of March 24 at Asda in Swindon and driven to the Uffington area with Mr Fulcher, Detective Sergeant Edward Strange and police civilian Deborah Peach.

Mr Haggan asked Mr Fulcher what Halliwell had told him after they arrived at that location - where Miss O'Callaghan's body was later found - and the witness replied: "He said 'We need to have a chat'."

The officer said Det Sgt Strange then drove him, Halliwell and Mrs Peach to a location near to the White Horse landmark in Uffington where they could speak.

Mr Haggan asked Mr Fulcher: "Did you say to him 'What do you want to tell me?'"

Mr Fulcher told the court: "He replied 'I am a sick ******' and he asked if it was too late to get help. I replied 'it's gone beyond that Chris'."

The court heard there was a pause and then Halliwell said: "Another one."

Mr Fulcher said: "I asked him when was that and he replied 2003, 2004 and 2005."

The detective asked Halliwell where he told the court: "He replied Eastleach, the other side of Lechlade-on-Thames.

"I asked whether it was a similar set of circumstances. He replied 'pretty much, out in the open'.

"He could not be clear about the year and he had taken a prostitute from the Manchester Road area of Swindon and I asked if he was able to take us back to the vicinity and he replied 'exact spot'.

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

"I asked if there were any more incidents. Did you do one in February? He said 'no'. I asked only those two and he replied 'isn't that enough?'

"I said it 'yes it is' and asked him 'when we find Sian are we going to find anything disturbing - was it straight sex?' He replied 'didn't have sex'.

"He said she was a prostitute on the game. I said 'you know Sian wasn't' and he replied to the effect that he was aware now."

Mr Fulcher told the court that Halliwell directed the driver, Sgt Strange, to a ploughed filed at Eastleach in Gloucestershire where he said he had buried Miss Godden's body.

"He took a reference from a dip in the wall and paced to the exact spot where he indicated where he had buried another victim," Mr Fulcher told the court.

Cross-examining Mr Fulcher, Halliwell challenged him on how deep Miss Godden's body had been buried in the field.

Halliwell asked him: "It wasn't five feet deep was it?"

Mr Fulcher replied: "No it wasn't, but that's what you told me at the time."

Halliwell told him: "You know from your inquiries that I spent most of my working life as a ground worker or building. So in that capacity I knew the difference between a five-foot hole and a six-inch hole. Doesn't it stand out?"

Mr Fulcher replied: "It does stand out. What I inferred from that Christopher..."

Halliwell interupted: "Chris..."

Mr Fulcher continued: "...is that Becky is one of your victims, as is Sian and you got confused about the nature of this deposition. You described very clearly a five-foot hole. That led me to conclude that there were other victims."

Halliwell asked: "Ok, if you say so. Or does it suggest that maybe I really didn't know? By the end of this process you will know the truth. You won't like it but you will know the truth. You will know the truth about...

"It is going to leave a hell of a lot more questions unanswered. If I am an experienced ground worker which I used to be, I would know where I have dug a hole, I would know how deep it was. The first time I was in that field was with you.

"Oh and by the way, it was a pleasure ruining your career, you corrupt b******."

Mr Fulcher replied: "I'm sure."

Earlier, Mr Fulcher said he told Halliwell that the discovery of Miss O'Callaghan's body would help her friends and family.

"He asked me 'was it the gamekeeper at Ramsbury?'," Mr Fulcher told the court.

"I said 'we have been surveilling you'. He said 'at Heathrow last night?' I said 'yes'.

"He said 'I might be sick but I am not ******* stupid'. Later in the conversation I said 'but you can't explain it?'

"He said 'I can't explain it to myself. I don't think I will be getting community service' to which I replied 'no, you won't'.

"I asked 'are there others?' and he replied 'no'."

On the journey to Eastleach, Mr Fulcher claimed Halliwell became upset while talking about his taxi customers.

He is said to have directed Sgt Strange to Oxo Bottom field in Eastleach.

"Christopher and I climbed over the wall with Sgt Strange," Mr Fulcher told the court.

"He took a reference from a dip in the wall and paced one foot right in front of the other to the exact spot where he indicated that he had buried the body of another victim.

"I asked him for clarifying details of who he had buried at that location. He told me he had picked up a prostitute in Broad Street or Manchester Road in Swindon.

"He told me he had had sex with her and had killed her by strangling her. He said he had left the body in bushes by the wall by the edge of the field.

"He had returned the following night and spent the night digging a five foot deep grave and burying the body. He told me that he had last visited the site about three years ago."

Mr Fulcher said he walked a short distance away from the site with Halliwell, who had a cigarette.

"We talked about the effects on his partner and his children and I undertook that they would be looked after and that they would be taken away from the Swindon area to avoid media attention," Mr Fulcher said.

Halliwell was then placed in a police vehicle and taken to Gablecross Police Station.

Later, Detective Inspector Benjamin Mant described Halliwell as "controlled and calm" when he was showing Mr Fulcher the location of Miss Godden's body.

"It was my feeling, and it is only a feeling, that Mr Halliwell wanted to tell us about what happened and felt relief," he added.

Dr Nasir Ali, a police surgeon, examined Mr Halliwell at Gablecross later that day and told the court what the taxi driver said to him.

"He said to me that he had killed two people," he said.

This morning the court heard that Halliwell had scratches on his face and appeared "emotionally distressed and upset" hours after he allegedly murdered Miss Godden.

Halliwell is alleged to have strangled Miss Godden and buried her in a remote field in Eastleach, Gloucestershire, in 2003.

Witnesses have told Bristol Crown Court that Miss Godden was last seen alive getting into a taxi outside a nightclub in Swindon in the early hours of January 3.

At 4.25pm that day Halliwell went to see his GP, complaining of a sore right hand - claiming he had been assaulted by a passenger - and the doctor noted he had scratches on his face.

In a written statement read to the jury, Dr Philip Mayes, of the Kingswood Surgery in Swindon, said: "I remember the appointment and can say that Mr Halliwell came to see me complaining of a sore right hand and stated that he was a taxi driver and that he had been assaulted by a male passenger who had taken exception to him refusing to pick him up from the street because he was a private hire driver.

"He said that this male started to attack his car and then a fight ensued between them. I believed he had a fracture to his hand but I didn't do an X-ray. I simply strapped it up.

"I also noted that Mr Halliwell had scratches to his face. Due to the timescale of eight years I can't describe these scratches any further because at the time I thought they were consistent with a fight.

"I can remember that Mr Halliwell was emotionally distressed and upset while telling me about what had happened to him.

"I also remember that Mr Halliwell mentioned the area of Blunsdon when telling me about the attack but I cannot be 100%."

Miss Godden's mother, Karen Edwards, was in tears while the evidence was read out.

Halliwell, formerly of Ashbury Avenue, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Miss Godden and is representing himself at his trial.

The trial continues