MORE than £350,000 in legal aid was handed out to six of Britain’s most prolific murderers in the last year - including Christopher Halliwell.

In figures obtained by The Sun newspaper, a total of £380,000 of taxpayers’ money was handed out by the Legal Aid Agency to the murderers before they were given whole-life sentences.

Double-killer Halliwell defended himself during last year’s trial into the murder of Becky Godden who disappeared from the town in 2003.

At Bristol Crown Court, a jury found him guilty of Becky’s murder after hearing he buried the 20-year-old’s body in a Gloucestershire field where it remained, undiscovered, for eight years.

The national newspaper reports that former taxi driver Halliwell's legal bill for proceedings came to £49,622. Halliwell was handed a whole-life sentence, meaning he will never be released from prison.

In 2012 he admitted murdering Sian O’Callaghan, 22, in March of the previous year. She disappeared after a night out in Old Town and police found her body near the Uffington White Horse.