A TAXI driver has pled guilty to the murder of nightclubber Sian O'Callaghan but escaped justice over a second murder because of a police blunder, it has emerged.
Christopher Halliwell, 48, admitted killing Miss O'Callaghan during a hearing at Bristol Crown Court and was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 25 years.
Halliwell, of Swindon, was also accused of murdering Rebecca Godden but that charge was withdrawn following a ruling by a High Court judge –even though he confessed to the killing and led police to her body. Mrs Justice Cox ruled the confessions the father-of-three made to killing both women during a three-hour period on the day of his arrest were inadmissible because Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher breached Halliwell's rights by failing to caution him and denying him a solicitor.
Miss O'Callaghan, 22, disappeared after leaving Swindon's Suju nightclub on March 19 last year after a night out. Police found her body in Uffington, Oxfordshire, on March 24 after being taken there by Halliwell.
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