CONFESSION KILLER: ‘4 MORE VICTIMS’
Witness reveals key clues as jailed murderer is linked to unsolved cases
THE unsolved murders of four women bear similarities to the two Christopher Halliwell was jailed for, the Mirror has found.
A witness claims he has crucial evidence linking the cabbie, portrayed in TV’s A Confession, to a new victim. He said: “Police should look at this.”
snatched from the Bristol red light district in March 1993 and dumped in a canal at Sharpness, Glos.
Pathologists believed she had either suffered a heavy blow to the neck or been strangled.
Halliwell lived 40 miles away at the time and was a narrowboat enthusiast with a good knowledge of the canals.
Carol’s brother-in-law Terry Townsend said her family had noticed similarities in A Confession between the murders the killer was convicted of. The 71-year-old added: “We did think if he could have been connected with Carol when we saw how he killed that girl by strangulation on the series. We have never had any answers so if there are similarities between the way Halliwell carried out his killings and the death of Carol we would urge the police to look into them.
“We have not heard anything from the police for years so perhaps there could even be a forensic breakthrough they could use now, such as his DNA?
“It is hard not knowing what happened to a loved one so anything that can be done to find answers would be welcomed by our family.”
Victim Jackie was a 35-year-old mum who was abducted from Bristol VICTIMS Sian O’Callaghan and, right, Becky Godden and murdered in 1985. Mum Yvonne, 33, was found in a shallow grave outside Otley, West Yorks, in 1992. Both she and Jackie were snatched from red light districts.
DS Steve Fulcher, who snared Halliwell in 2011, believes he committed other murders. Speaking in 2016, the officer said Halliwell told him “police want to interview me about eight murders”.
He added: “There’s no question, from all the information I gathered when I was running this inquiry in 2011, he committed other murders.”
Sian was abducted from the street after leaving the Suju nightclub in Swindon at 2.53am on March 19, 2003.
Her body was found days later near the remote Uffington White Horse in Oxfordshire. Halliwell had lured Sian into his taxi before sexually assaulting and murdering her.
The killer met Becky while working as a cabbie in Swindon’s red light district in 2011. Halliwell lured her into his taxi before she was strangled and dumped in a field in Gloucestershire.
Nearby searches of the woodland revealed up to 60 pieces of women’s clothing, buried under two inches of soil, including Becky’s cardigan. Halliwell was sentenced to a full life term in 2016 for both murders.
A Confession stars Martin Freeman as DS Fulcher, while Joe Absolom plays Halliwell. The crime series has been watched by more than seven million viewers.
A WITNESS has told how double killer Christopher Halliwell drove a white van similar to the one spotted at the scene of an unsolved murder.
And he revealed the taxi driver lived just four miles from the field where Julie Finley’s naked body was dumped after she had been snatched in a city centre.
The evidence comes after the Mirror found striking similarities between the murders of Julie, Carol Clark, Jackie Waines and Yvonne Fitt and the two Halliwell is spending life in jail for.
And the claims by the witness could provide a crucial breakthrough in Julie’s case which has been unsolved for 25 years.
He urged police to reinvestigate Halliwell, 55 – currently being portrayed in ITV drama A Confession – and said he is willing to give a statement.
He said: “I think the police should look at this and I am happy to talk to them.”
Julie, 23, vanished from the centre of Liverpool in August 4, 1994, and found strangled a day later in Rainford, Lancs.
The witness said Halliwell stayed in nearby Aughton, where he worked as a window fitter, from Monday to Friday before returning to his home town of Swindon.
And he claimed the killer drove a 1986 made, D reg Ford Transit van, like the one spotted near the scene.
A woman calling herself “Tina” contacted police soon after the murder saying Julie had said she was going to see a taxi driver. And a witness claimed a young woman fitting Julie’s description had been seen arguing with a man, who was trying to force her into a van.
The Mirror has traced the witness after analysing scores of unsolved murders for cases that shared Halliwell’s methods and matched locations he may have been in while working over the UK.
Former murder detective Peter Kirkham said of our findings: “When you have got the modus operandi and the suggestion he was living in the area at the time, it makes it something the
police should firm up. It’s worth Merseyside police having a good look at, and if those things are correct, setting up a cold case investigation.”
Halliwell is in jail for the murders of Becky Godden, 20, and 22-year-old Sian O’Callahan. They were both dumped in different areas to where they were last seen alive.
In all the unsolved cases, the victims were lone women, probably lured into a vehicle in an urban area and then dumped in a rural spot. Carol, 32, was
It’s worth police having a look at and if things are correct, setting up a cold case probe PETER KIRKHAM FORMER MET DETECTIVE ON OUR FINDINGS