Taxi driver to appear in court on Becky Godden murder charge

A taxi driver is due in court today accused of murdering a prostitute who was missing for almost a decade.

Christopher Halliwell, 52, is appearing at Bristol Crown Court for a mention hearing ahead of a trial that is due to begin next week.

The father-of-three has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Becky Godden, 20, between January 1 2003 and April 3 2008.

The body of Miss Godden was found in a shallow grave in a field in Eastleach, Gloucestershire, eight years after she disappeared.

Halliwell, previously of Ashbury Avenue, Swindon, was charged with Miss Godden's murder by Wiltshire Police on March 30.

During an earlier hearing, Halliwell confirmed he has decided to represent himself during the murder trial, which will begin on September 5 before retired High Court judge Sir John Griffith Williams.

The last confirmed sighting of Miss Godden before her remains were found in March 2011 was by a police officer in Swindon in December 2002.

Her family thought Miss Godden, who had drifted into drugs and prostitution, was living in the Bristol area.

She had broken off contact with her family after saying she could not put her mother through the pain of watching her succumb to drugs.