Taxi driver to appear in court charged with murdering Becky Godden

Updated

A taxi driver will appear in court charged with the murder of a prostitute who was missing for almost a decade.

The body of Becky Godden, 20, was found in a shallow grave at a field in Eastleach, Gloucestershire, eight years after she disappeared.

Christopher Halliwell, 52, is accused of murdering Miss Godden between January 1 2003 and April 4 2008.

He will appear before Bristol Crown Court for a plea and case management hearing.

Halliwell, a father-of-three, previously of Ashbury Avenue, Swindon, was charged by Wiltshire Police on March 30.

He appeared before North West Wiltshire Magistrates' Court in Chippenham the following day.

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 Karen Edwards through the pain of watching her succumb to drugs.

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