Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Sian O' Callaghan: Remains still not identified...reading between the lines we will not know who the victim is for quite sometime.

The man accused of murdering Sian O'Callaghan will appear in court this morning for a bail hearing.

Minicab driver Christopher Halliwell appeared in court on Monday charged with her murder. The 47-year-old was remanded into custody.

There were angry scenes inside and outside Swindon Magistrates' Court as he appeared for the first time since being charged.

Halliwell, of Ashbury Avenue, Swindon, was arrested by Wiltshire Police on Thursday and charged on Saturday night with killing the 22-year-old PA from Swindon.

Miss O'Callaghan disappeared from the town's Suju nightclub on Saturday March 19. She was last seen alive in CCTV footage filmed close to the nightspot in the early hours after a night out with girl friends.

She lived in a flat just half a mile away with her boyfriend Kevin Reape, 25.

She had sent a text message to her partner on the night of her disappearance, saying: "Where are you? x".

Hundreds of people turned out to help a public search of Savernake Forest, near Marlborough, after her mobile phone was traced to the area after she left the club.

But her body was discovered 15 miles away, close to the Uffington White Horse in Oxfordshire on Thursday last week.

Halliwell will face a full hearing at Bristol Crown Court on April 8.

Wiltshire Police search teams were yesterday combing an area of countryside around four miles from the place where Miss O'Callaghan's body was found.

A police spokeswoman said general searches were taking place for items belonging to Miss O'Callaghan that may have been discarded.

Detectives have still not found her bag, boots, keys or phone.

Last Thursday police appealed for information on items she is thought to have had in her large dark bag with a beige flower on the side.

The items included a patterned front door key, a black car key with yellow insulation tape, a Tesco Clubcard key fob, a yellow Kinder Egg plastic casing containing a small animal with a furry belly and lip gloss.

She is also believed to have been wearing or have with her a DKNY watch with fake diamonds.
Meanwhile, detectives are continuing work to establish the identity of a set of human remains found at a second site.

Wiltshire Police have been scouring the national DNA database but have warned if no matches are found it could take "some time" to identify the woman.

Excavation work had been taking place at the site at Baxter's Farm in Eastleach, Gloucestershire - around 17 miles from where Miss O'Callaghan's body was discovered.

Police have said the remains could belong to a woman aged between 23 and 30 who is believed to have been abducted in Swindon between 2003 and 2005.

http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/news/8941000.Sian_murder_suspect_back_in_court_today/