Monday, April 4, 2011

Sian O'Callaghan: Police identify remains of young woman...her name has not yet been released.

Detectives investigating the murder of Sian O'Callaghan said today they had identified the set of human remains found at a second site.

Wiltshire Police, who had been scouring the national DNA database in a bid to work out who was buried at Eastleach, Gloucestershire, said they were trying to trace the victim's family.
A spokesman said: "Work is ongoing to inform the next of kin and immediate family members and as such I'm sure you will appreciate that we are unable to confirm identification at this stage."

Speculation over the second set of remains had pointed to a young Vietnamese immigrant, Hai Nguyen, 20, who went missing from her temporary home in Swindon in June 2005.

The Wiltshire Police spokesman added: "We are able to confirm that positive identification has now taken place in relation to the remains discovered in East Leach.

"Further information will be released when possible."

Officers said there would be no update before tomorrow.

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

Flowers were laid by the officers involved in the case next to a wooden cross, with the message: "To an unknown lady, now you can rest in peace."

The remains were discovered two days after police found the body of Miss O'Callaghan, a 22-year-old personal assistant from Swindon, near the Uffington White Horse in Oxfordshire last month.

An inquest heard last week how Miss O'Callaghan is likely to have died from head injuries.

Taxi driver Christopher Halliwell, 47, has appeared in court charged with her murder.

Miss O'Callaghan had been out with friends before she disappeared on March 19.

She was last seen alive in CCTV footage filmed close to the Suju nightclub, only half a mile from the flat she shared with her boyfriend, Kevin Reape, 25.

Halliwell was arrested at a taxi rank at an Asda supermarket in Swindon.
http://www.anhourago.co.uk/show.aspx?l=8352768&d=501