Double killer Christopher Halliwell could be linked to 27 more murders after abducting women off the street, book claims
EVIL double killer Christopher Halliwell could be linked to 27 more murders, a new book has dramatically claimed.
Cab driver Halliwell is currently serving life behind bars for the brutal killing of Sian O’Callaghan, 22, and Becky Godden-Edwards, 20, who had both been abducted after leaving nightclubs in Swindon, Wiltshire.
Halliwell removed Becky’s head and arms before burying her body and her skull has never been found.
The new claims – which would make him one of Britain’s most notorious serial killers – are made in The New Millennium Serial Killer by former police intelligence officer Chris Clark and crime writer Bethan Trueman.
The writers believe Halliwell targeted dozens of women across the UK over 20 years, saying he would dump their naked and often mutilated bodies in or near waterways, taking items of their clothing as a trophy.
Cops discovered a secret stash of 60 items of women’s clothing kept by Halliwell after he led them to Sian’s body in 2011.
Out of the items found, only two have been identified – Becky’s cardigan and a high-heeled boot Sian was wearing before she was snatched.
Halliwell made 12 sketches of areas which could be burial grounds but these have yet to be released by cops.
The authors think Halliwell could be behind the death of chef Claudia Lawrence and police have recently been scouring a quarry and woodland in a bid to solve the 12-year-old mystery.
North Yorkshire Police have previously dismissed him as a suspect, saying there was no evidence she knew him.
The writers also believe he could be behind a series of murders attributed to the East Lancs Ripper.
It is thought an unknown killer savagely murdered and sexually mutilated three women but they have never been caught.
The book’s investigators also examine the murder of Sally Ann John in Halliwell’s home county of Wiltshire as well as the disappearance of three other women, also in the county.
Retired officer Chris Clark told The Mirror: “We are looking at 27 additional murders. These are 21 murders and six missing people believed to be murdered.”
'OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE'
Steve Fulcher, a former cop who helped jail Halliwell, said in the book’s foreword: “There is overwhelming evidence pointing to the notion that Halliwell is responsible for many further victims beyond the two murders for which he’s been convicted.”
He added a “significant number of women” contacted him and Becky’s mum Karen Edwards to say that they had near misses with Halliwell.
A fellow convict who shared a cell with Halliwell in 1986 claims the killer asked him “How many do you have to kill to be a serial killer?”
March 19 is said to be a significant date for Halliwell, according to the authors, as this was the day he was dumpted by an ex-girlfriend in the 1980s.
The date matches up with the disappearances of some of his potential victims.
STRING OF RAPES IN NW ENGLAND
The book also details a number of other murders which are thought to be the work of a serial killer who was never found but committed a string of rapes in North West England.
Linda Donaldson, Maria Christina Requena and Julie Finley are all thought to have fallen victim to the East Lancs Ripper.
Sex worker Linda vanished from Liverpool’s red light district in October 1988.
Her body was eventually found 20 miles away in a Greater Manchester village with multiple stab wounds.
“This crime follows the pattern Halliwell followed, abducting his victims from one police force [area] and dumping them in another,” the authors say.
Maria’s dismembered body was found in five bin bags dumped at Pennington Flash Nature Reserve.
The 26-year-old sex worker had been stabbed and her head removed from her body.
Julie, 23, from Liverpool, was found strangled to dead in a St Helens carrot field in 1994.
Halliwell was suspected of her murder last year when a witness claimed he was living nearby in Aughton.
Halliwell is also suspected to be behind a number of murders closer to his home town in Wiltshire.
It is said he was “obsessed” by a Swindon prostitute Sally Ann John, who worked in the street where Halliwell lived.
Sally Ann, 23, disappeared in September 1995 but her body has never been found.
Sandra Brewin who vanished in 1994, Tina Pryer in 2001 and Thi Hai Nguyen in 2005 are all from Wiltshire.
Michaela Hague, 25, was stabbed 19 times in 2001 after she got into a blue Ford Sierra.
As she lay dying at the scene she managed to give a cop a description of her attacker.
The photofit produced from her description is thought to have striking resemblance to Halliwell.
Author Chris Clark said: “It is vitally important for closure and no murder should be less than any other.”
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