Becky Godden death: Mum meets minister over law change

Becky Godden's mother, Karen Edwards, has vowed to fight for justice for her daughter

The mother of a woman whose remains were found buried in a field in the Cotswolds has taken her battle for justice to Westminster.

The body of Becky Godden was discovered at Eastleach, Gloucestershire, in 2011.

Christopher Halliwell led police to her grave but was not prosecuted after a judge ruled detectives had ignored arrest guidelines.

Karen Edwards was in London earlier to meet police minister Damien Green.

She has organised a petition calling for a review of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) and wants the arrest rules to be more flexible.

She said: "It's still hard, very hard, but I won't give up."

'Law needs to change'

"I'm not the type to give up. I won't roll over and let this beat me. It's the last thing I can do for my daughter and for anybody else out there.

Christopher Halliwell led police to Becky Godden's body

"There are rules there but sometimes they have to be bent slightly.

"In this case Halliwell wasn't beaten up, he wasn't abused in any way. He was treated fairly, and I feel myself that we are not being treated fairly. The law needs to change."

In October Halliwell, 48, was jailed for life with a tariff of 25 years for the murder of Sian O'Callaghan, 22, from Swindon.

After leaving Suju nightclub in March 2011, Miss O'Callaghan got into his taxi.

Halliwell drove his victim to Savernake Forest, near Marlborough in Wiltshire, where he killed her. He later dumped her body close to the Uffington White Horse in Oxfordshire.

Ignored guidelines

Shortly after confessing to Miss O'Callaghan's murder, Halliwell led police to Miss Godden's body but he was not taken to a police station to be read his rights by Det Supt Steve Fulcher.

Becky Godden's body was discovered at Gloucestershire in 2011

High Court judge Mrs Justice Cox later said Det Supt Fulcher's decision to ignore PACE guidelines was "significant and substantial".

It led to Halliwell only facing charges over the murder of Miss O'Callaghan and not Miss Godden, also known as Becky Godden-Edwards, who had been missing for eight years.

Since the case, Wiltshire Police has apologised to Ms Godden's family, while Halliwell's daughter has appealed to him to tell the family what happened.

"I'm hoping that he's [Mr Green] going to realise that had Steve Fulcher not done what he did, I would never have got Becky back," Ms Edwards added.

"And believe me, there was a situation that we may not have even got Sian back either."