Sian O'Callaghan: Police get more time to question man

Sian O'Callaghan's body was found near Uffington in Oxfordshire

Police have been granted more time to question a man being held in connection with the murder of 22-year-old Sian O'Callaghan.

Magistrates sitting at Swindon granted Wiltshire Police the extension until early on Monday morning.

A 47-year-old man arrested on Thursday has been named locally as taxi driver Christopher Halliwell.

Miss O'Callaghan's body was found in Oxfordshire after her suspected killer guided detectives to the spot.

On Friday police were given an extra 24 hours to question the suspect and a new extension was granted on Saturday morning.

The suspect remains at Gablecross Police Station in Swindon.

Searches for a second body have been taking place in Gloucestershire.

Det Supt Steve Fulcher, of Wiltshire Police, said officers were searching near Eastleach for the body of an adult.

"Wiltshire only has one outstanding missing adult and that's from several years ago," he said.

Miss O'Callaghan, 22, from Swindon, had not been seen since leaving a nightclub in the Wiltshire town in the early hours of last Saturday.

Floral tributes outside the Suju nightclub are being removed

Police arrested the 47-year-old man at an Asda supermarket in Swindon on Thursday.

Later that day Miss O'Callaghan's body was found about 15 miles (24km) away near Uffington in Oxfordshire after the suspect took officers, including Mr Fulcher, to the site.

The man also took officers to the area near Eastleach, Gloucestershire, where searches continue.

Police have been using mechanical diggers to excavate the corner of a field near the Oxfordshire-Gloucestershire border in their hunt for the second body.

Det Ch Insp Sean Memory, who is leading the search at that site, said officers had received "relatively specific" information from a man held in connection with Miss O'Callaghan's death but that no remains had yet been found.

"We were given some indication of where there might be a find. Of course, it isn't as simple as that," he said.

A Wiltshire Police spokeswoman said that floral tributes placed outside the Suju nightclub by Miss O'Callaghan's friends and well-wishers will be moved from the doorway because the club plans to open on Saturday night.

Miss O'Callaghan's family have agreed that the tributes can be moved, she added.