Hunt for lost Sian turns into a double murder as police search for second body

By Luke Salkeld, Nick Fagge and Ryan Kisiel
Last updated at 2:13 AM on 25th March 2011

• Body found IS missing Sian O'Callaghan, say police
  
• Family 'distraught' after being informed of discovery
  
• Taxi driver, 47, from Swindon, held on suspicion of two murders

Found: The body of Sian O'Callaghan was discovered 11 miles from where she was last seen

The hunt for missing nightclubber Sian O'Callaghan dramatically turned into a double murder investigation yesterday.

Police had said they were hopeful of finding the 22-year-old alive after arresting a taxi driver on suspicion of kidnap yesterday morning.

But hours later they found her body beside a country road – and said they were searching for a second corpse.

The identity of the other victim was not known, leading to suspicions that the undiscovered remains could have been there for years.

Miss O'Callaghan was last seen leaving a nightclub in Swindon in the early hours of Saturday.

Shortly before 11.30am yesterday, 47-year-old cab driver Chris Halliwell was arrested as he picked up shoppers at an Asda store in Swindon.

His green Toyota Avensis had a poster in the window put out by police appealing for information about Miss O'Callaghan's whereabouts.

He led officers to a patch of land at Uffington Hill, near Wantage, Oxfordshire, where forensic experts erected a tent next to undergrowth.

A second tent was put up at divorced Halliwell's three-bedroom semi in Swindon, where he lives with his girlfriend, twice-married Heather Widdowson, who has three daughters.

It is a short distance from where Miss O'Callaghan lived with her boyfriend Kevin Reape, 25.

Yesterday there were signs that the five-day investigation could have a happy conclusion when a senior policeman said he was 'optimistic' about finding her safe and well.

But then Wiltshire Police called a press conference at their headquarters, where Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher said his officers were in the processing of recovering not one but two bodies.

Shrine: Friends lay tributes outside Suju night club, beneath a police poster asking for help to find Sian

Mourning: Friends and family left candles cards and roses on the steps of the nightclub

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He refused to confirm the gender of the second victim but said Miss O'Callaghan's 'distraught' family had been informed of the find.

'Significant developments have occurred,' he said.

'A 47-year-old man from Swindon is in police custody having been arrested for kidnap and two murders.

'The locations of two bodies have been identified to me by this individual, one of whom has yet to be identified formally, but I am quite clear is Sian.'

Enlarge

Famous: Uffington White Horse in Oxfordshire where police said they had today found two bodies

Discovery: The scene close to the White Horse of Uffington earlier today

Chief superintendent Steve Hedley added: 'We want to continue with this investigation which is at a significant stage. We have a family who are extremely distraught.'

Following Miss O'Callaghan's disappearance, hundreds of volunteers helped police search the 4,700-acre Savernake Forest, 12 miles from Swindon, after it emerged that her phone had been used in the area.

Then, yesterday morning, a team of uniformed officers swooped on Halliwell in the Asda car park.

Store worker Matt Tulsey, 24, said: 'I came out to collect trolleys. There were police everywhere.

'They were looking through a mini-cab. The policemen had the driver in handcuffs straight away. They put him in the back of their car and drove off.

Dramatic: Police surrounded the car following the swoop outside an Asda Walmart store in Swindon

Hunt: Police cordoned off a semi-detached home in Swindon as part of the investigation

Clues? Forensic officers entered a semi-detached home in Swindon this afternoon following the arrest of a man outside Asda in Swindon while, right, police load evidence into a van

Search: A forensic tent was put up in the front garden of the house in Swindon of the taxi driver arrested on suspicion of two murders

'Then they cordoned off the area while they went through the taxi. Soon after they took it away. The taxi had a missing Sian poster in the back window.'

A colleague, Phil Harman, 26, said the police had surrounded the taxi.

'There were five squad cars. Some people were trying to get into the cab when the police jumped out and arrested the man.

'They made him get out and they searched his vehicle – it was a Toyota Avensis. They put him in the back of the police car.'

Probe: Missing Sian was wearing brown boots, like this one left, and is thought to have had with her a DKNY watch with fake diamonds, right, Wiltshire Police said as they released these images

A patterned key a Tesco Clubcard and another key like these were all in Sian's possession at the time of her disappearance, Wiltshire Police said

Mystery: Sian, 22, caught on CCTV leaving Suju nightclub in Swindon. She told friends she would be back shortly but never returned

'Concerning': The Japanese-themed Suju nightclub in Swindon, Wiltshire, where Sian was last sighted before she was apparently taken to woodland. Right, her boyfriend Kevin Reape reads a statement

Search: Police teams in Savernake Forest, near Marlborough, Wiltshire, yesterday where missing Sian O'Callaghan's mobile phone was last detected.

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