A decorated police detective whose career was left in tatters after he decided to pursue a confession from a suspected killer without following strict policing guidelines, has said he has no regrets.
Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher, 52, from Wiltshire, was one of the most respected officers in the UK when he caught taxi driver Christopher Halliwell in 2011, who went on to confess to the murder of Sian O'Callaghan, 22.
He then offered to take the detective to the spot where he'd buried another victim, and procedure dictated that Fulcher should have charged Halliwell and returned him to a police station where he had access to a solicitor - he decided not to.
However, Fulcher was eager not to lose the opportunity to elicit another confession, so he went with Halliwell to the site where the remains of Becky Godden, 20, were discovered.
The decision almost derailed the case against the killer in court, and ultimately cost the detective his job.
However in a new one-off ITV documentary, To Catch a Serial Killer, DS Fulcher insists he did the right thing, saying: 'My view is that I have brought two daughters back to their mothers and I've prevented other victims resulting from Halliwell's continued pursuit of his career as a serial killer.
Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher, 52, from Wiltshire, career was left in tatters after he decided to pursue a confession from a suspected killer without following strict policing guidelines, has said he has no regrets
'But for my course of action Becky would still be in that field, Sian would never be found and Christopher Halliwell would be walking the streets.'
The programme explores whether Steve's actions were brilliant detective work, or arrogance and recklessness which ultimately cost him his job.
His actions compromised the court case against Halliwell and called into question one of the most important principles of the criminal justice system, the PACE guidelines.
Double killer Christopher Halliwell is believed to be responsible for even more deaths
Reported missing
Sian O'Callaghan's boyfriend had reported her missing after she failed to return from a night out with friends in Swindon, Wiltshire, in March 2011.
A police telephone trace threw up a clue - he had texted her half an hour after she left the nightclub saying, 'Worried'.
The trace on her phone was tracked to the nearby Savernake Forest by Steve's team.
Fulcher recalled: 'Working on the hypothesis that she could have been kidnapped and was still alive, I conducted this investigation as a crime in action - that means everything else is subordinate to the notion of finding Sian, and seeking to save her life.'
A search of the forest proved fruitless, but the detective got a breakthrough several days into the investigation after his team spotted an unidentified taxi on CCTV in the area where she disappeared, explains ITV reporter Robert Murphy, who covered the case.
Murphy explained in the documentary: 'A police officer had the idea of looking at all the police dashboard cameras that were patrolling central Swindon at the time.
The depraved taxi driver revealed he had murdered Becky Godden (left) after he had led police to the grave of his second victim Sian O'Callaghan, 22 (right)
'Just in the minutes before Sian vanished, one of the police cars had filmed a Toyota Avensis driving the other way, and it had the number plate.'
The taxi belonged to Halliwell, who told his company he had gone home at 1.30am - much earlier than Sian had disappeared.
But CCTV showed him driving around the town for another 90 minutes.
Steve Fulcher placed Halliwell under surveillance and he was seen cleaning his car, disposing of materials in litter bins, and burning objects at night.
Halliwell had been spotted buying a large quantity of pills, so officers were sent in to arrest him.
Kidnap in action
Deborah Peach from the inquiry team recalls in the programme: 'Steve takes the decision that he will conduct an urgent interview of Halliwell himself and just says "Right, let's go".'
Steve explained that Halliwell told him to drive them to a local beauty spot, a chalk white horse at Uffington - which turned out to be where he had dumped Sian O'Callaghan's body.
Steve explains what happened next: 'He said, "You and I should have a chat". Which was quite odd, actually… I felt the sense of gratitude.
'He had done what I considered to be the right thing. So I thanked him and explained that he would be given his rights, taken back to the police station…
'I interpreted "you and I should have a chat" as some quid pro quo, I thought he would want the deal in terms of me catering for his family who would be affected by his incarceration.'
TIMELINE OF A DOUBLE KILLING: HOW CHRISTOPHER HALLIWELL MURDERED TWO WOMEN THEN THWARTED JUSTICE FOR VICTIM'S FAMILY
January 2003 - Becky Godden, then aged 20, is last seen alive after getting into a taxi outside Destiny & Desire nightclub in Swindon.
March 18, 2011 - Sian O'Callaghan, 22, is murdered by Halliwell after getting into his taxi while walking home after leaving Suju nightclub in Swindon.
March 24, 2011 - Halliwell leads Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher, of Wiltshire Police, to the locations of Miss O'Callaghan and Miss Godden's bodies.
March 26, 2011 - Halliwell is charged with Miss O'Callaghan's murder.
May 23, 2011 - Halliwell is charged with Miss Godden's murder
Flowers at the scene near Eastleach, Gloucestershire where Miss Godden's body was found
January 30, 2012 - Mrs Justice Cox rules the evidence of Halliwell's confessions to the murders of both women is inadmissible.
May 31, 2012 - Halliwell appears at Preston Crown Court and denies murdering Miss O'Callaghan. The charge of murdering Miss Godden is formally withdrawn.
October 19, 2012 - Halliwell admits Miss O'Callaghan's murder at Bristol Crown Court and is jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years.
February 18, 2015 - Halliwell is arrested on suspicion of murdering Miss Godden.
March 30, 2015 - Halliwell is charged with Miss Godden's murder.
June 9, 2015 - Halliwell appears at Bristol Crown Court and denies Miss Godden's murder.
August 30, 2016 - Retired High Court judge Sir John Griffith Williams rules that the jury can be told of Halliwell's conviction for Miss O'Callaghan's murder and his confession to Miss Godden's murder.
September 5, 2016 - Halliwell goes on trial at Bristol Crown Court for Miss Godden's murder.
September 19, 2016 - Halliwell is convicted of Miss Godden's murder.
A second victim and a confession
The team found Sian's remains there. Steve says Halliwell then asked him, "Do you want another one?"'
The decision Steve made to follow Halliwell's taunt almost derailed the case against the killer in court, and ultimately cost the officer his job.
Halliwell described another victim, a prostitute he said he had killed much earlier, says Steve, and he could take him to the spot where he had buried her as well. It turned out to be the remains of Becky.
Is Christopher Halliwell a serial killer?
Halliwell has been linked to several other killings and disappearances over the past few decades, including Linda Razzell (left) and Tina Pryer (right)
Det Supt Sean Memory, the senior investigating officer in the Godden case, said after he was convicted in 2016 that Halliwell may have killed others.
'I am really open-minded – there is an eight-year gap between Becky and Sian,' Memory said. 'I would appeal to Christopher Halliwell – if he wants to speak I'm willing to speak with him.
'I can't rule out that there are other victims. He's not forensically linked to outstanding cases. However, that's not to say he hasn't committed other offences.
'I'm not specifically looking at any one particular offence, but I do want to try to understand why there's an eight-year gap between his offending behaviour. There's a distinct possibility there could be further offences.'
In the mid 1980s, while serving time in prison, Halliwell reportedly asked another inmate how many women it's necessary to kill before you're considered a serial murderer.
DS Steve Fulcher said he had always been convinced Halliwell had targeted more women.
The whereabouts of Vietnamese immigrant Thi Hai Nguyen (left), 20, has also been unknown since she went missing from her temporary home in Swindon in June 2005. Halliwell's father lived a few streets from the home of chef Claudia Lawrence (right), who has been missing since March 19, 2009
One of the cases to which Halliwell has been linked is that of mother-of-four Linda Razzell, 41, who disappeared from Highworth, near Swindon, on March 19, 2002.
Her husband Glyn has spent 13 years in jail for her murder but maintains his innocence, with his lawyer saying he would be 'very surprised' if he had committed the crime.
It has since emerged Halliwell was obsessed with Linda after doing building work at the Razzells' home four years before she died.
Meanwhile, Halliwell's father lived a few streets from the home of chef Claudia Lawrence, who has been missing since March 19, 2009 - the same day as Halliwell killed Ms O'Callaghan.
Another potential victim is prostitute Sally Ann John, 24, who vanished from Swindon in 1995. She and Halliwell lived on the same street.
The last sighting of her was in the Manchester Road area, in the town’s red-light district, at 10.45pm on September 8, 1995. No trace of her has ever been found.
BBC reporter Steve Brodie said of the detective's actions: 'At that stage there's absolutely no doubt under PACE [the Police and Criminal Evidence Act], Christopher Halliwell should have been charged on suspicion of murder, taken back to a police station and given access to a solicitor.'
But Fulcher had taken a different course: 'We drove for about 45 minutes trying to keep him in the moment.
'He showed me a list of girls' names that he kept in his phone of those that trusted him as a taxi driver.'
He considered his actions: 'Should I stop him confessing? Place him under arrest and take him back into custody? What are the ramifications of that? Well the ramifications are clear. We might never find out who 'another one' is.'
Afterwards Fulcher said of Halliwell: 'We had a surreal exchange, he knew that he had given his life away.'
A killer locked up and the end of a police career
Once Halliwell was in custody, Fulcher was hailed by his superiors.
Haliwell was jailed for life in 2012 for beating and stabbing Sian O'Callaghan - who he believed resembled his mother - to death, before pushing her body into a 12ft ravine.
But a judge ruled his confession about Becky Godden inadmissible because DS Fulcher had repeatedly failed to correctly caution the killer and questioned him without a lawyer.
Later investigators discovered soil on a spade which placed Halliwell in the field where Becky was found, leading to his conviction by jury in 2016.
Fulcher was disciplined for misconduct and later resigned, losing his £500,000 police pension and selling his house.
Sian's mother Elaine Pickford says what he did was understandable to her family. She says: 'Steve did what I think any family member would want an officer to do for them.'
But criminal defence barrister Sebastian Gardiner says: 'It wasn't ignorance on his part, it was a conscious decision by him to drive a coach and horses through recognised police procedure.'
Police are still continuing their investigation into Halliwell as they believe other victims are yet to be found.
To Catch A Serial Killer airs on Thursday at 9pm on ITV
Link article
https://hienalouca.com/2018/09/20/detective-steve-fulcher-has-no-regrets-over-actions-in-christopher-halliwell-murder-case/
Main photo article A decorated police detective whose career was left in tatters after he decided to pursue a confession from a suspected killer without following strict policing guidelines, has said he has no regrets.
Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher, 52, from Wiltshire, was one of the most respected...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
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