The Grinning Killer: Chris Halliwell - How Many Women Do You Have to Kill to Be a Serial Killer?: The Story Behind ITV's A Confession

by Nigel Cawthorne

In the early hours of 19 March 2011, 22-year-old Sian O’Callaghan left a nightclub in Swindon to make the half-mile journey back to her home. She was never seen alive again.The prime suspect in her disappearance, local taxi driver Christopher Halliwell, was arrested a few days later. Seemingly an ordinary family man, in reality, Halliwell regularly visited sex workers and viewed incredibly violent pornography. Chillingly, he had once asked a fellow inmate during a prison sentence in the 1980s how many people it was required to kill in order to be a serial killer.Not only did Halliwell admit to killing O’Callaghan, he then led police to the body of Becky Godden, a sex worker who had been missing for eight years. But as a result of an error in police procedure, this couldn’t be used to charge him with Godden’s murder. After a painstaking process of collecting new evidence, he was finally sentenced to a full-life jail term for the killings in 2016.However, essential questions what happened in the eight years between Godden and O’Callaghan’s deaths? Did Halliwell go quiet, or are there other innocent victims yet to be found? How far back could his killing spree go?This is the terrifying and gripping true story of one of the most brutal serial killers in modern times and the catastrophic error that almost prevented justice from being served.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

232 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 12, 2018

About the author

Nigel Cawthorne is an Anglo-American writer of fiction and non-fiction, and an editor. He has written more than 80 books on a wide range of subjects and has contributed to The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph Daily Mail and The New York Times. He has appeared on television and BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Many of Nigel Cawthorne's books are compilations of popular history, without footnotes, references or bibliographies. His own web site refers to a description of his home as a "book-writing factory" and says, "More than half my books were commissioned by publishers and packagers for a flat fee or for a for a reduced royalty".

One of his most notable works was Taking Back My Name, an autobiography of Ike Turner, with whom he spent a number of weeks working with him on, taking up residence in Turner's house. The book caused much controversy, resulting in court cases for three years following its release.

Cawthorne currently lives in Bloomsbury, London with his girlfriend and son, Colin (born 1982).

Reviews

[Gerald CLIFTON · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is awful. The writer is all over the place. It’s almost as if he has watched television news reports and written the book from them. I honestly believed that this book would shed more light on the belief that the offender had committed more murders. It does not. It tries to explain a little, but this is such a small piece at the end of the book it is pointless. If anyone reading this review is in any way interested in the Halliwell case I strongly recommend this waste of paper is avoided and that they read ‘Catching a serial killer’ by Steve Fulcher (the senior investigator in the case).

[Andrew Degruccio · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most interesting part of this short true crime read is the philosophical and legal entanglement that protected a serial killer while destroying a detective's future.

[Sarah Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really easy read with detailed information

[Anna Windle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Agree with what someone else said, it reads like a compilation of quotes from news articles from the time of the events. A lot of repetitive information.

[Phil Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

A detailed account of one of The UK's worst double killers who led Wiltshire Police to two bodies after admitting to killing Sian O, Callaghan and then to Becky Godden Edwards and then by taking police to Becky Godden Edwards deposition site. At his trial at Bristol Crown Court 19 October 2012 Halliwell was sent to prison for 25 years but regarding Becky this case was dismissed due to court saying that SIO Stephen Fulchers failure to take Halliwell back to a police station and offering him legal advice and a solicitor.

However on 31 March 2016 Halliwell was charged with Becky Godden Edwards murder following reinvestigation work on the case and on 19 September 2016, a jury at Bristol Crown Court found him guilty of the murder after two hours of deliberation. On 23 September, Mr Justice Griffith-Williams sentenced Halliwell to life imprisonment with a whole life order for the murder, meaning he will not be eligible for parole and is unlikely to ever be released from prison.

Following these murders, former SIO Stephen Fulcher believes that Halliwell could well be responsible for sevaral unsolved murder cases in the UK

[Jake Cross · Rating 2 out of 5]

The subject and the research - good. Narration also good. However, I had to two star this because of atrocious errors, including one a British true crime book should never make: calling the CPS the CRIMINAL Prosecution Service!