British police search for remains of second murder victim

A MAN remained in police custody last night, suspected of killing nightclubber Sian O’Callaghan as British police continue the search for a second murder victim.

Painstaking new searches have been launched after detectives said that a man suspected of killing Ms O’Callaghan gave them new information on the whereabouts of another murder victim.

The fresh forensic effort was sparked as the suspect reportedly told police where to find the remains of a second missing person.

Detectives believe searches on the Oxfordshire- Gloucestershire border will lead them to Wiltshire’s “one outstanding” missing person.

Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher said the person had gone missing “several years ago” as search teams sifted land at Baxter’s Farm, between the villages of Eastleach and Filkins.

Police refused to comment on speculation the remains they were looking for could belong to 39-year-old Tina Pryer. The mother-of -three was last seen getting into a taxi in Trowbridge in April 2001.

The suspect, named locally as taxi driver Christopher Halliwell, appeared before Swindon magistrates yesterday afternoon as officers were granted another 24 hours to quiz him.

The body of Ms O’Callaghan was recovered near the village of Uffington, east of Swindon.

Det Supt Fulcher, who is leading the inquiry for Wiltshire Police, admitted officers “did not at this stage know what we are dealing with”.

The detective said he had been personally taken by the suspect to the location where Ms O’Callaghan’s body was found and where the search had begun for a second victim.

Officers were using mechanical diggers to excavate the corner of a field in their hunt for a second body.

Part of a dry stone wall was removed and two trenches were excavated, where officers were on their hands and knees in mud.

Detective Chief Inspector Sean Memory, who is leading the search, said at the scene: “We were given some indication of where there might be a find. Of course, it isn’t as simple as that.”

Describing the ongoing search for a second body, Det Supt Fulcher added: “What I can say is that if there is one, it relates to an incident some years ago.

He said it was not a “simple” exercise, but added: “I can tell you that Wiltshire only has one outstanding missing adult and that is from several years ago.”

Police seized a green taxi which was seen early on Saturday when Ms O’Callaghan disappeared after leaving a nightclub in her home town of Swindon.

Ms O’Callaghan, an office administrator, was caught on CCTV leaving the nightclub after an evening out with girl friends.

She lived in a flat just half a mile away with her boyfriend Kevin Reape, 25.

She had sent a text message to her partner on the night of her disappearance, saying: “Where are you? x.”