Page 27constantly. She wrapped gifts
every birthday. She got in touch
with the Salvation Army, with
Missing Persons charities. But
without official Missing Person
Status their hands were tied.
Then, suddenly, the police were
at the door, with the most
devastating news.
Not only was Becky dead, but
she had been for years.
Coincidentally, the mother of
Sian O’Callaghan, the other girl
Halliwell killed, lived just around
the corner from Karen.
The manner in which their
daughters’ disappearances were
treated, however, could not have
been more different.
Sian vanished as she walked
home from a nightclub. A nice
girl who had never been in
trouble, her disappearance was
immediately deemed out of char-
acter, and police acted quickly.
Using her phone signal and
sightings of a taxi, they arrested
Halliwell within days.
‘Sian was always the “good girl”
in this story — and we were kind
of dismissed. But Becky always
mattered, too,’ Karen says.
‘After Halliwell got life for Sian’s
murder, the police told me therewasn’t enough evidence for him
to be charged over Becky, but
they hoped I’d be satisfied he
was going away for a long time.
‘Satisfied? That he’d got away
with killing Becky? Never.’
Actually, the evidence to convict
him was there. A spade, removed
from Halliwell’s home, was, years
later, found to contain soil
samples linking it to the field
where Becky lay. Witness
statements were taken that put
him near the scene.
So why the delay? There are
so many questions Karen still
needs answers to. An official
report into a formal complaint
about how her case was handled
is still pending.
She started her own petition to
have charges brought, trudging
streets to collect signatures. She
convinced her local Asda to let
her stand outside the store to
engage with shoppers. Not only
did they agree, they offered her a
table in the foyer, so moved were
they by her story.
Her determination paid off.
Halliwell, serving life for killing
Sian, was convicted of Becky’s
murder in September 2016.
Understandably, Karen is stillfurious that the efforts of the
police in the years following the
discovery of Becky’s remains
were focused on taking action
against DS Fulcher, rather than
making sure the killer was held
to account.
She sat with Becky’s coffin for
three weeks while the funeral was
arranged. She didn’t want a ‘big
black funeral’. ‘We were never
going to be able to give Becky the
wedding she would have wanted,
but I wanted her funeral to reflect
that side of her.
‘She had a white wicker coffin
and Stargazer lilies.’ The music
played as they said farewell to
Becky was Coldplay’s Fix You, an
apt choice.
‘So many times I had tried to fix
Becky, and I couldn’t. I had to let
her go. My only comfort was that
she was at peace. She wasn’t
lying in a field, alone, forgotten.
We had her home, where no one
could hurt her any more.’
n A Confession starts on
Monday at 9pm on iTV. Karen’s
book, A Killer’s Confession, is
published by Headline at £20.
To order a copy for £16 (offer
valid until september 9; p&p
free), call 0844 571 0640.Daily Mail, Friday, August 30, 2019UNCANNY RESEMBLANCES
OF THE SHOW’S STARS
VICTIM
KILLER
HERO COP
HER MUM
Tragic Becky Godden-Edwards and (right) Stephanie HyamKaren Edwards and (right) Imelda Staunton, who plays herMurder detective Steve Fulcher and (right) Martin FreemanEvil Christopher Halliwell and (right) actor Joe AbsolomShattered dreams: Becky Godden-Edwards, aged seven, with devoted mum Karen Edwards