Sian O’Callaghan Murder: Did The Pagan Supermoon Make Chris Halliwell Do It? And Other Theories

SIAN O’Callaghan: When the 22-year-old Swindon woman was merely missing only three newspapers – all red-tops – had featured her on their front pages: The Sun, The Mirror and The Star. Now she has been found dead – and Chris Halliwell has been arrested in connection with her disappearance and death – the story grows:

March 22: The Sun said that missing Sian had been seen on CCTV.
March 22: “Where is Sian” – Daily Mirror
March 23: “£20,000 reward to find missing clubber” – Daily Mirror
March 24: “Sian: ‘No Girl’s safe.’” – Daily Star

Today, one day after her body was found in rural Oxfordshire, only the Guardian and Independent do not feature Sian O’Callghan on their front pages.

Det Supt Steve Fulcher, who is leading the inquiry, tells media:

“A 47–year–old man from Swindon is in custody, having been arrested for kidnap and two murders. The location 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.”

Two murders. Who is the other person? The Telegraph speculates:

Officers in the case have also been approached by police investigating the murder of hospital worker Melanie Hall, 25, who was last seen leaving a Bath nightclub in 1996 before her remains were found near the M5 in Gloucestershire thirteen years later.

That would be the same Melanie Hall who was linked in print to the death of Joanna Yeates. No connection was found then. There are other unsolved murders in the area, but Miss Hall was blonde.

You may recall when the “Daily Mail Reporter” said the case held:

…striking similarities’ between Miss Yeates’s disappearance and the unsolved murder of Melanie Hall

Only, there weren’t. Other than that a photogenic young woman had died. Miss Hall went missing on a night out. But she had not been the only one to have done so.

What other unsolved murders might be linked to Chris Halliwell – who is only a suspect?

Janet Brown:

Her body was discovered by a builder and his son at her home in Radnage in April 1995. Nick Marshall and his son Ben were due to do some work at the Browns’ 11-acre estate in Sprigs Holly Lane when they found her naked body in a bedroom just after 8am. She had been gagged and handcuffed and repeatedly struck about the head.

Carolyn Anne Jackson, 50, was found bound, beaten and strangled in her home in Wooburn Green in 1998. Her killer has never been brought to justice.

Vera Holland in November 1996:

Mrs Holland’s burning body was discovered wrapped in carpet and face down among a pile of flaming logs and tyres on November 16, 1996, two days after she disappeared. The pretty 47-year-old was last seen buying a takeaway from Kentucky Fried Chicken in Shinfield Rise. A few days later fire crews attended a ‘rubbish fire’ on the A327 between Shinfield and Arborfield – her corpse was ablaze.

The Mirror says Chris Halliwell knew Sian O’Callaghan:

TRAGIC Sian O’Callaghan knew murder suspect Chris Halliwell through his three children, it was revealed last night. The 22-year-old was friends with the cabbie’s daughters Natasha, 19, Carissa, 17, and 12-year-old son Shane. She also knew his step-children Gemma, 29, and Lorna, 26, daughters of his partner Heather.

A friend said PA Sian would have been comfortable in his company. The pal added: “Chris knows Sian so she would have not had a second thought about getting into a car with him.”

But he is only a suspect. Nothing has been proven. He is helping the police with their enquiries. The source then adds:

“He’s a family man and seems a really nice bloke. He looks younger than he is and gets on well with people. Sian knows him through his kids as they go out together.”

He gave his DNA to police:

MURDER suspect Chris Halliwell gave police a sample of his DNA as officers hunted for missing Sian O’Callaghan, the cabbie’s boss revealed last night. The 47-year-old went voluntarily to the police station on Wednesday, a day before the pretty PA’s body was found at a historic beauty spot.

In the Sun, we get emotion – news that a man suspected of two murders placed posters of missing Sian in his taxi. Some people, eh?

Mum-of-one Tanya Fisher, 24, said her gran had called for the taxi driven by Halliwell. She said: “It sickened me when I realised it was the taxi the police wanted as I saw he had put two posters with Sian’s picture in the back window.”

Another name tells the Mirror:

Brian Jerome, described ¬Halliwell as “smashing”. The 71-year-old retired toolmaker said: “I can’t believe it. I’ve all the admiration in the world for Chris. He’s a devoted family man.”

But if you really want insight, look to the Daily Star, which delivers the headline:

BLOODY HISTORY OF SIAN O’CALLGHAN SITE

Keir Mudie has news:

THE mysterious hillside site where Sian O’Callaghan was found dead is steeped in legend and blood.

Ooer:

It is dominated by the 3,000-year-old White Horse of Uffington, thought to be a sign to the gods in a time when ancient Britons performed pagan rites and sacrifices.

She was killed by pagans?

Locals also say the area is at its most mystical and spooky during a Full Moon. Sian O’Callaghan vanished from the Swindon nightclub on the night of the “supermoon”, when the Moon seems giant in the night sky as it is closer to the Earth than normal.

Jesus wept.