GUILTY UK - Sian O'Callaghan, 22, Swindon, Wiltshire, 19 March 2011

[whiterum]

I think the video you linked to might have been superceded by the tribute video from Sian's father so I haven't been able to listen to it.

Apologies if I'm missing something but I don't understand why it seems this case is moving faster than VTs

VT was arrested on Thu 20th Jan, charged Sun 23rd Jan, appeared before magistrates on Mon 24th Jan, bail hearing was Tues 25th Jan with the Prelimanary Hearing on Mon 31st Jan. That's a total of 11 days from arrest to Preliminary Hearing.

CH was arrested on Thu 24th March with a Preliminary Hearing set for 8th April. That's 15 days from arrest to Preliminary Hearing.

I don't know about anyone else but it seems like donkeys years from we've heard anything about VT.

 

[Cherwell]

That is to be expected, the case is sub judice until the trial.

 

[whiterum]

So sad that little floral tribute at the search site left by the police. 'To an unknown lady, now you can rest in peace'.

 

[Prickle]

I agree, good for them!! What an absolutely evil betrayal of trust, in his occupation as a taxi driver it was/is precisely to ensure the safety of our young ones when coming home from a nightclub in the early hours. His work gave him the perfect opportunity to entice a beautiful young girl to her death when she believed she was going to be taken safely home !! Its unbelievable.

I so agree, haven’t we all done it in our time, hailed a cab late at night, chatting away to someone we have only just met and trusted without a thought. I noticed while watching a couple of news report the other evening that 2 of the criminals in question were also taxi drivers.

Delroy Grant, the rapist and former minicab driver is said to have targeted a total of 18 victims, sexually assaulting nine of them, between 1992 and 2009.

Derrick Bird, 52, went on to injure three other taxi drivers in the town, killing 12 people before turning the gun on himself on June 2 last year.

I have to say that it is pretty scary and makes you wonder how many more are out .

 

[Suspicious Minds]

I so agree, haven’t we all done it in our time, hailed a cab late at night, chatting away to someone we have only just met and trusted without a thought. I noticed while watching a couple of news report the other evening that 2 of the criminals in question were also taxi drivers.

Delroy Grant, the rapist and former minicab driver is said to have targeted a total of 18 victims, sexually assaulting nine of them, between 1992 and 2009.

Derrick Bird, 52, went on to injure three other taxi drivers in the town, killing 12 people before turning the gun on himself on June 2 last year.

I have to say that it is pretty scary and makes you wonder how many more are out .

And another you hae reminded me of, that cab driver who was telling women he had won the lottery and offering them champange and spiking their drinks, cant remember his name.

 

[wfgodot]

And another you hae reminded me of, that cab driver who was telling women he had won the lottery and offering them champange and spiking their drinks, cant remember his name.

John Worboys.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jan/21/taxi-driver-date-rape-denial

 

[yorkiegal]

And another you hae reminded me of, that cab driver who was telling women he had won the lottery and offering them champange and spiking their drinks, cant remember his name.

That sounds so familiar to me. I realised that it is the exact plot of one of James Pattersons books, from the Woman's Murder Club series.

 

[chasing.halos]

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/8936327.SIAN_O_CALLAGHAN__Angry_scenes_outside_court/?ref=mr

THERE have been angry scenes outside court as taxi driver Christopher Halliwell arrived to face a charge of murdering Swindon nightclubber Sian O'Callaghan.

Many people were shouting abuse and threats and some women were in tears.

Two men ran up to the van, banging on the side, and were moved back by police.

 

[Redgoblin]

I so agree, haven’t we all done it in our time, hailed a cab late at night, chatting away to someone we have only just met and trusted without a thought. I noticed while watching a couple of news report the other evening that 2 of the criminals in question were also taxi drivers.

Delroy Grant, the rapist and former minicab driver is said to have targeted a total of 18 victims, sexually assaulting nine of them, between 1992 and 2009.

Derrick Bird, 52, went on to injure three other taxi drivers in the town, killing 12 people before turning the gun on himself on June 2 last year.

I have to say that it is pretty scary and makes you wonder how many more are out .

I suppose statistically men that work as taxi drivers have more of a predisposition to murder, simply because they are transporting people around rather than just goods.

Couple to the fact that the conditions of that line of work are not great, unsociable hours, poor pay, often rude clientèle - I know people who commit murder do come from all walks of life but still.

Anyone ever seen the film the taxi driver with Robert De Nero?

 

[whiterum]

Halliwell faced an angry crowd inside and outside court that shouted insults and threats. Just before the hearing, the venue was switched to different courtroom so that Halliwell could be held in a dock with a roof on it, amid concern that missiles could be thrown.

A packed public gallery was warned not to disrupt the hearing by the chair of the bench, Angus MacPherson. But as Halliwell was led from the dock, insults were hurled at him and one person shouted: "If we ever get hold of you we will kill you."

Outside, about 100 people had gathered. One man shouted: "Judge, give him bail. We will look after him." Another yelled: "There is £150,000 on your head."

Pity they hadn't got a hold of him, where's your power now, you pathetic little insignificant piece of ****

 

[Cherwell]

Just before the hearing, the venue was switched to different courtroom so that Halliwell could be held in a dock with a roof on it, amid concern that missiles could be thrown.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/28/sian-ocallaghan-police-second-body

Pity they changed it.

 

[whiterum]

I suppose statistically men that work as taxi drivers have more of a predisposition to murder, simply because they are transporting people around rather than just goods.

Couple to the fact that the conditions of that line of work are not great, unsociable hours, poor pay, often rude clientèle - I know people who commit murder do come from all walks of life but still.

Anyone ever seen the film the taxi driver with Robert De Nero?

I've never seen it Redgoblin, did he use his position for good or evil

 

[Redgoblin]

I've never seen it Redgoblin, did he use his position for good or evil

For evil

 

[whiterum]

For evil

The majority of taxi drivers are decent, hard working and sociable it's just that there has been a spate of bad ones lately. The taxi drivers who came to the court today received an applause from the crowd outside, as did the police.

I'll have to look out for 'The Taxi Driver' dvd, I like Robert De Nero he's a very good actor.

 

[wfgodot]

Scorsese's Taxi Driver is a difficult and disturbing film. It contains no clear message. Its protagonist, Travis Bickle (De Niro), is mentally ill. His actions, while violent ones, seem, at the end, to have led to societal praise for freeing the 12-year-old prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster) from a life of degradation. I would not call Bickle "evil'; it's not clear he is responsible for his actions, but rather that he is in the grip of his personal demons. The film questions our response to violence, and the difficulty in finding in it reasonable, easy answers.

 

[wfgodot]

Anorak has a provocative piece on public mourning:

Sian O’Callaghan’s Death Is Invaded By The Grief Circus

---
When did orchestrated public grief become the British way? Well, we know the answer to that: when Princess Diana died. (When James Bulger was killed in 1993, did strangers sign a book or place teddies and flowers on his grave?) The flowers, candlelit vigils and books of condolence soon became the done thing. But whereas Diana’s death triggered a spontaneous outpouring of emotion, the remembering of others, like Baby P, is contrived. We look not to the victim but at the mourners and the news media that broadcasts the grief in hushed tones, shoving cameras into careworn faces and asking people how they feel.
---

the rest at link above

 

[moshimoshi]

new Telegraph article (featuring Thi Hai Nguyen, from the discourse above):
Sian O'Callaghan murder: police investigate suspect Christopher Halliwell's links to other unexplained deaths

more at link, with photo of Ms. Hai Nguyen

A Vietnamese woman, Thi Hai Nguyen turns up in Swindon in 2008, sentenced in her absence for her role in a cannabis factory operation.

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/4000541.Drug_plans_go_up_in_smoke/

 

[moshimoshi]

Is it normal murderer behaviour to kill someone and then wait ten years before killing another?

I was wondering about it, but on the other hand what's normal? If the evening had gone differently and CH had been beaten up by thugs outside that nightclub the papers would be carrying tributes like:

"He's a really nice guy. He'd always have a smile. Nice man, nice family. I’ve all the admiration in the world for Chris. He’s a devoted family man. He’s a real family man and doesn’t have any enemies in the trade. He’s a great guy. He seems like a really nice bloke."

All those comments have already appeared in spite of what's suspected of him. So I can only think violence is irrational, it just comes out.

 

[whiterum]

A Vietnamese woman, Thi Hai Nguyen turns up in Swindon in 2008, sentenced in her absence for her role in a cannabis factory operation.

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/4000541.Drug_plans_go_up_in_smoke/

This was discussed earlier, there is a man Thanh Nguyen from birmingham was given 30 months further down the article. This name is a very common vietnamese name, there are many thousands with the same name. But it still could be her, though it is strange she was the only one sentenced in her absence, so anyone could have used that name.

 

[Prickle]

Scorsese's Taxi Driver is a difficult and disturbing film. It contains no clear message. Its protagonist, Travis Bickle (De Niro), is mentally ill. His actions, while violent ones, seem, at the end, to have led to societal praise for freeing the 12-year-old prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster) from a life of degradation. I would not call Bickle "evil'; it's not clear he is responsible for his actions, but rather that he is in the grip of his personal demons. The film questions our response to violence, and the difficulty in finding in it reasonable, easy answers.

Another film (The Bone Collector) - the killer poses as a New York taxi driver, and abducts and kills those who get in his taxi. The first two victims are a married couple who get a taxi home but then find themselves kidnapped by the killer. It horrified me when I saw the movie, realizing just how easy this could be achieved because the victims trusted what they thought was a genuine NYC taxi driver.