Chris Halliwell to appear before Swindon magistrates as police continue to search field where second body was found
Tight security will be in place when the taxi driver accused of murdering Sian O'Callaghan makes his first public court appearance on Monday.
Chris Halliwell, 47, will appear before Swindon magistrates charged with killing 22-year-old O'Callaghan after she vanished from a nightclub in the town.
O'Callaghan's disappearance initially caused huge concern and many people volunteered to help police search for her. Concern turned to sorrow and deep anger when her body was found near the side of a country road last week.
Police will be out in force for Halliwell's appearance amid concern members of the public could gather at court to demonstrate their hostility.
Officers are continuing to search a field in Gloucestshire where a second body has been found. Police are working to identify the remains and have so far said only that they believe the bones to be those of a woman aged 23-30 who may have been taken from the Swindon area between 2003 and 2005.
Halliwell, who is from Swindon, was charged on Saturday evening, almost 60 hours after he was arrested in a supermarket car park in the town.
The Wiltshire district prosecutor, Simon Brenchley, said: "I have been working closely with Wiltshire police, and now have authorised them to charge Christopher Halliwell with Sian O'Callaghan's murder. I will keep liaising closely with the police as their investigation continues."
Halliwell is being held at Gablecross police station on the outskirts of Swindon and has twice been taken to Swindon magistrates court when police sought extensions on the time limit for holding him.
O'Callaghan's body was found near Uffington, in Oxfordshire, 12 miles east of Swindon, on Thursday and was formally identified by a member of her family the following day. Police say there is no evidence at this stage that she was sexually assaulted.
As part of the investigation, police began digging at a farmer's field at Eastleach, in Gloucestershire, 15 miles north of Swindon, and found human remains on Saturday.
Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher, who is leading the investigation, said: "Bones recovered from the site at Eastleach are believed to be [those] of a young woman with an estimated age of between 23 and 30 years.
"It has been indicated to me that this young woman was taken from the Swindon area between 2003 and 2005. The remains will now be subject of further forensic laboratory tests and a postmortem examination. The police search at the site is expected to continue for the time being."
Fulcher added: "Whilst we will make every effort to identify the second person as soon as possible, if you are concerned about someone who is missing, the charity Missing People offers a specialist support service for families and relatives of missing people and for the 250,000 people who go missing each year in the UK."
Wiltshire detectives will liaise with the National Policing Improvement Agency's (Nipa) serious crime analysis section, which helps detectives investigating motiveless or sexually motivated murders and other serious sex crimes. It uses a database called ViCLAS (Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System), which was developed in Canada by the Royal Canadian mounted police.
In addition Wiltshire detectives will be using the national DNA database, also overseen by Nipa, to try to establish the identity of the remains.
Police refused to comment on speculation that the remains could be those of a 20-year-old Vietnamese woman who was reported missing from Swindon in June 2003.
Police are still keen to hear from anyone who had been out "lamping" – using high-powered lights to hunt animals – or poaching in the Ramsbury area, near the Savernake forest in Wiltshire, which was the scene of searches for O'Callaghan last week.
Fulcher said: "I would stress again that I only want information from you that is relevant to the Sian O'Callaghan inquiry. We are not interested in prosecuting anyone for lamping or poaching."
The depth of feeling over O'Callaghan's death was shown on Saturday night when as many as 10,000 people attended a vigil at the Polo Ground in Swindon. Chinese lanterns and balloons with messages of condolence were sent soaring into the night sky.
It is not known whether members of O'Callaghan's family or her boyfriend, Kevin Reape, will attend the court hearing.