A Killer's Confession by Edwards Karen

Author:Edwards, Karen [Edwards, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: True Crime, Biographical
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2019-08-21T23:00:00+00:00

10

The Fight

T hroughout the last eighteen months I had hoped that, somehow, some way would be found by the CPS, or police, to cut through the legalities of a system that said a murderer’s confession could not be heard in a court of law. Naively, I thought the justice system would come through, that at the last minute common sense would prevail. That somebody, somewhere in the system would say, ‘Hang on, what are we doing here? This isn’t right.’

It felt that as a family we’d been collectively holding our breath, constantly on tenterhooks, treading on eggshells. There was no way we would have jeopardised Sian’s case, but it had been hard. Not being able to voice our concerns when we knew Becky was being dropped from the indictment was crucifying. I wanted to shout about it, about how wrong it was, about how we were being denied justice.

In all this time, with this on my mind, I hadn’t really had a chance to properly grieve for Becky. Yes, I’d certainly cried for her; my tears were seemingly unending, they came when I least expected. But I hadn’t really had enough space and peace to sit quietly, to contemplate all that had happened. To remember Becky as I wanted to, to focus on our happy times, without this in the background. Neither could I do that now.

Now, I had to fight for her. I would never accept Halliwell not being held to account for her murder. And I had to use all the means at my disposal; which included the press. I had meant what I’d said on the steps of the court – I was addressing the media as much as the public. I had made a few media contacts during the course of the murder investigation and I saw how they could be used to deliver messages. I very much wanted to keep Becky’s story in the public consciousness. I quickly realised, if she was ever to receive justice, her story needed the oxygen of the press.

Following Halliwell’s trial, there was a media frenzy; not only were they reporting on Halliwell’s conviction, but news had leaked of DSupt Fulcher’s suspension. For many days, the stories appeared side by side, with lots of commentary. Depending on what you read, the ‘red tops’ reported it as ‘police bungle’, with reference to DSupt Fulcher breaching PACE, and the broad sheets ridiculed the justice system and praised him for taking the steps he had to catch a killer. A whole range of people had opinions; typically, there was condemnation of Steve Fulcher from the legal profession, while others decried a system that allowed a murderer to get away with killing his victim. Journalists waded in, Richard and Judy gave their opinion. There was though, overwhelming support for the actions of DSupt Steve Fulcher, and sympathy for the predicament he was in. I added my endorsement of him too in a statement to the press: ‘Steve Fulcher is a committed and dedicated police officer and family man.

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