The true story behind the ITV series, A Confession ‘The gripping allure of long-form podcasts, such as Serial’ Observer On the evening of Saturday, 19 March 2011, D.S. Stephen Fulcher receives a life-changing call that thrusts him into a race against the clock to save missing 22-year-old Sian O’Callaghan, who was last seen at a nightclub in Swindon. Steve knows from experience that he has a small … Steve knows from experience that he has a small window of time to find Sian alive, but his hopes are quickly dashed when his investigation leads him to Christopher Halliwell, a cabbie with sick obsessions.
Following the investigation as it develops hour-by-hour, Steve’s gripping inside story of the cat-and-mouse situation that ensues shows how he hunted down Halliwell – his number-one suspect – which led him to the discovery of Sian’s body and another victim, Becky Godden-Edwards, who had been missing since 2002. The murders shocked the nation and Halliwell become one of the most hated men in Britain. Since then, he has been linked to several murders and disappearances, and has been called ‘sick in the head’ by an ex-cellmate for his unrelenting hatred of women.
Catching a Serial Killer is a thrilling, devastating and absorbing look at a real-life murder case and potentially one of the UK’s most prolific serial killers.
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** spoiler alert **
Former Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher forcibly informs the reader this book was written with one sole purpose: to highlight the inadequacies of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE): in particular Code C Paragraph 11.1 (not section 11.1 as he insisted on calling it).
I sympathise given his predicament and the circumstances presented to him following the disappearance of Sian O’ Callaghan. But let’s face facts. The Code cannot cover every single situation presented to a police officer investigating crime. The code is there to afford protection to suspects. They do have rights and Fulcher knew that but chose to ignore the code not once but at least twice. And why shouldn’t suspects have rights? If you are a believer in the rule of law, then all are considered innocent until proven otherwise.
One must not forget that ultimately Halliwell pleaded guilty to the murder of Sian O’ Callaghan with the tainted confession evidence being ruled inadmissible.
As one commentator has put it: “PACE has still not been revised. So this situation could conceivably arise again, putting another SIO in the same position of choosing between his career, or convicting a serial killer.” That’s correct but how do you revise it to cover every single possibility?
Fulcher chose to deliberately flout the conventions. He knew there would be potential consequences and there were. His actions and all the consequences are captured in this book. On the whole, it was an interesting read. I must say that the read was not enhanced by use of a ghost writer. Some of the words she (the ghost) used were totally unsuitable to attribute to a senior detective no matter how smart he is. To paraphrase Hemingway, “why use ten-dollar words when there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use.”
The other feature of this book that didn’t endear me to Fulcher’s point of view, is as the story progresses a hysteria creeps into the narrative. He also takes a few swipes at the criminal justice system and demonstrates a lack of understanding of the way barristers and judges work in criminal cases. Overall, that feature added to the distinct impression that here was a man too sure of himself who allowed this case to become ‘personal.’ As the SIO, that should never have happened.
He was even warned by his deputy SIO, that the proposed “urgent interview” was sailing close to the wind in breaching Code C. Not only did he ignore that advice, but when two trained interrogators conducted the first “urgent interview,” failing to get Halliwell to talk, then Fulcher took it on himself to abrogate his SIO’s duty not to become part of the “evidential chain” by deciding to personally conduct a “continuing urgent interview.” The result was he became the case along with Christopher Halliwell.
Fulcher in the later stages of the book rails against the system. That “system” resulted in him facing serious disciplinary charges. He rails against the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) when all they were doing was carrying out its function once it had received a complaint from the father of Becky Goddard. This is taken from the IPCC website – “The allegations made against Det Supt Fulcher are that he did not apply the Codes of Practice when dealing with Mr Halliwell. There is compelling evidence not only to support these allegations, but to show that Det Supt Fulcher made a deliberate decision not to apply them, despite his seniority, experience and advice from his deputy. This evidence is not disputed by him.”
Consequently, it should have been no surprise to him that he was found ‘guilty’ of gross misconduct. He feared dismissal from the force. Instead he received a formal written warning. Following that, he writes about a feeling of being shunned. It’s clear to me he got involved in force politics. Instead of keeping a low profile until it all blew over, he chose to resign.
There was a smattering of arrogance throughout much of this book and a certain amount of disingenuity. I beg Mr Fulcher’s forgiveness if I’m incorrect but one example that springs to mind is his claim over losing a million pounds in forgoing a final salary pension. That was his choice. If he had kept his head down for another two or three years, then he would have had his full pension. In any event, I don’t believe the impression he created over his pension claim was totally accurate. I think it highly likely he resigned with some kind of healthy pension package.
One thing is certain. This was a detective with balls. He knew what he was doing was wrong. He did his best in the circumstances. Ultimately his actions did lead to the discovery of the two murdered girls’ bodies. Fulcher paid a personal price – sacrificed on the altar of internal police force politics. Halliwell is now serving a whole life sentence, never to be released.