The former Swindon detective who caught the murderer of a young woman in Swindon has been invited to be deputy Police and Crime commissioner for Wiltshire if Mike Rees wins next week’s election.

Mr Rees is himself a former copper and is standing as an independent candidate in the re-run election to be the political leader of the county force and the chief constable’s boss. He has asked former detective superintendent Steve Fulcher to be his number two if he is successful.

Mr Fulcher led the investigation into the murder of Sian O’Callaghan in Swindon in 2011 by Christopher Halliwell, and also found Halliwell had killed Becky Godden-Edwards, also from Swindon, in 2003.

Mr Rees said, “It’s no secret Steve Fulcher has been backing my candidacy as an independent over the past 18 months of this long running process. “During that time, we’ve had several discussions around the role of deputy and who would be an asset to a PCC team working for the best interests of the Wiltshire public. I would like Steve, who knows this county, to return and work with me to bring about positive change.

“I’m delighted that Steve has expressed an interest in taking up the position of deputy police and crime commissioner should I be successful in the election,” he added.

Mr Fulcher said: “It would be an honour to work closely with Mike should he be elected. The taxpayers of Wiltshire should know that their current police force has many questions to answer. Mike Rees will address these if elected, and I will support him.”

Mr Fulcher was a detective superintendent at Wiltshire police in 2011 when Miss O’Callaghan was abducted and killed by Halliwell, a taxi-driver in the town.

After Halliwell admitted killing Miss O’Callaghan he told Mr Fulcher he had also killed Miss Godden-Edwards – but that information was deemed inadmissible in court because Mr Fulcher was found not to have followed procedures for handling suspects, although later evidence meant Halliwell was convicted in 2016.

Mr Fulcher was accused of misconduct and left Wiltshire Police in 2014 and now works as a consultant to several police forces. The story of this investigation into Halliwell’s crimes was dramatized in the TV serial A Confession in 2019starring Martin Freeman.

Also standing in the election on August 19 are the Reform UK candidate Julian Malins, Brian Matthew for the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives' Philip Wilkinson and Junab Ali the Labour candidate. It is running again after the May winner, Conservative Jonathon Seed, was disbarred by an old motoring conviction.