The head and arms of a woman allegedly murdered by a taxi driver may have been removed after her body had been buried, a court has heard.
ImageThe 20-year-old's remains were found in 2011
The remains of Becky Godden, 20, were found in a remote field in 2011, eight years after she was last seen alive.
Christopher Halliwell, 52, is being tried at Bristol Crown Court for murdering the sex worker between 2003 and 2005, which he denies.
The court has previously heard that Halliwell initially confessed to strangling Miss Godden and led police to the "exact spot" where her body was buried.
Forensic archaeologist Professor John Hunter, who examined the scene, said the grave was about 35 to 40cm deep.
ImageChristopher Halliwell denies murdering Miss Godden
He told the court the only explanation he could find for the bones being missing was that they had been removed.
"I identified four possibilities to explain the absence of the upper arms and head," he said.
"There were no trauma marks to suggest that the head and arms had been removed before burial.
"In terms of scavenging by animals, it is unusual that the degree of scavenging should be selective to just the head and arms.
"The third possibility was that the head and arms had been removed by ploughing.
"I would have expected to find missing components within the immediate vicinity given the way the field had been ploughed. There was no evidence of that.
"Finally, that the body was revisited and the head and arms removed."
The jury was told that a number of Miss Godden's teeth were found in her chest cavity.
A consultant pathologist who carried out a post-mortem examination on the remains, Dr Ashley Fegan-Earl, could not determine how Miss Godden had died.
Halliwell is said to have directed Superintendent Steve Fulcher to the site where Miss Godden was buried.
Mr Fulcher, who is no longer works for the police, was investigating the kidnap of Sian O'Callaghan at the time.
Halliwell was later convicted of Miss O'Callaghan's murder and is currently serving a life sentence.
Mr Fulcher told the court on Thursday that Halliwell told him he also picked up a prostitute in "2003, 4 or 5", they had sex, and he "killed her by strangling" and left her body by a wall.
Miss Godden's body was found 10 metres away from the location Mr Fulcher says Halliwell identified, in Eastleach, Gloucestershire.
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