Lighting up the sky for Sian

I went to our local Polo ground to light up a lantern for Sian O'Callaghan.  Even though I was tired I knew I could not miss it.  I felt like I had to do something.  Seeing over thousand lanterns in the sky was a beautiful sight and I am sure if Sian was looking down she would have appreciated the gesture.  The event was amazing, at times sombre and at times uplifting that an entire community came together to mourn a young girl's tragic death.  A few times people nearly had their scalps burnt by the lanterns.  The lanterns are tricky to get them up in the sky. 

It made me feel proud of Swindon.  A lot of people slag Swindon off as it is not a pretty place in the Town centre and it is not a City.  One thing we do have is a strong sense of community.  The mood in   the Town is one of shock and utter horror that one of our youngsters was taken from us.  I went out Friday night and got into a black cab on my own.  I was scared getting in a taxi.  Apparently, one girl was questioning a cabbie about his ID and he was getting annoyed with her.  There were loads of police out on Friday night. 

The most shocking part of the murder of Sian was that she did nothing wrong.  She did not put herself in any danger.  She got into a licensed cab with someone she knew.  That is what the majority of us can not get our heads around.   It has made us all hyper paranoid.  It will take Swindon along time to forget this.  They still don't know who the other body belongs to.

I was glad to see when Chris Halliwell was formerly charged that over 100 people turned up at the police station to demonstrate the anger we all feel for this abhorant man.  Aparently his Children have left Swindon for fear of reprisals.  At the end of the day they have not done anything wrong, and yet there is another example of his actions devestating another family.  Why did he do it?