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09/02/2006
Jenkins freed as jury return no verdict
Sion Jenkins has been attacked outside the Old Bailey today after a jury declared it had failed to reach a verdict over the case of his murdered foster daughter Billie-Jo.
The former deputy headteacher denied murdering the 13-year-old schoolgirl in February 1997. She was found battered to death at the family home in Hastings, East Sussex. She had been stuck repeatedly with a tent peg as she painted a door at the house.
The jury declared that they had failed to reach a 10-2 majority verdict in the case. The jury had deliberated for over 39 hours before indicating that they could not reach a verdict.
Outside the court Mr Jenkins was attacked two women, reported to be Billie-Jo's aunts, who hurled themselves at him and stuck him in the face before police intervened.
In 1998, Mr Jenkins was jailed for life but won an appeal to have a retrial of the case. Last July a jury failed to reach a verdict and the second retrial, which lasted three months, also failed to reach a verdict in the case.
Mr Jenkins, 48, from Lymington, Hampshire, has been formally acquitted of the murder charge.
The prosecution will not seek another retrial.
Mr Jenkins described the trial as a "terrible ordeal" and his conviction as a "miscarriage of justice."
He called for the investigation to be re-opened with a new team of detectives.
He said: "Billie-Jo's murderer has escaped detection because of dreadful errors in the police investigation and their determination to convict me at all costs."
(SP)
The former deputy headteacher denied murdering the 13-year-old schoolgirl in February 1997. She was found battered to death at the family home in Hastings, East Sussex. She had been stuck repeatedly with a tent peg as she painted a door at the house.
The jury declared that they had failed to reach a 10-2 majority verdict in the case. The jury had deliberated for over 39 hours before indicating that they could not reach a verdict.
Outside the court Mr Jenkins was attacked two women, reported to be Billie-Jo's aunts, who hurled themselves at him and stuck him in the face before police intervened.
In 1998, Mr Jenkins was jailed for life but won an appeal to have a retrial of the case. Last July a jury failed to reach a verdict and the second retrial, which lasted three months, also failed to reach a verdict in the case.
Mr Jenkins, 48, from Lymington, Hampshire, has been formally acquitted of the murder charge.
The prosecution will not seek another retrial.
Mr Jenkins described the trial as a "terrible ordeal" and his conviction as a "miscarriage of justice."
He called for the investigation to be re-opened with a new team of detectives.
He said: "Billie-Jo's murderer has escaped detection because of dreadful errors in the police investigation and their determination to convict me at all costs."
(SP)
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