Jenkins 'spoiled' foster daughter

Billie-Jo was found battered to death at the family home

Billie-Jo Jenkins was "spoiled" by her foster father Sion Jenkins, an Old Bailey jury has heard.

Giving evidence for a third day, Mr Jenkins' former wife, Lois, said two of her daughters pointed out that he spent more on her presents than theirs.

She said she had never seen her ex-husband hit the teenager, touch her in anger, or touch her inappropriately.

Mr Jenkins, 48, of Lymington, Hampshire, denies the murder of his foster daughter in East Sussex in 1997.

'Bits of family life'

He is accused of battering the 13-year-old to death with an iron tent peg at the family home in Hastings.

Two of her daughters complained that Mr Jenkins had bought a ring for Billie-Jo which was more expensive than theirs, Mrs Jenkins, 44, said on Monday.

Sion Jenkins has remarried since divorcing Billie-Jo's foster mother

"It was pointed out to me by the other children," she said.

But when she was asked if Annie, who was a year younger than Billie-Jo, got upset if she was not treated in the same way as Billie-Jo, Mrs Jenkins said: "We are taking bits out of family life.

"It was not a significant feature."

She agreed with Christopher Sallon QC, defending, that Mr Jenkins had "spoilt Billie-Jo a bit".

Mrs Jenkins said they tried to treat Billie-Jo the same as their own four daughters and to minimise the fact that she was fostered to them when she was eight.

She did say she once noticed two small scratches on Billie-Jo's neck, but the schoolgirl said someone had pulled her bag around her neck.

Lois Jenkins, 44, who has four natural daughters with Sion Jenkins, has flown in from Australia, for the second re-trial of the defendant.

The trial continues.