Billie-Jo 'killed with iron bar'

Sion Jenkins denies murdering his foster daughter Billie-Jo

Former deputy head teacher Sion Jenkins murdered his foster daughter Billie-Jo by battering her with an iron bar, his retrial at the Old Bailey has heard.

Prosecutor Nicholas Hilliard said the 13-year-old was struck at least five times at the home they shared in Hastings, East Sussex.

He said she was murdered in a place "where she ought to have been safe".

Mr Jenkins, 47, currently lives in Aberystwyth, mid Wales. He denies murdering Billie-Jo in February 1997.

The defendant was the last adult to see Billie-Jo alive and the first adult to find her body Nicholas Hilliard, prosecutor

On the opening day of his retrial on Wednesday, the jury was told by Mr Hilliard that Mr Jenkins had been seen to be violent towards his stepdaughter, one time kicking her after she twisted her ankle.

The court heard that Billie-Jo had spent the morning of her death at the family home in Lower Park Road, Hastings, where she lived with her foster parents and four sisters.

Mr Hilliard said: "By mid afternoon she was dead. She was only 13. She had been painting the doors leading to the patio.

"We allege the person responsible was her own foster father."

Billie-Jo was beaten to death with a metal tent spike

The jury was shown the 18in metal tent peg, which had been left on a coal bunker on the patio earlier in the day and was used to batter the teenager.

Mr Hilliard said an attacker coming from outside could not have known that a weapon would be available.

"The defendant was the last adult to see Billie-Jo alive and the first adult to find her body."

He said Mr Jenkins had claimed he had been out on errands at the time of the murder, but three days after the killing he then told police he had been inside the house when his foster daughter was murdered.

Mr Hilliard said: "Had he just forgotten being inside or was he lying about it?

"The defendant was trying to edit out his presence inside the house at that time. Why was he doing that? Did he have something to hide?"

Blood spots

The prosecution said it did not accept Mr Jenkins had tried to do everything to care for Billie-Jo after finding her.

Mr Hilliard said paint was found on a cuff of a jacket worn by Mr Jenkins, with many small spots of blood on his clothes not visible to the naked eye.

"Did it get there when he attacked her or later when he was bending down and she exhaled blood?

"We do not accept he was bending down trying to help her."

He said there was no sign that Billie-Jo had been sexually assaulted and no property had been stolen.

The court also heard of tensions within the Jenkins' household prior to the murder, with Mr Jenkins allegedly telling police Billie-Jo had been a difficult girl.

The case continues.