Jenkins denies lying in 999 call

Sion Jenkins has always denied murdering his foster daughter

Former deputy head teacher Sion Jenkins has denied he misled emergency services to back his claim a mystery intruder killed his foster daughter Billie-Jo.

Mr Jenkins, 47, denies murdering the 13-year-old, who died at the family home in Hastings, East Sussex, in 1997.

On Wednesday at the Old Bailey he denied claims he exaggerated how long he had been away from the house to make it look like someone else killed her.

The jury also saw Billie-Jo's sister's account of events at the time on video.

Annie Jenkins, the defendant's natural daughter, was 12 at the time she was interviewed on film in the days after the killing.

'Mayhem and chaos'

Billie-Jo was battered to death with a metal tent peg as she painted the patio doors of the family home in Lower Park Road, Hastings, on 13 February 1997.

Mr Jenkins, now of Aberystwyth, Wales, said he returned home with two of his natural daughters to find her dead in the back garden.

The court heard Mr Jenkins had told the operator during a 999 call he had been out for between 30 and 45 minutes before returning, but that he was actually out for about 10 minutes.

Billie-Jo was battered to death with an 18 inch iron tent peg

Nicholas Hilliard, prosecuting, suggested Mr Jenkins had given a longer period "so you could then say someone else had come in and done it".

Mr Jenkins replied: "No. That is simply not the truth."

He said making the 999 call had been hard because of "all the mayhem and chaos around".

He said: "When I spoke, I made mistakes. Those times were wrong but at the time it did not seem important."

Mr Hilliard accused him of lying and said there was no mystery intruder and that Mr Jenkins had killed Billie-Jo.

Mr Jenkins told the court: "I did not murder Billie."

'So shocked'

He went on to tell the jury he had delayed dialling 999 to have a proper look at the teenager's body to enable him to answer any questions the operator asked.

He said: "I needed to look at her properly.

"The shock of seeing her in that position and so much blood around her...I could not take in what I had seen."

He said when he first saw Billie-Jo he thought she had had an accident and it was not until police said it was a suspicious death that he realised someone had attacked her.

Billie-Jo was killed at the back of the family home in Hastings

In the recorded interview with Annie Jenkins from 1997, the girl said Billie-Jo had been painting the patio doors and that "Dad kept popping in and checking on her".

She said she and her father went out to collect her sister Lottie from a clarinet lesson.

She said when they got home her father told her and Lottie they were going back out to get some white spirit and the girls went out to the family car.

Asked how long it was before Mr Jenkins came out of the house she replied it was "a few minutes, two minutes, one minute."

The prosecution alleges it was before going out to the car that Mr Jenkins murdered Billie-Jo - a claim he denies.

Annie went on to describe arriving back at the house with her father and Lottie, to see Billie-Jo lying on the ground.

She said: "We could see Billie's legs, I did not see anything else. I was so shocked."

The case was adjourned until Thursday.