Charlotte killer jailed for life

The body of Charlotte Pinkney has never been found

A scaffolder has been jailed for life after being found guilty of the murder of 16-year-old Charlotte Pinkney.

Nicholas Rose, 23, of Foreland View, Ilfracombe, Devon, had denied killing the teenager last February.

Despite an extensive hunt by police, Charlotte's body has never been found. Judge Graham Cottle ordered Rose to serve a minimum of 20 years.

Rose was convicted of murder by a majority verdict of 11-1 at Exeter Crown Court on Thursday.

I hope Rose will still do the right thing and disclose where the body is Det Ch Insp Tony Carney

Outside the court Det Ch Insp Tony Carney, from Devon and Cornwall Police, said that the police would ask Rose where the body was.

He said: "I think over the past year he has convinced himself he is not responsible for this offence despite the overwhelming forensic and circumstantial evidence.

"I hope Rose will still do the right thing and disclose where the body is."

Earlier the judge said the consequences of the concealment of the body in this or any case were horrendous for the relatives and close family of the deceased.

He told Rose concealment of the body was the most serious "aggravating feature".

He said Miss Pinkney's parents were denied the opportunity of their child having a proper burial and "can never rest until they know what happened to their child".

He told Rose: "You continue to harbour that dreadful secret as to where you took her."

Prosecutor Paul Dunkels QC told the court Rose probably murdered Charlotte, who was from Ilfracombe, north Devon, during an argument over sex.

Nicholas Rose: Denied murder

On the night of 27 February last year the teenager had been to pubs and clubs before going to a house party in Ilfracombe.

Rose had also been at the party and when Charlotte left, at about 0430 GMT on 28 February, she got into a car driven by him.

Friend Dean Copp was also in the car, but when he got out to knock on the door of a house they had stopped at the car drove off.

The court heard that later that day Rose was seen cleaning the car near two reservoirs - close to where Charlotte's bag was found.

He told a friend scratches on his neck, forearm and legs were from scrambling in bushes.

Blood found

The prosecutor said they were "typical of injuries a girl might inflict trying to protect herself".

Mr Dunkels told the court there had "plainly been a struggle in the car, and she had scratched and gripped him as she tried to protect herself".

He said Rose took Charlotte "somewhere to see if he could have sex, there must have been an argument, there was a struggle, and he ended up killing her and hiding the body".

The jury heard Charlotte's blood was found on carpet and other items in the car boot and on the roof lining of the vehicle.

Some of her blood was also on the tongue of one of Rose's training shoes.

A button, like the type on Charlotte's trousers waistband, was found in the vacuum cleaner Rose used in the car.

'Find peace'

A piece of black elastic, similar to that used in ladies underwear, was discovered under the vehicle's front passenger seat.

One of the teenager's boots was found on waste ground less than a minute from the scaffolder's home.

Rose said he had not seen Charlotte since he dropped her outside a community centre in Ilfracombe and he had never had a sexual relationship with her.

After the verdict Charlotte's divorced parents, Robert Pinkney and Sara McKee, said "no punishment will ever fit this terrible crime."