Court reserves Jenkins decision

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

Sion Jenkins will learn on Friday if he has won an appeal against his conviction for murdering his 13-year-old foster daughter Billie-Jo.

The judges at the Court of Appeal have adjourned to consider their decision.

The former deputy head teacher, 45, was jailed for life in 1998 for the murder of Billie-Jo at their home in Hastings, East Sussex.

On Monday, the court was told he had been wrongly convicted on the basis of "flawed scientific evidence".

Daughters 'not hostile'

Defence counsel Clare Montgomery QC described his conviction as unsafe.

On Tuesday, lawyers for the Crown contested claims by Jenkins that his natural daughters were turned against him by their mother and police.

Crown counsel Richard Camden Pratt QC told the Court of Appeal it was clear from recorded interviews given by the girls at the time to a psychiatrist that they had not been turned against their father.

It was the prospect of the girls "telling the truth" about what happened on the day of Billie-Jo's death that was the real concern to the defence, he said.

Prosecutors claim that during a three-minute visit to the family home, Jenkins had an argument with Billie-Jo, lost his temper and hit her over the head up to 10 times with a metal tent spike before driving off on a shopping trip to a DIY store.