Jenkins' battle to clear his name

Billie-Jo was killed while painting patio doors at the family home

Sion Jenkins has fought for seven years to clear his name.

From the moment he was arrested just weeks after the murder of Billie-Jo Jenkins in 1997, the former deputy head teacher has protested his innocence.

A year later he was convicted at Lewes Crown Court of bludgeoning the 13-year-old to death with a tent spike at the family home in Hastings, East Sussex.

On Friday, judges at the Court of Appeal in London ruled his conviction unsafe and ordered a retrial.

Mr Jenkins was 40 when a jury convicted him of battering Billie-Jo to death as she painted patio doors at their Victorian semi-detached house.

Timeline 15 February 1997 - Billie-Jo found dead 2 July 1998 - Sion Jenkins found guilty of murder 15 September 1999 - Trial and Error television programme throws doubt on his conviction 12 May 2003 - Jenkins given leave to appeal 30 June 2004 - Second appeal begins 16 July 2004 - Jenkins' conviction is quashed and a retrial is ordered

Billie-Jo had lived with Mr Jenkins, his wife Lois, a social worker, and their four natural daughters since 1992.

She had been raised in east London but had been fostered when her natural father Bill Jenkins - no relation to Sion - was serving a jail sentence and her mother became unable to cope.

Just before Billie-Jo died, Mr Jenkins and his wife became her legal guardians.

Mr Jenkins, originally from Aberystwyth, Wales, was the deputy head of William Parker Secondary School in Hastings and had just secured the headship - a job he would have started in September 1997.

Press conference

He said he had been out shopping with two of his natural daughters - Charlotte and Annie - and had come home to find Billie-Jo dead.

He also appeared at a press conference with his wife after the murder appealing for witnesses to come forward.

Sion Jenkins was convicted of killing Billie-Jo in 1998

On 2 July 1998, Jenkins was found guilty of carrying out the murder and sentenced to life imprisonment at Wakefield Prison in West Yorkshire.

In May 2003, the case was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) which examines cases of alleged miscarriage of justice.

At his appeal in July 2004, Mr Jenkins' natural daughters Charlotte and Annie gave evidence.

Their mother Lois, who divorced Jenkins shortly after his conviction, also testified.

The appeal was upheld on the basis of scientific evidence presented.

At his original trial, the prosecution had said microscopic spots of blood found on his clothes proved Jenkins battered Billie-Jo to death at their home in Hastings.

But the appeal judges heard that the blood could have been coughed up from Billie-Jo's lungs as he tried to move her body.

A campaign set up on Jenkins' behalf maintains he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.