'Callous' stepfather denies murder

Jenna Baldwin was murdered last September

A court has been told that schoolgirl Jenna Baldwin was murdered by her stepfather who then sent text messages to her family to pretend she was still alive.

On the first day of the trial of Michael Baldwin, Cardiff Crown Court heard how the 36-year-old factory worker appeared on television to make an emotional appeal for information on his missing 15-year-old stepdaughter.

But prosecutor David Aubrey QC told the jury that Mr Baldwin had already killed Jenna and buried her body on a remote mountainside.

He denies murdering the schoolgirl between 3 September and 11 September 2002.

Baldwin gave every appearance of trying to help but he lied to the police from the outset

Prosecutor David Aubrey QC

Mr Aubrey told the jury how Mr Baldwin started a "callous and cynical" campaign to pretend Jenna had vanished, when he had in fact killed her.

Jenna vanished from the family home she shared with her mother, stepfather, younger brother and sister in Abersychan, Pontypool, south Wales, in September last year.

He said: "Within a short time her mother (Desiree) became anxious about her welfare.

"Then, seemingly unaffected by the enormity of what he had done, Baldwin went about his normal every day life as the anguish of Jenna's mother increased day by day.

"Eventually the police were called.

"There were appeals in the local and national press in which Desiree and Baldwin took part."

"They drove around searching for her and put posters up.

"In all this Baldwin gave every appearance of trying to help but he lied to the police from the outset."

Mike Baldwin denies murdering his stepdaughter

Jenna, who was studying for GCSEs, vanished in only the clothes she was wearing and the duvet from her single bed.

According to the prosecution, Baldwin then tried to convince his family and police that Jenna had run away from home.

Mr Aubrey said: "Living in that home, pretending to share her anxiety and grief, he was in fact cruelly deceiving and torturing his wife further."

The court was told Baldwin made silent calls to the house and to the family's mobile phones and told Desiree that Jenna had called and that he had spoken to her.

'Tracing paper'

Mr Aubrey said: "He secretly bought a mobile phone and sent a series of texts to Desiree pretending they were from Jenna.

"He bought tracing paper to copy her handwriting to send a letter pretending it was from Jenna."

The court was told that Mr Baldwin told Desiree he had killed Jenna accidentally during an argument.

Mr Aubrey said: "Desiree begged him to tell her where Jenna was so that she could bury her properly.

"Baldwin persuaded himself that if he said her death had been an accident and showed police where the body was things would be easier for him.

Grave

"He took police to the grave and Jenna's body was recovered some 12 weeks after her death."

Jenna's body was found eight miles from her home on a mountain near Blaenavon.

The court heard the cause of death could not be pinpointed because of how long Jenna had been in the grave.

The trial, which is expected to last two months, continues.