The parents of Sion Jenkins have criticised the Court of Appeal for refusing to overturn his conviction for killing his stepdaughter Billy-Jo.

The former deputy headmaster, jailed for life last year for the brutal murder of his teenage foster daughter Billie-Jo, lost his appeal against conviction.

The London Appeal Court upheld a jury's verdict that Jenkins, 41, from Aberystwyth, bludgeoned the 13-year-old to death with a metal tent spike as she was painting patio doors at the rear of the family's home in Hastings, East Sussex.

Sadness

David and Megan Jenkins, from Aberystwyth, branded the Appeal Court's ruling a "shocking miscarriage of justice".

In a statement they said: "We are both overwhelmingly distressed by the failure of Sion's appeal against his conviction for the murder of Billie-Jo.

"His continued imprisonment is causing us more sadness than we could ever say.

"Our views of the case are in no respect altered by the Court of Appeal's verdict.

"We have a sure and certain knowledge of Sion's complete innocence, a knowledge that is founded equally on our estimation of his character and on an appreciation of the facts of the case."

Blood spots

Lewes Crown Court jury had heard that about 150 microscopic blood spots found on his clothing could only have resulted from Jenkins being close to the girl as she was being struck.

Lord Justice Kennedy, sitting with Mr Justice Dyson and Mr Justice Penry-Davey, said: "We conclude the fresh evidence, though relevant and credible, adds so little to the weight of the defence case as compared with the prosecution's case that a doubt induced by the fresh evidence would not be a reasonable doubt."

Crown experts said Billie-Jo must have died during the brutal attack and would not have still been alive 15 minutes later, when Jenkins claimed to have "discovered" her body after returning from a shopping trip with two of his four natural daughters.

The judges had been told that, on the prosecution's case, Jenkins would have had no more than three minutes to carry out the February 1997 murder, in which at least nine blows to the head and four to the hand were delivered, and then drive off on a trip to the local DIY store.

His appeal hinged on fresh evidence of tests said to show that the blood spots could have come from the dying teenager's breath as he crouched over her.

It was the defence case that Billie-Jo met her death at the hands of an intruder during her foster father's 15-minute absence.

The trial jury heard that the family had been worried about the amount of crime in the area, with 45 burglaries in their street in the space of four years, including one at their home.

Lied

He had no motive for killing Billie-Jo, said the defence. There was no evidence of sexual molestation and the girl had settled down to a normal life with the family during her four years in their home.

What the jurors did not know - it emerged after the trial - was that Jenkins had lied about his qualifications to obtain his teaching post, that he used to chastise his daughters with what they called a "naughty stick" and that he flirted with other girls of Billie-Jo's age.

An order for £107,000 prosecution costs was made against Jenkins - whose appeal was privately funded - but the court ordered it not to be enforced after his counsel, Anthony Scrivener QC, said Jenkins had no assets.

Mr Scrivener said if they were unsuccessful in appealing to the House of Lords, the "last card in the pack" was a possible appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

Such an appeal would be based on the grounds that English criminal law imposed restrictions on the right of appeal which were contrary to Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.