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Tuesday, 21 December, 1999, 12:12 GMT

Foster father loses murder appeal

Former deputy headmaster Sion Jenkins has lost his appeal against the conviction for murdering his teenage foster daughter Billie-Jo.

Jenkins, given a life sentence in June last year, had challenged his conviction.

Life should mean life for child murderers
Billie-Jo's natural father

The Court of Appeal in London upheld a jury's verdict that Jenkins, 41, beat Billie-Jo to death with a metal tent spike as she painted patio doors at the family home in Hastings, East Sussex in February 1997.

He was sentenced to life in June 1998.

Jenkins' lawyers claimed she was still alive when he found her and his clothes were spattered when a blood bubble in her air passages burst as he knelt over her.

They said she was probably killed by a complete stranger and that there had been several reports in the area of a suspicious man in the weeks before the murder.

The jury at Lewes Crown Court had heard that 150 microscopic blood spots found on Jenkins' clothing could only have resulted from being close to Billie-Jo as she was being struck.

'Not a reasonable doubt'

The prosecution said Billie-Jo was not alive when Jenkins discovered her body after returning from a shopping trip with two of his four natural daughters.

Lord Justice Kennedy, sitting with Mr Justice Dyson and Mr Justice Penry-Davy, said: "We conclude that 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.

"We therefore dismiss this appeal against conviction."

Jenkins, who had hoped for a retrial or even an immediate release, was in court for barely a minute.

The judges adjourned to the New Year the question of whether the case could be taken to the House of Lords on a point of law.

'You can't buy justice'

Billie-Jo's natural father, Bill Jenkins - no relation to Sion Jenkins - said afterwards he was satisfied, adding: "Jenkins has got the justice that he wanted.

"I just hope he won't expect anything else of this court or any other court in the land. You can't buy justice, not in this court."

We have a sure and certain knowledge of Sion's complete innocence
Sion Jenkins' parents

An order for Ł107,000 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 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.

Sion Jenkins' parents branded the court's ruling a "shocking miscarriage of justice".

David and Megan Jenkins, from Aberystwyth, west Wales, said in a statement: "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."

Related to this story:
Billie-Jo: a shocking crime (02 Jul 98 | UK)

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