Killing of Billie-Jo Jenkins

Billie-Jo Margaret Jenkins (29 March 1983 – 15 February 1997) was killed at 48 Lower Park Road, Hastings, East Sussex, on 15 February 1997. She had been placed in foster care from age nine with Siôn and Lois Jenkins, who already had four daughters, and had lived with the family for five years. She was described as "fun-loving" and hoped to become an actor.

On the day of the killing, Billie-Jo had stayed home to paint the patio doors while her foster father drove two of his daughters to a clarinet lesson and later to a DIY store. Her body was found in the back garden shortly after his return; she had been struck five times with an iron tent peg that had been left on the patio, and died within minutes.

Siôn Jenkins, the last adult to see her alive and the first to find her body, came under suspicion, including from his wife, and was arrested on 24 February 1997 and charged with murder on 14 March 1997. Investigators cited 158 microscopic bloodstains on his clothing, described by prosecution forensic witnesses as impact spatter consistent with his being the attacker, along with what police characterised as inconsistent accounts and unusual behaviour after the discovery of the body. He was convicted by unanimous jury verdict on 2 July 1998 and sentenced to life imprisonment. A related charge of obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception, concerning fabricated qualifications on his job application, was left to lie on file.

A 1999 appeal, arguing the bloodstains could have come from Billie-Jo exhaling as she died, was dismissed. The Criminal Cases Review Commission later heard fresh evidence about a rare condition potentially causing involuntary exhalation of blood, and referred the case to the Court of Appeal, which in 2004 ruled the conviction unsafe and ordered a retrial. Jenkins was released on bail. A 2005 retrial jury failed to reach a majority verdict after 39 hours of deliberation, prompting a second retrial. That jury likewise failed to reach a verdict after three months of evidence, and on 9 February 2006 Jenkins was formally acquitted at the Old Bailey, becoming the first person in British criminal history acquitted after three trials for the same offence. The Crown Prosecution Service said no further retrial would be pursued.

The acquittal was controversial: jurors in the final trial did not hear evidence from Jenkins's former wife describing him as violent toward her and the children, and the trial judge excluded new forensic evidence indicating the bloodstains on his clothing contained fragments of Billie-Jo's bone, flesh, and metal from the tent peg, ruled inadmissible as it was introduced too late for the defence to respond. Billie-Jo's biological family have maintained that Jenkins is guilty. Jenkins was denied compensation in 2008 on the grounds that there was no evidence conclusively proving his innocence. Sussex Police have stated there are no plans to reopen the murder investigation, though a forensic review of evidence was announced on 31 January 2022. The case remains unsolved and is regarded as one of Britain's most high-profile unresolved murders.