Murder of Danielle Jones

Danielle Sarah Jones, a 15-year-old schoolgirl, was last seen near her home in East Tilbury, Essex, England, on the morning of 18 June 2001, while walking to a bus stop. Her disappearance triggered one of the largest investigations Essex Police had undertaken to that point, involving more than 900 officers and support staff who searched over 1,500 locations. Within about two months, investigators became convinced Jones had been killed, and the search shifted from finding her alive to locating her body. Despite the extensive effort, her body has never been found.

Suspicion fell quickly on her uncle, Stuart Campbell, who was first arrested on 23 June 2001, five days after Jones disappeared. Police had delayed the arrest while considering the possibility that she was still alive and being held, weighed against the risk that acting too soon might prevent them locating her. On 17 August 2001, Campbell was re-arrested on suspicion of murder after police said they had found "significant evidence" supporting the theory that Jones was dead. By 14 November 2001, the Crown Prosecution Service determined there was sufficient evidence to charge Campbell with murder, despite the absence of a body.

Campbell's trial for abduction and murder began on 14 October 2002 before Mr Justice McKinnon, following 11 months on remand. The prosecution's case included evidence that Jones was seen talking to a man in a blue Ford Transit van resembling Campbell's on the morning she vanished; blood-stained stockings found in Campbell's loft containing DNA matching both him and his niece; lip gloss belonging to Jones found in his home; and a diary indicating an obsession with teenage girls. Mobile phone records showed Campbell's alibi — that he was at a DIY store some distance away — was false, and that his and Jones's phones were within range of the same mast when a text message purportedly from Jones was sent. Forensic authorship analysis of that and other text messages indicated Campbell, not Jones, had written them, suggesting he had sent messages to himself from her phone to make it appear she was still alive.

On 19 December 2002, Campbell was found guilty of both abduction and murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, to run concurrently with a 10-year sentence for abduction; the High Court later set a minimum term of 20 years before parole eligibility. After the trial it emerged that Campbell had a 1989 conviction involving the forcible detention of a 14-year-old girl and the taking of indecent photographs of her, for which he had received a 12-month suspended sentence.

Campbell was granted leave to appeal in 2004, but the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal in 2005. An inquest held on 28 July 2005 returned a verdict of unlawful killing. Campbell has reportedly continued to refuse to disclose where he disposed of Jones's body. In May 2017, police searched a garage block in Stifford Clays, Thurrock, following new information, but no discovery was made. Campbell's application for parole was rejected in January 2023.