What really happened to Billie-Jo Jenkins?

Hey everyone. 

Kicking off 2018 with a post about the unsolved murder of British Teenager Billie-Jo Jenkins.

Let me know what you think in the comments!

The Murder

Billie Jo Jenkins didn’t have an easy start in life. Her mother was unable to raise her alone after her father (Bayard Jenkins) was incarcerated and so she was put up for adoption as a child. Eventually, at the age of 8, she found a home with a family in the beautiful, historic town of Hastings, East Sussex on the Southeast Coast of England. She was adopted by the Jenkins family who shared her Surname- a coincidence suggesting it was meant to be. 

Unfortunately for the young girl, her short life would end in a violent and bloody death.

(source)

On the 15^th of February 1997 her foster mother, Lois, had taken out two of her biological daughters for the day. Later, Billie’s foster father, Sion, took out the couples other two natural daughters, leaving Billie Jo home alone at 48 Lower Park Road where she planned to paint the patio doors in the garden. She would earn extra pocket money for the task, and was happy that she was awarded the job.

Sadly, it wouldn’t turn out to be the quiet day the teenager had anticipated, in fact, it would be her last day alive, and tragically, she would not meet a peaceful end.

The police received a phone call from the Jenkins residence later that day at 3:38pm day from Sion: 

“My daughter’s fallen, or she’s got head injuries, there’s blood everywhere, she’s on the floor.” He told them.  

(The call can be heard here [X])

Their foster daughter had been struck in the head around 10 times.

 She had been bludgeoned to death with an 18 inch long, 1.5lb tent-peg that was laying around in the garden. Part of a black plastic bag was found forced deep inside her nostril cavity.

The tent spike was originally thought to have been on the roof of the coal shed before being wielded as a murder weapon.

(source)

The girl was found clinging on to life by a thread on the patio floor where she had been painting that afternoon. There was no sign of life. No sign of breathing. 

Initially the finger of blame was pointed in the direction of her foster father, Sion Jenkins.

(source)

During an analysis of the clothes he was wearing on the day of Billie Joe’s murder, a fine mist consisting of 158 individual droplets of the girl’s blood was found sprayed across his jacket, shoes and trousers.

(Source)

At the first trial in 1998 this forensic evidence was used to support the theory that Sion was responsible for the murder of the 13 year old.

He was found guilty at Lewes Crown Court and slapped with a life sentence.

Retrial, forensic evidence, accusations 

After repeated claims he won the right to a retrial in 2004. The mist of Billie Jo’s blood on his clothing became the main focus of the trial.

How did it get there? 

Did it actually indicate that Sion was the perpetrator?

 It was argued that the blood could have stained his clothes a result of the wound to Billie Jo’s throat- the blood could have possibly exited the puncture in her airway as she exhaled her final breaths- after all, Sion did attempt to move her away from the patio. It was argued that the victim would have had to be breathing extremely heavily at the time, however Sion himself on the day of the murder claimed his foster daughter didn’t seem to be breathing at all. Moreover, the clothes of the neighbor who tended to the victim and the uniforms worn by the paramedics did not display blood transfer similar to that found on the clothes of Sion Jenkins. 

The victim’s leggings, however, did bear a very similar pattern of fine mist- and this fine mist of blood was likely caused by her attacker bringing down the murder weapon onto an already bloodied area.

At retrial, another forensic expect argued that the pattern of blood splatter (the uniform mist or spray) could have indeed came from the victims airway as her father crouched down to cradle her in his arms. He argued that if Sion was indeed the perpetrator of the crime that his clothing would display blood splatter droplets of very different size and shape. 

The issue was, that it was thought possible that the microscopic blood stain could have gotten onto his jacket in both scenarios. 

The question was, was it as a result of a murder or the attempt of a father to save his daughters life?

Would a guilty man be jailed or would an innocent man be locked up for life?

This article has a quote from a friend of Sion's (Peter Gaimster) where he mentions that the night of the murder, Sion refused to wear his blue fleece, despite how cold it was outside. 

Sion Jenkins was released in 2006 when a jury couldn’t come to a mutual conclusion at retrial. 

As he walked free from the courthouse, two female relatives of the victim threw their fists at him in anguish.

A week later, an article was published in the Independent newspaper. In it, Lois Jenkins told all, and claimed that her husband had a violent and possessive nature and had been physically abusive to her when they were first married. She described once being slapped so hard that it resulted in a perforated eardrum.

Two friends of Billie Jo relayed stories of the girl turning up to school with various injuries, such as scratches and a bloody lip, and attributing them to her father.  Sion would later deny any accusation against him.

Lois described him as a liar with a bad temper, and revealed that at one point he had even been involved with a teenager who looked just like their murdered 13 year old daughter. This claim was ruled inadmissible by the court.

This accusation did pique my interest, though, and when looking for further information on this accusation I found a story on the free-library website about the girl in question. Going off the tags it seems to have originally have been published in the mirror on the 6^th of July 1998. 

In the article, a 19 year old girl given the alias "Rachel" to protect her identity, claims that Sion Jenkins found her home phone number in her brother's school file at the all boys school he worked at after meeting her at a friends house. The two developed a romantic relationship where they went on secret dates together where he encouraged the teenager to dress in revealing outfits. She goes on to say that she believed he was controlling and that she was shocked to discover that she looked exactly like his foster daughter, Billie Jo. 

Eventually Rachel stopped seeing him as he began to give her the creeps.

"He gave me the spooks". She said: "When I saw a picture of Billie-Jo on TV I couldn't believe it. She was my double. It could have been me. It's hard to believe I got so close to a murderer. "I was absolutely besotted with Sion, completely taken in by his charm and confidence. Now I just feel sick when I think about being with him. It seems like one horrible nightmare."

Read the article in full HERE <<

Fear enveloped Lois Jenkins as the reality that her husband could be responsible for the murder set in. Sion believes that police came to her and the children to convince them of his guilt. Lois claimed that he used corporal punishment towards his daughters, which Sion denied in a 2006 interview with Trevor McDonald. Despite their original denial of their fathers punishment techniques at the time of the murder, the Jenkins children provided the “Tonight” network with a statement saying that Sion was lying and he had indeed beaten them with sticks and slippers. 

At the time of the murder the children gave contradicting and confused accounts of what happened that day in 1998, whether this is because they simply could not remember the minor details of that day, or due to pressure from the police or loyalty to their father is unknown. The girls were so young at the time that the whole situation most likely confused them when being questioned.

Although Sion Jenkins started off as supply teacher in London, he eventually steered his career in the direction of headmaster. He managed to get a job as deputy headmaster at a local school, William Parker School in Hastings, and was eventually gunning for the headmaster position. There was a slight issue with his ambition, however- his credentials were bogus. He lied about the schools he had attended and the grades he had achieved in order to get into his teaching position. Afraid of being rumbled, he changed direction and decided he wanted to go into politics. When later asked about his fabricated resume, he claimed that he lied simply to provide a better quality of life for his family.

That day

This article gives a bit more detail concerning the whereabouts of the Jenkins family at the time that Billie Joe was murdered.

It states that Lois was out shopping (here I found an account that they walking on the beach) with daughters 9 year old Esther and 7 year old Maya. 10 year old Lottie (Charlotte) was at a music class and 12 year old Annie was at home, as was Billie Joe.

 Annie was inside the house cleaning a room and Billie Joe was outside painting the doors in the back yard.

The court documents from 2008 state that Annie heard her father talking to Billie-Joe before they left the house. She did not hear Billie Joe verbally respond.

At 3 in the afternoon, Annie climbed into her father’s car and accompanied him in picking up her younger sister, Lottie, from her clarinette class, leaving Billie Jo home alone.

Now apparently there were a couple of minutes when the 3 returned where Sion Jenkins was not in company of his daughters. This was thought to be the window of opportunity he could have had in which to bludgeon Billie Joe to death with the metal tent spike. (He would have had around 3-4 minutes to do so)

In the court documents it is stated that Sion lied to both the 999 dispatcher and the officers on scene when stating that he had not been inside the house during the time of the attack. He also stated that he had been gone much longer than he actually was.

Lottie did point out that her father acted strangely not soon after, claiming that he came back outside and announced they had go to the store to pick up some turpentine to clean up any paint Billie Jo had spilled / get supplies. Lottie said that he neglected to bring any cash with him and drove twice around the park, going past the house. This information is detailed here.

In the interview with Trevor McDonald, Sion claims that Lottie was supposed to take over painting the patio doors, so they went to collect the appropriate supplies.

This court document states that there was already “white spirit” turpentine in the home. Again, in the 2006 interview with Trevor McDonald, Sion Jenkins deflects this point by saying there was indeed already a bottle of “white Spirit” at the home, however it was several years old and so far back in a cupboard that he had forgotten of its existence. 

Interviewer Trevor McDonald then points out that police believed Sion knew he had some / deliberately neglected to check so that he would have an alibi- a very good point to consider indeed. Sion being seen at the DIY store around the time of Billie-Joe’s murder might, in his mind, get him off the hook. Then driving needlessly around the park with his roof down for no reason at all so witnesses would be able to see him in his very memorable (in my opinion) MG could further help him convince authorities that he wasn’t home at the time. 

Sion insists that if that was the case, he would have went inside the store and spent a significant amount of time there, but didn’t. Taking an aborted trip to the DIY shop does not make him guilty, but not going in doesn’t make him innocent either.

Sion states that he couldn’t make a 3-point turn on his street because he considered it dangerous and so decided to drive around the park as an alternative and that’s why he took such a long route. He claims he simply forgot the money.

The interview:

Part 1 [X]

Part 2 [X]

When they returned home, Lottie discovered Billie Jo with a bloody face and head.

A neighbor, Denise Franklin, who was called over by Sion Jenkins, described seeing Billie Joe on her back with her head titled to the left. At this time Sion had already dialed 999 and told the dispatcher that he had positioned the victim on her side, when in fact he had not.

She had been kneeling on a rug that was wrapped with a plastic black bin liner for comfort while she painted the doors. Part of the black plastic was stuffed up into the girls nose, and when the neighbor pulled it out (presumably to help the girl breathe- although both adults at the scene claimed there was no sign of the victim breathing when they found her) blood poured from her nostril. 

Despite being in such close contact with Billie Joe, Franklin’s clothing did not show the fine mist of blood that Sion’s did.

Another strange fact in the case, is that when the emergency services and local police arrived, Sion Jenkins sat in his car and put up the roof (which had been previously rolled down on the drive to the DIY shop and around the park.) Charlotte (Lottie) was supposed to clean the car for extra pocket money and was rushing excitedly to do so before Billie Jo was discovered bludgeoned. Police theorize that he sat in the car because he had bludgeoned his foster daughter and was worried that there was blood in the car before he had a chance to clean it, so he deliberately transferred some by himself by sitting in there after pretending to discover the body. 

He put his actions down to being in shock when questioned in court.

Mr. B (also referred to as Mr.X)

There was one other suspect in the case and his name in the media is “Mr.B”. He is thought to be something of a red heron, however there are some interesting details as to why he was a suspect at the time.

Mr.B is described as a mentally ill male with a fetish for plastic bags. Although I haven’t seen it officially confirmed, he was thought to have paranoid schizophrenia. He was seen by multiple witnesses in the area on the afternoon of Billie Jo’s murder who describe him as sitting on a bench opposite the murdered girl’s home “sniffing” and “snorting” at a blue plastic carrier bag.  

At 3 in the afternoon a guesthouse owner briefly conversed with Mr.B, he described the exchange as a confusing conversation and stated that it was evident the individual was suffering from a mental illness. The guesthouse owners business was on the same road as the Jenkins residence and he even pointed the man in the direction of their home when suggesting he look for a place to stay in town.

Part of a black plastic bag was found forced deep in Billie Joe’s nostril cavity, a bizarre detail in the case that made many people following the case uncomfortable when reading of Mr.B’s presence in the area around the time of the murder.

The court ruled him out as a suspect because they believed the only thing linking him to the crime was his plastic bag Paraphilia and the coincidence that a piece of black plastic bin liner was found in Billie Joe’s nasal cavity. Apparently he was also sitting on a public bench opposite the Jenkins residence at the time of the crime. This article mentions that he liked to stuff pieces of plastic bags up his nose and into his mouth.  

This website, which advocates for the innocence of Sion Jenkins, explains that Mr.B had an obsessive idea revolving around "sealing up openings", although I'm not sure from where this information originates. The owner of the website implies a link between the plastic bag found in the victims nostril and Mr.B’s Paraphilia.

Is this attempt to shift the blame from Sion Jenkins to Mr.B valid or reaching?

Mr.B / Mr.X was ruled out as a suspect due to lack of forensic evidence on his clothes. He did not have an alibi. 

The prowler / suspicious phone calls / stalker

This article in the independent tells of how Sion and Lois "lived in fear" of a prowler. 

 A statement given by family friend Peter Gaimster details an evening at the Jenkins residence (just four days before the girls murder) where Sion mentioned a prowler and showed him the extra security measures they had taken. 

 He said the family were so concerned that they even planned to move in the future. 

This report mentions that in 1996 Billie-Jo had mentioned being stalked by a male in a leather jacket to friends. One friend, Ruth Bristow, informed investigating officers that several days before her murder Billie-Jo was so terrified that she didn't want to stay in the Jenkins home.

Despite their worries, their car being vandalized and a series of strange phone calls they had received, they had neglected to alert the police about the issue. 

The M25 rapist Antoni Imiela

In February an article was published considering Antoni Imiela, also known as "The M25 rapist" and "the summer rapist" may be a possible suspect. 

(source)

Imiela was given the nickname due to his crimes against women and children that took place in various cities along the M25 motorway. He was responsible for 9 rapes between 2000 - 2001 and 1 attempted rape of a child whom he beat and choked. His victims ranged between the ages of 10 - 52. He has thought to have been committing crimes since the late eighties. 

At the time he was dating his future wife, Christine Ashenden, who lived around 2 miles from the Jenkins home. Imiela had been courting her for a while and was a regular visitor in Hastings by '97. 

He was known to stalk his victims and lie in wait for extended periods of time before committing his crimes. Could he have been waiting in the park behind Billie-Jo's home on the day of her murder? 

Was he the prowler the family feared? 

Perhaps he saw her walking her dog every night after school and began to follow her and learn her routine. 

As we can see in the picture of the back of the home, it looks very easy to access. (source)

The security lights that Sion fitted would have been rendered useless in the daylight. 

Imiela was said to own and often wear a leather jacket similar to the one Billie-Jo described her unidentified stalker as wearing. 

Did Imiela wait for the Jenkins family to leave Billie-Jo alone and unsupervised before grabbing a makeshift weapon from the coal shed roof to bludgeon the 13 year old, but was disturbed when Sion and his daughters arrived home so quickly after leaving?

Autopsy revealed that the victim was not sexually assaulted in any way, which is the main part of Antoni Imiela's MO, but perhaps he did not get the chance. He did, however, beat any victims that resisted his attacks.

He also used one of his victims cell phones to harass her mother with disgusting comments about what he had done.

A 26 year old victim also had a black plastic bag put over her head. 

He told another victim "13 is a lovely age".

  

Now

These days Sion is no long married to Lois Jenkins, who packed up and relocated to the isolated island of Tasmania, Australia with the couple’s four girls- Annie, Charlotte, Esther and Maya. She remarried a martial arts trainer, gave birth to another child and lives far from the horror of what happened in 1997- at least physically. 

The memory of the nightmare will be something that never leaves her.

 Sion didn’t move quite the same distance and currently resides in Bath, England, where he has also remarried. He married woman named Christina Ferneyhough. She had been writing to him during his incarceration and the pair tied the knot on his release.

He is currently studying law and has written a book where he discusses whom he believes to be the main suspect in the case- a tall man with dark hair who he claims was in his home on the day of the murder. He originally believed the unidentified man to be an officer in plain clothes, his neighbor at the time, Denise Lancaster, commented that she did not believe the man existed.