Wife to testify in Billie-Jo appeal

The ex-wife of the man convicted of killing teenager Billie-Jo Jenkins will give evidence against him when he launches another bid for freedom, the Appeal Court heard today.

Social worker Lois Jenkins has never spoken in public about the death of her 13-year-old foster daughter, who was battered to death. The mother of four was still married to Sion Jenkins when he went on trial at Lewes in 1998, but refused to go to court to see him.

When his first appeal was thrown out a year later she had conspicuously sat in court with the prosecution team. Since then she has divorced Jenkins and emigrated to Tasmania with a new partner.

Now, as her daughter Charlotte, 17, prepares to give evidence for her father, she will speak out for the first time. Charlotte's sister Annie, 19, has made a video statement.

Jenkins, 46, was jailed for life after being found guilty of battering Billie-Jo with an 18-inch metal tent peg at their Hastings home in 1997. At his trial the jury was told there were 150 spots of her blood on his jacket which were consistent only with him being the attacker. But in 2001 a file containing new evidence was handed to the Criminal Cases Review Commission and a fresh appeal was ordered.

Today Jenkins's second hearing was adjourned for two days because of the sudden serious illness of Lord Justice Kay.

Jenkins's counsel Clare Montgomery QC will also raise the question of a mentally-ill man said to have been seen in the vicinity. Despite the new evidence, Chief Superintendent Jeremy Paine remains "utterly convinced" that Jenkins murdered his foster daughter.

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