A time for integrity.

Accountability.

The public is entitled to demand a proper review of the investigation which took place nine years ago. The investigating team was led by Jeremy Paine, today Assistant Chief Constable of Sussex. He decided, at a very early stage in the investigation, that Siôn Jenkins was guilty. That obsessive certainty led investigators to ignore vital clues, resulting in a failure to follow up and interview other credible suspects.

During the long legal battle which followed, vast public resources were invested in trying to prove that the police had been right all the time.

Siôn Jenkins' conviction for murder was overturned in 2004.The forensic science which had been the bedrock of the original conviction was discredited and disproved. Undeterred, the prosecution changed tack, sweeping aside aside the value of scientific evidence and relying instead on character assassination. As recently as March 2005 the police were busy in Hastings, trying to dredge up incriminating details of Siôn Jenkins' movements in February 1997.

No expense was spared in supporting prosecution activity, and in ensuring the involvement of Lois Jenkins in the two subsequent retrials.

Yet in all that time no effort was invested in revisiting the evidence to try to uncover the truth of what really took place on 15 February 1997.

The bizarre and crucial fact that, during the fatal attack, a piece of black bin-liner had been forcefully rammed into Billie- Jo's nasal cavity was simply ignored. It came into the public domain only at the time of the second appeal in 2004. The prosecution at the retrials, unable to explain how this fitted into its already-tenuous narrative of Siôn Jenkins as the killer, simply played down its significance .

That single - inexplicable - detail itself would today be reason enough for the police to be continuing their investigations. Yet there are other avenues they are choosing to ignore. Information sent to them since the acquittal has not been followed up.

A worrying complacency.

On 20 March 2006 a Sussex Police statement said the force had been commended by Mr Justice David Clarke for its investigation into Billie-Jo's murder in February 1997, and that there had been "no judicial criticism " of its conduct. It repeated previous comments that the case would be subject to "regular review in case any new and compelling evidence comes to light"but added, tellingly "No such new evidence had yet emerged "

This amounts to the familiar 'not looking for anyone else' response which often follows the collapse of a prosecution.

In the case of Siôn Jenkins the question has to be : Why not?

The complacency of Sussex police about this case is shocking. Its claim that there has been no judicial criticism of its conduct is undermined by two verifiable facts:

At the original trial in 1998, the judge criticised the way the police had handled the interview in March 1997 at which prejudicial information about qualifications and alleged violence was fed to his daughters. They were told by police that it was likely their father had killed Billie-Jo. That interview took place with the consent of Lois Jenkins, but in the absence of the family's social worker who should have been present as an impartial advocate for the children.

At the first appeal the judges in their summing up said that they agreed with the trial judge, .. ' and would be inclined to express our concerns about this aspect of the investigation rather less circumspectly '. In other words, they felt that concern should have been more explicitly stated.

That pivotal interview, at such an early stage in the investigation, had consequences which influenced events over the next nine years.

A need for integrity.

Following the outcome of the case of Siôn Jenkins, the actions of Sussex police demand examination .

In the interests of justice nothing less will do.

Since 1997 Sussex police have been involved in three major - high profile - miscarriages of justice and two seriously mishandled cases. Charges of incompetence, negligence, racism and homophobia have been made and proved.

During the exact time they were investigating the Jenkins case, Sussex police were enmeshed in a variety of events for which they have since been seriously censured. These included the cases of:

  • Sheila Bowler, falsely accused of murder.
  • Richard Watson, murdered in 1996. His widow Linda eventually received an apology from Sussex police after being falsely charged with his murder.
  • James Ashley, who was shot dead in January 1998. A public apology has since been given to his family.
  • Jay Abatan,murdered in January 1999. Two external police forces and the Independent Police Complaints Commission found serious flaws with the investigation . Disciplinary charges followed.

Described in a report by Kent police as a force in which there was systemic failure Sussex police have much to answer for. In 1998 the late Sir John Hoddinott, Chief Constable of Hampshire police, which investigated Sussex police, said of senior officers in the force " An arguable case of attempting to pervert the course of justice might be made out... "

It is disturbing that today one of those officers, Nigel Yeo, remains an Assistant Chief Constable of Sussex police after the discovery by Hoddinott of prima facie evidence of Yeo's

  • misfeasance
  • falsehood and prevarication
  • aiding and abetting Paul Whitehouse in falsehood.

How much more is needed before someone in authority takes notice ? It is time for action to restore public confidence in this discredited police force.

In July 2004 , just before this website was forced to close down, the following statement appeared:

" Much is now at stake for Sussex police over the Jenkins case. Reputations are on the line and there are those whose credibility looks increasingly fragile. No-one should underestimate the efforts which will go into resisting Siôn Jenkins' attempt to obtain the justice he has so far been denied.

Equally powerful, though, is the determination to reveal the truth which will set Siôn Jenkins free."

Siôn Jenkins was, indeed, set free on 9 February, but the full truth still remains to be told.