The murder of schoolgirl Billie-Jo Jenkins in 1997 is one of Britain’s most notorious unsolved murders.
13-year-old Billie-Jo Jenkins was murdered on the patio of her seaside home. Shortly after her foster father, Sion Jenkins, was convicted for her murder, but following a high-profile appeal and two major retrials at the Old Bailey he was acquitted, leaving the murder unsolved.
Channel 5 has a reputation for gripping true crime documentaries, and in the past they’ve had viewers asking questions about criminal cases, Now, true crime fans are asking similar question about the Billie-Jo case, including where is Sion Jenkins now?
Here, we look at the life of her foster father, Sion, who was acquitted of her killing.
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Who is Sion Jenkins?
Sion Jenkins was convicted of the murder of his foster daughter, Billie-Jo Jenkins in 1997.
The then-39-year-old was the headteacher-designate of William Parker Boys’ School in Hastings at the time.
Billie-Jo was battered over the head with a tent peg in their home in Hastings, East Sussex, on Saturday, February 15, 1997.
Sion said that he had found her in a pool of blood on returning back from a shopping trip.
His behaviour was said to have been erratic and he had microscopic blood spots on his clothing.
However, he was subsequently cleared following two inconclusive retrials.
He has four daughters – Annie, Lottie, Esther and Maya – with his first wife Lois.
Where is Sion Jenkins now?
Sion Jenkins is now 64 years old and, according to the Sun, Sion lives in Hampshire with his new wife, Tina. They add that he has since stood as a Conservative Party candidate in local elections.
In the years since Billie-Jo’s murder, HELLO revealed that the former deputy headteacher studied criminology at Portsmouth University in 2010, while his wife was working as a nurse at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in nearby Cosham.
How long was he in prison for Billie-Jo Jenkins murder?
In the 1998 trial, Sion was convicted of murdering his 13-year-old daughter Billie-Jo and was jailed for life.
However, he was acquitted after the jury failed to reach a final verdict after two retrials .He served a total of six years in jail.
When was he acquitted?
In 2005, Sion was formally acquitted and released from jail.
Sion was refused any compensation for his time in prison.
The former deputy headmaster had sought up to £500,000 in damages for the prison term he served, but the Ministry of Justice rejected his request after his case was assessed.
Although Jenkins believed he fitted the criteria for a payout, the compensation rules state that applicants for miscarriage of justice payouts must demonstrate that they are “clearly innocent”.
Jenkins said: “I don’t want sympathy from anyone.”
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