Blood spatters that won a retrial

On 15 February 1997 Billie-Jo Jenkins was found bludgeoned to death with an 18-inch metal tent spike on the patio of her foster family's home in Hastings.

The 13-year-old had been alone at the time, and it was not until her foster father Sion Jenkins and his daughters Lottie, 10, and Annie, 12, returned home from shopping that he discovered her dying on the patio steps. Her murder shocked the nation and sparked a massive manhunt. Jenkins - accompanied by his then wife Lois - made a moving appeal in front of the television cameras for people to come forward with information.

At the time of the murder Jenkins was deputy head master of William Parker boys comprehensive school in Hastings. A devout Baptist, he had stood for the local council and was generally regarded as a pillar of the community.

Detectives investigating the case had other ideas, however. Although police initially suspected an intruder, they soon began to suspect Jenkins. Nine days later he was arrested by detectives and questioned in connection with the killing. He was released

on bail after 35 hours on custody and charged on 14 March.

At his trial at Lewes Crown Court the following June Jenkins protested his innocence. But the jury did not believe him, and on 2 July he was found guilty and sentenced to life.

Jenkins, now 46, never gave up the fight to prove his innocence. He mounted his first appeal on 30 November 1999, challenging the prosecution's forensic evidence, but that failed.

Still he did not give up, and last year he won the right to launch a second appeal.

When Jenkins's QC Clare Montgomery launched the second appeal she said Jenkins had spent six years in prison "in appalling conditions as a child killer".

She said: "His arrest led directly to separation, divorce proceedings and estrangement from his daughters. His life has been truly ruined."

The appeal hinged on the credibility of evidence from Home Office pathologist Dr Ian Hill, who carried out the post mortem on Billie-Jo.

Jenkins's lawyers described his evidence as "incomplete" and "wrong", as he failed to carried out a microscopic investigation of her lungs. During the trial Dr Hill refused to accept defence claims that microscopic traces of her blood on Jenkins's clothing did not prove he was the murderer.

He categorically ruled out any suggestion that her airways could have been blocked and the blood had sprayed over him as he tried to help her.

As a result, the trial jury and the judges in Jenkins's first appeal accepted his evidence and concluded that the blood stains could only have been caused by the defendant attacking her with the metal spike.

However, the second appeal was told Dr Hill had failed to conduct a histology, a microscopic examination of the tissue around the lungs. Had he done so he would have discovered that she was suffering from interstitial emphysema which meant her lungs would have been full of air. A new test conducted by lung physiologist Prof David Dennison showed that in this condition Billie-Jo would have been more than capable of expelling an aerosol-type spray of blood if her body was moved - as Jenkins claimed he had tried to do in his attempt to save her.

The new evidence was also reviewed by Professor Robert Schroter, a professor of bioengineering at Imperial College.

He concluded the fine droplets of blood could have been expelled by Billie-Jo just by turning her - as Jenkins claimed - or gently leaning on her.

He also claimed they could have travelled "considerable distances" with only a minimal effort, and that atmospheric currents on the patio would have taken the droplets in any direction.

Because Dr Hill had failed to study the tissue his findings passed on to forensic scientist Adrian Wain were based on a flawed post-mortem examination.

Mr Wain had discovered the 157 microscopic traces of Billie-Jo's blood on Jenkins's clothing and, based on Dr Hill's findings, concluded they must have come from the fatal attack.

Confronted during the appeal hearing with the new evidence, Dr Hill accepted that there could have been a blockage in Billie-Jo's larynx, and Mr Wain agreed that the aerosol theory was a reasonable explanation of how Jenkins came to have her blood on him.

Further doubt was cast on the original evidence when another expert, Joseph Slemko, a blood spatter analyst, also produced evidence which suggested that the pattern of blood stains on Jenkins's clothes and shoes was inconsistent with him striking the fatal blows.