Billie Jo Jenkins

[Limehouse]

Hi everyone

Woffinden seems convinced of Jenkins' innocence but I am unsure. There are strong allegations of domestic violence against him and other claims that he was a control freak.

However - there were also claims that a strange man had been seen in the area and the defence put forward a compelling case to explain the spots of blood on his jacket.

[Graham]

I have a friend who lived in Hastings at the time of Billie Jo's murder, and she told me that there wasn't a great deal of sympathy for Sion Jenkins - which doesn't necessarily mean that folks believed he did it; it just means that he apparently was not a popular person in the community. My friend also told me that at virtually any time of day or night around Hastings there were tramps, drunks and general odd-balls wandering around. Sounds like any other seaside town.

Not that I know a great deal about the case, but I think I have to go along with Woffinden (hard decision, reference my thoughts re: Hanratty) and say that IMHO Sion Jenkins didn't do it. The police withheld some evidence, apparently, and also the prosecution case was weak. The timings weren't right.

I assume that the police are not investigating any other suspect(s) regarding this crime....

Didn't Sion Jenkins end up with a millionairess who befriended him, poor soul?

Graham

[jimornot?]

......

Didn't Sion Jenkins end up with a millionairess who befriended him, poor soul?

Graham

Hi Graham

Married her in fact

atb

viv

[nugnug]

personally i think levi ballfield killed her its his mo and he did work in susex brefielly as a wheel clamper though i don't know weather this was at the same time as the murder.


weather the things said about jenkens by his wife others are true or not and theres no real proof that they are all that proves is his not a nice man it does not really prove he killed anybody.

realistically he did not have time to commit this murder.

as for the tramp i cant see that there's any more evidence against him than there is against Jenkins.

[Stephen Thomas]

I don't recall another case where someone was convicted of murder on such flimsy evidence. Check out the fine New Statesman article by Bob Woffinden here which I remember reading at the time (1998)

http://www.innocent.org.uk/cases/sionjenkins/index.html

[Natalie Severn]

Stephen,
Regarding this allegedly "too short " time slot: Kate Eddowes,who was wearing several Victorian skirts and petticoats, was murdered in 1888 ,in less than 10 minutes and mutilated and had organs removed from her body all this happening in the dark in Mitre Square,with police on beats close by.The time factor may seem too brief but a close study of the murders of Kate, Elizabeth and Polly show its perfectly possible to carry out such a murder in a very brief period of time.

[ianincleveland]

He was a good liar,lying about his qualifications for his Headmasters job.Two juries couldnt reach a verdict on him.Had he been found guilty hed have received a life sentence so maybe some jury members were unwilling to take the risk that he was innocent,where they may have convicted him for an offence that carried relatively little jail sentences.

to the best of my knowledge the police have never arrested anyone else on suspiscion of the crime,nor do i remember any appeals for public help since the trials.

Think personally the police believe he did it,but cant get conclusive proof.

[Rubyretro]

I agree with you that the Police probably DO believe he did it but can't get conclusive poof. I believe he did it.

I don't think you can take his CV into consideration, though -I certainly know people who faked or 'bended the truth on their CVs -but would not consider themselves 'liars';

They consider that, if they have the experience and capabilities to actually do the job, not having the bit of paper is only a bit of hindrance.;and it shows balls, motivation and practical abilities to fake the CV.

I don't say at all that I agree -it's really unfair to the people that went to the trouble to get the qualifications -but it's not so rare as to put the person who lied down as being untrustworthy and a potential murderer.

[claire]

People who lie on CVs to get senior posts tend to demonstrate other tendencies that indicate that they believe they are above the law, or the requirements demanded of others. It's not a question of being jolly clever or having a bit of chutzpah--it's the fact that he thought he was above getting the quals/experience required. It's not as though he told a bit of a fib so he could manage kids flipping burgers--this was a responsible and senior job. Someone who can do that is, by dint of their actions, entirely unsuitable for such a post.

[Rubyretro]

I already said that I don't really agree with the practice , Claire...I probably agree more with your point of view.

Unfortunately though, I think that it's not such a rare thing (and the "motivation , balls" thing was expressing these people's point of view, and not my own).

I think that it's far from enough to form an opinion on someone's capacity to
kill their fostered daughter.

I repeat -I think that he was guilty, but we should throw that CV out of the equation.

[ianincleveland]

I agree with you that the Police probably DO believe he did it but can't get conclusive poof. I believe he did it.

I don't think you can take his CV into consideration, though -I certainly know people who faked or 'bended the truth on their CVs -but would not consider themselves 'liars';

They consider that, if they have the experience and capabilities to actually do the job, not having the bit of paper is only a bit of hindrance.;and it shows balls, motivation and practical abilities to fake the CV.

I don't say at all that I agree -it's really unfair to the people that went to the trouble to get the qualifications -but it's not so rare as to put the person who lied down as being untrustworthy and a potential murderer.

To me it makes them untrustworthy,while everyones cv is somewhat designed to put them in a better light than reality,to actually claim qualifications you havent got,then go through an interview with the school governors as Jenkins had to for the headmasters position suggests to me a cunning lying individual who can lie at the drop of a hat.

Of course this doesnt prove he was the killer(though im inclined to think he was) heres a man who would have stood up to an interview(if not two) with school governors telling lie after lie about his qualifcations etc,while under pressure in an interview situation.Could such a man easily lied to the police about a murder???? I think he could have

[Derrick]

If Sion Jenkins had been violent to Lois then why didn't Lois, as a trained social worker then allow Billie Jo to be taken into her house at all. Why didn't she leave earlier and take the girls with her? Because it is all nonsense.

I don't believe much of what Lois Jenkins told successive court trials. The police, under their own description "fed into mum", convincing Lois after a not very lengthy investigation that Sion was the killer of Billie Jo.

Derrick

[Derrick]

I would like to know exactly how Sion Jenkins lied about his CV and in what context this so called lie took place?

Derrick

[Natalie Severn]

Hi Derrick,
I think we are on opposite sides over the murder of Billie Jo.
I had a friend who volunteered her services in a battered wives refuge and I often had long discussions with her about what possessed women to stay with men who abused them physically.It seems that the truth about battered wives is that such women often live in a constant state of fear , anxiety and denial about their marital predicament as well as, paradoxically ,living in the hope that something may come along that will "change him" .Such wives are often long-suffering .It is often a case of "hope" triumphing over "experience " .If Sion decided they should foster,then Lois would have been very likely to have fallen into line,perhaps to avoid a scene, perhaps because she thought this may actually "change" him.The last thing she may have wanted was for her marriage to be exposed to all her neighbours and friends as the failure it actually was.So lots of factors are at play here. Morover with the provision of material comforts for her children,it takes guts for a woman to leave,especially when both are professional people,respected in the community etc.The unknown future can be full of uncertainty and far less economically secure, moreover Lois would know just how censorious people can be about wives leaving their husbands,especially with young children involved-the tendency is for people who dont know her true situation, often to side with the husband and look with some hostility at a wife abandoning him for no apparent reason - especially if the beatings were kept "secret" which is often the case. So rather than admit the failure of her marriage and her failure as a wife and the feelings of humiliation it could bring, she may have preferred to have just gone on putting up with being a battered wife.It is apparently a very ,very common syndrome .
Don"t forget it took this tragedy for Lois to up and leave and go to live as far away as possible from him.Its called "doing a geographical"--- !
Best,
Norma

[Natalie Severn]

I would like to know exactly how Sion Jenkins lied about his CV and in what context this so called lie took place?

Derrick

Hi Derrick, in answer to your above question the following is a

Statement by East Sussex County Council :


"He did not attend the University of Kent, he has not obtained a BA[hons] degree,a Post Graduate Certificate in Education,an advanced Diploma from the Open University or an M.Sc. in Education Management from Kings College,London.He did not attend Gordonstoun School.All this information is contained in his application of Deputy Headmaster."

Norma