True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

 (Donald Henry ''Pee Wee' Gaskins. Picture credit: The Sate)

*Please be aware that I will be sharing disturbing details in this post. I have tried to be as sensitive as I can without shying away from the facts of the case*

I've read a lot of books about various serial killers over the years and have written about them on this blog but now and then there is a case which tends to haunt me and the story of Pee Wee Gaskins is such a case. I found a book about him in an old bookstore when I was about 15, I think it was called 'The Autobiography of A Serial Killer' and to say it was very graphic and disturbing, is an understatement. 

The book detailed Pee Wee's crimes and a no holds barred interview on death row had been transcribed. Without a shred of remorse or human decency, Pee Wee went into details about what he did to his victims and it was horrific, there was a part where he was talking about the sexual assault and murder of a child and how he had enjoyed that sexually and I just couldn't cope with that. At the age of 15 I was just learning about the world myself and couldn't even bring myself to accept that such horrific things and evil individuals like Pee Wee Gaskins could even exist. 

I threw the book away and it took weeks for me to get those horrible thoughts out of my head and forget the things he said. Whenever I see his face pop up in a book or a documentary, I remember how truly sick and evil this man was. I've read a lot of books and written a lot of blogs on serial killers but that book is one of the most spine-chilling, gut wrenching things that I have ever read. 

I didn't want to write about him in all honesty but I keep getting requests to do so and thought I would just get it over with and add his story to the huge list of serial killers that I have already written about. I will be covering more serial killer cases in 2024 but I thought I would end this year with a readers request. 

So let's get into the case.... 

Donald Henry Gaskins was born on the 13th of March 1933 in Florence County, South Carolina. His original full name at birth was Donald Henry Parrott Jr. He was called ''Pee Wee' because he was known to be a small and weak child and he came into a home life that was no where near comfortable. There was no love from his single mother, who had a string of children from different fathers and the level of neglect to all children was appalling. 

Different men would come and go from the house and Pee Wee often found himself being physically assaulted by the men his mother was acquainted with. There was no love or protection, just pure neglect in a very unsafe environment. Pee Wee was known to suffer from seizures during the early part of his childhood and this was believed to have stemmed from an incident when he was one years old where he drank a bottle of kerosene. 

With no love and a home life in turmoil it was only a matter of time before Pee Wee went off the rails but it was worse than anyone could have expected.  Sometimes an abused and neglected child will take part in various thefts, petty crime but not Pee Wee, he was a monster from the get-go. He had been a member of a gang of other kids that did some petty crimes but had also partaken in a horrendous gang r*** of a sister of one of the boys. Pee Wee had enjoyed the sickening act. Other assaults and thefts had occurred and he soon found himself being sent to a reform school because he was too young at that point to go to an adult prison. 

Before he had even turned 18 he claimed that he had been sexual assaulted on a number of occasions by the other boys at the school and he ran away. He returned to continue the rest of his time there and was soon released. It was all supposed to be a fresh start for him and he'd manged to get a job but it wasn't to last. He was found guilty of assaulting girls and ended up again behind bars to serve 6 years. 

Pee Wee was always seen as weak and a pathetic type of character but when he found himself being sexually assaulted again, he took matters into his own hands and fought back with a knife. He cut his attacker's throat and soon earned a level of respect. He also found a new level of confidence that he had never had before. He'd always hurt people who were smaller than him but he was now able to fight grown men and he enjoyed that. 

His time in prison was not without drama and over that incident, he did have some time added on to his sentence but he managed to escape again. He was soon returned and like before, he completed his sentence and was deemed fit to be released. As soon as he walked out of the prison gates he was back into a life of crime. 

Robberies and sexual assaults were back on the cards again and more sentences followed but he managed to escape once again and he was in and out of prison. The fact that they continued to release him and he'd be back in trouble in a short period afterwards, should have demonstrated that he should never have been released. 

Getting a slap on the wrist for his sexual assaults and robberies must have made Pee Wee feel that he could pretty much get away with anything. He was no longer satisfied with the horrible things he had been doing, he wanted to take it a step further and commit murder. 

When it came to his killings, nobody was safe, he targeted men, women and children. Most of the victims (who he nicknamed 'coastal kills') were reportedly hitchhikers and we may never truly know how many people he actually killed. His methods of killing were horrendous and there was no set way in which he did things. Some victims had been sexually assaulted and stabbed, some were smothered, tortured, butchered and reportedly had some of their flesh eaten by him. 

His niece and her friend had fallen victim to him, both girls who were just 15 and 17 had been sexually assaulted and beaten to death. 

All of the murders were horrendous and too much to stomach but the sexual assault and murder of his neighbour and her little girl who was just a toddler, was something that really disturbed me and something that I will never be able to not be horrified by or forget as I read the details all those years ago. 

I won't go into the horrific details of the murders I just mentioned because it is just too horrendous to bare but I'm sure you understand and know it is a line that none of us want to go over and think about. Murders of anyone, no matter their age, is horrific but when it is the sexual assault and murder of a child by someone so evil and twisted that they would say that it was the most excited that they had gotten sexually, is just too much. His words (and I will say them as it is a fact of the case so please skip a few lines if you must) about the murder were ''It was the most overpowering come I had ever felt.'' 

His murder spree came to an end when a former crime associate of his had ratted him out to the cops. The man had claimed that he had seen Pee Wee murder two men. In November of 1975 he had given up and told the police some of what he had done and where he had buried the remains of his victims. After a short trial he was found guilty of just murders based on the remains that authorities were able to recover. He was given a death sentence which was reduced to a life sentence due to changes in state but as always he found himself in more trouble behind bars and murdered a fellow inmate who he was shockingly, paid to murder by a relative by one of his own murder victims, that was a lot to get one's head around in this horrible case too. 

His reduced life sentence was soon changed back to death row and the night before he faced the electric chair he tried to call the shots himself by cutting his wrists. I've heard of this happening quite a few times with inmates who are due to face their final punishment. It doesn't phase the prison guards, they will just wipe up the blood, stitch up your wounds and go ahead as scheduled. That's exactly what they did with Pee Wee Gaskins. He was a coward and it didn't matter what he did this time, there was no way of escaping, it was time to face the music. 

Donald Henry ''Pee Wee'' Gaskins was executed by electric chair on the 6th of September 1991 at the age of 58. 

His murder spree reportedly took place between 1953 and 1982 and shockingly he was only confirmed to have murdered 15 people but suspected of killing 110. He said himself that there were more victims. He once told authorities ''There are quite a few bodies that have never been mentioned but you've got enough for now.''

His last words before he was executed were ''I'll let my lawyers talk for me, I'm ready to go.''

This was a difficult post to get through and I appreciate if you have made it this far. What are your thoughts on this case? Pee Wee Gaskins was clearly a dangerous individual from day one, having committed such a horrendous crime from a young age. He should have been dealt with properly and never been released. He demonstrated that he was dangerous both inside and outside of prison walls. A frightening individual who targeted anyone, anywhere at any time and not a shred of remorse or feeling of guilt for what he had done. I watched a documentary about him a few years ago and his daughter was talking about him. The grown up daughter came across as having severe psychological issues, she kept saying ''My Daddy was sick, my Daddy this and Daddy that''  like what he had done could be easily forgiven. I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that if I had a father or relative that was exactly like Pee Wee Gaskins, I would run a mile and never have his name mentioned in my presence ever again. 

It's interesting the behaviour of some of these parents and relatives of serial killers or child killers. They are totally devoted to their sons or daughters even though they have committed the most horrendous pain and suffering to other people and their families. For example, Chris Watts who murdered his heavily pregnant wife then buried her in a shallow grave, came back for his two young daughters and smothered them before dumping their tiny bodies down two oil tanks. All the while he was texting the woman he had been having an affair with at work. He stood before the TV cameras playing the part of the worried and concerned husband and father. 

He didn't confess to what he had done, oh no, he decided to claim at first that his wife went to stay with friends and when he could feel the net closing in he changed that to accusing his wife of abusing their daughters. It had all come out in the courtroom how he had been looking at jewelry for his mistress (who claimed to be completely innocent in everything even though she knew he had been married with kids and had stalked his wife on facebook etc then deleted tons of text messages. People have different opinions on that but the police say that she didn't have any part in what took place and didn't push him to make any rash decisions. We know she wasn't there at the crime scene but what some people believe is that she pressured him to choose between his family and her. What are your thoughts on that?), making arrangements to sell the house and had spoken to the girl's school and told them that the girls would not be coming back. 

I mention Chris Watts because his parents think that the sun shines out of his backside even though they sat there and listened in detail to what he had done. The parents were never fans of his wife but that's no excuse, he's a monster and they think he's an angel. I think it says a lot when you look at the parents. I know the parents are not always to blame for how their children turn out but Chris Watts family are very strange people to say the least. 

RIP to the known victims of Pee Wee Gaskins and we can but hope that one day the families of the unknown victims will have some sort of closure and be able to know the truth about what happened to their loved ones. RIP to the victims of Chris Watts, Shanann, baby Nico, Bella and Celeste. 

Once again, thank you for getting through the post and also, thank you for all of your support this year. I will be taking a little break for the Christmas holidays but I will be back in January so keep your eyes peeled!

If you would like to help support my content by buying me a cheeky Christmas coffee, that would be amazing, you can either make a small payment Here on my ko-fi page where you will also find pictures and regular updates! or simply make a payment to My PayPal or CashApp: £CaledonianKitty

Further Reading & Sources:

- Autobiography of A Serial Killer | Book by Pee Wee Gaskins

- Donald Gaskins | Book by Jack Rosewood

- The Big Book of Serial Killers | Book by Jack Rosewood

- The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers | Book by Michael Newton

- Famous Serial Killers Wordsearch | Book by Crook Crook

- Donald Henry Gaskins | Wikipedia

- Pee Wee Gaskins | Crime Museum

- Pee Wee Gaskins: Documentary: Real Crime

I wish you all of the best for Christmas and New Year and I hope to see you in January with some fresh new content x

 (Vili and Mary. Picture credit: news.com)

*Please be aware that quite a lot of the details that I will be sharing in this post are quite disturbing but as always I have tried to be as sensitive with the details without taking away the facts of the case*

Mary Kay Letourneau was a woman who found herself in her early thirties working as a teacher and bored with life. She was married but the marriage had run it's course and she and her husband had been having affairs and the affection had dried up a long time ago. The only positive for Mary was that she and her husband had 4 daughters out of the union but other than that it was pretty much about staying together because they had financial struggles. 

Mary had come from quite a respectable family who were intelligent people, there was a huge interest in politics and her father became quite a prominent figure in politics. She was born on the 30th of January 1962 in California, into a big family and was one of seven children. Tragedy struck the family when Mary's three year old brother accidentally drowned in a swimming pool. 

Mary got married at a young age to a guy that her family were really keen on, she later claimed that she was practically forced into this marriage as she wasn't in love and did it for the sake of her family. She was dating a fellow student at the University of Arizona and it wasn't long until she fell pregnant with their first child and then along came another.  She was able to obtain a teaching degree and began full time work as a teacher at an Elementary school. From the outside looking in it seemed that Mary had it all, the husband, the beautiful two children, the teaching career but all was not as it seemed. Her husband was reportedly violent and visits to the hospital were not uncommon after arguments would get out of hand. So Mary was a deeply unhappy woman, I'm not making any excuses for her but you can see all of the emotional turmoil that she was in. 

She enjoyed her teaching role and loved working with children but there was one particular boy that she was drawn to at the school and that was 8 year old Vili Fualaau. She only knew him briefly at this time but when she took over as his teacher when he turned 12, her feelings towards him were definitely not what they should have been. Very uncomfortable and disturbing to say the least. Vili developed a little crush on Mary and told his cousin that he wanted to make a bet that he could get her. It was just a silly kids thing where a young boy takes a shine to his teacher and it should never have gone any further than that. Vili wanted to win the bet so he would do little nice things for Mary but obviously Mary read more into everything and actually enjoyed the attention this 12 year old child was giving her. 

Things just got more disturbing as time went on because before anyone knew what was happening, Mary (a 34 year old, married mother and also a trusted school teacher) was kissing the 12 year old boy and a disturbing 'relationship' between the pair developed. Obviously to anyone reading or aware of the case can see that she was clearly grooming him from day one and had forced this unhealthy interest onto this child. He was a 12 year old boy who was not mentally mature to understand fully what was happening. 

The situation just got worse beyond all imagination because she actually had sexual relations with this boy. He was just 13 years old apparently, when this occurred. He was an underage child and she was a grown woman, the whole thing is sickening. When I think of the details of this case and about women like Mary, I think about not only how sick these women are but how incredibly selfish they are too. They are stealing childhoods, that's what I feel. They are pedophiles who are attracted to children and force their baggage and emotional drama on these kids and it scars these children for life. Not only do the children have the emotional abuse to deal with, there's also the sexual abuse too. 

So at just 13 years old, Vili (who was just a child himself) was now a father to his 35 year old teacher/abuser's child. Mary had managed to get inside of this boy's head so much that it was almost as if she had brainwashed him. The pair had a very disturbing bond and it was a struggle to keep them apart, Mary especially was determined to see Vili at all costs. Her husband found sickening love letters that Mary had written to the boy and he turned to a relative for advice, the relative contacted the authorities straight away and Mary was promptly arrested. 

(Mary Kay Letourneau. Picture credit: nypost)

Despite the community's horror and aversion to this disturbing union, Mary and Vili carried on with this disturbing bond that they had. It appeared that there was a lot of Stockholm Syndrome on Vili's part, the child was manipulated by an intelligent, older woman who convinced him that this situation was meant to be. The whole thing was a mess and it went on for years. Mary ended up in prison after pleading guilty to two charges of second-degree child r***, She didn't serve all of her sentence at first, she was released early under the rules that she was to stay away from Vili. Mary promised to follow the law but soon broke that promise and the pair were found by the police trying to run off together. There was passports and money along with other items in the car, Mary was sent back to prison. All in all she spent seven and a half years in prison and still continued to pursue Vili who waited for her to leave prison. 

Mary fell pregnant again and the unhealthy relationship was making headlines all over the world. They even started to take advantage of some of the attention. People were interested in their story and they ended up releasing two books as well as attending public appearances. TV interviews soon followed and the pair put up a united front and didn't show any sort of hesitation about their relationship. Mary was so delusional that she actually thought that she could have another child with Vili and return to work as a teacher. She was now classed as a sex offender and on the register for the rest of her life but that didn't seem to phase her.

Mary and Vili stayed together for a long time and got married in May of 2005 (she was 43 and he was 21). They continued to cause a stir wherever they went and still took advantage of their notoriety. Vili worked as a DJ and had a job as a retail assistant. The pair helped host an evening at a club called 'Hot For Teacher' and acted like the whole thing was a laugh. 

They continued on with the marriage until 2019 where they decided to separate. A friend close to them said that their love for each other just faded. Vili moved away but soon returned after he got the news that Mary had been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. He reportedly helped look after Mary and stayed by her side, morning noon and night until she passed away on the 6th of July 2020. She was 58 years old. 

(Vili and Mary. Picture credit: uk.finance.yahoo)

Years later when Vili was asked about the relationship and his thoughts on his daughters dating someone older, he was dead against it. Apparently he has expressed to those closest to him that he realises now that the relationship was not a healthy one from the start. Vili had been troubled in the past and had struggles with alcohol and even attempted to take his own life. Did he see Mary as a mother figure? It can be hard for some people to understand the way a victim may behave towards an abuser. Some victims feel that they need their abuser because they are manipulated into believing that. There's also a feeling of guilt that victims often feel even though it is not their fault. Mary targeted this boy from a very young age and it was almost like he had joined a cult, he stayed with her, echoed her words and defended her. It seemed that after her death he began to see things differently as his children grew up. 

I feel sorry for Vili, he may have believed what he felt for Mary to be love but this all began when he was a child. She took his childhood away from him and forced the responsibility of being a father on to him at just 13 years old. She came to this child with all of her issues (she was also diagnosed as bi-polar) and problems and made him feel that he was somehow responsible for her. She was in charge all of the way and she knew what she was doing but she was psychologically disturbed. Despite knowing it was wrong and spending time in prison, losing her marriage, her daughters, her career and reputation, she was determined to see Vili at all costs. It was sheer madness. 

Vili had spent a huge chunk of his life with Mary, she had, had her youth and had the chance to be a child, she stole that from Vili. She forced this child to become a parent when he was a child himself and take on the responsibility of taking care of this haggard, disturbed 34 year old woman. 

I don't care if they were together a long time, that doesn't mean anything to me. The fact is that she manipulated this boy emotionally and used sex (I know, it's sickening) to control him. She was getting pregnant as another form of control, she was trying to tie him to her however possible way that she could. If she really did care about Vili, she would have left that boy alone and let him have his childhood and his life. 

I hope wherever Vili is now (and I'm sure he has a great relationship with his children) that he is happy and has had the chance to experience real love with someone who has his best intentions at heart. 

Another scary fact about this case is that people from the school that Mary had previously worked at, described her as a great person and continued to do so after everything had been exposed. That's quite unsettling to think that some people think that an adult person abusing a 12 year old boy makes them a 'good person'. You cannot be classed as a good person if you do a horrendous thing like that and that's not to mention everything else she did, trapping the boy with the pregnancies etc. In prison she was supposed to be having counselling for her unhealthy interest towards children and she was nothing but disruptive, she had no interest in rehabilitation, she saw nothing wrong with how she was. 

Like I mentioned in the beginning, this story was insane to say the least and like I just mentioned, I come away from it feeling really sorry for Vili and I do hope things have gotten better for him. 

What are your thoughts on this case? Let me know in the comments below or email me at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com 

Further Reading & Sources: 

- Mary Kay: Article | People

- Mary Kay: Article about death | New York Times

- Mary Kay | Wikipedia

- Vili: Article | People

- Mary Kay & Vili | Biography

- Mary Kay: Article | Parade

- Mary Kay: Article | Yahoo

- Mary Kay: Article | US Weekly

- May December: Article | Business Insider

- Mary Kay: Article about death | Yahoo

- Mary Kay: Article | Rolling Stone

- Vili: Article | In Touch

- Mary Kay: News report | Entertainment Tonight 

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Stay safe and I'll see you in the next post x 

 (From left: Sion Jenkins. From Right: Billie-Jo Jenkins. Picture credits: thatslife)

*Please be aware that some of the details that I will be sharing in this post will mention sensitive subjects such as child abuse and murder. As always, I have tried to be as sensitive as I can whilst not taking away from the facts of the case*

This case has to be one of the most talked about in the UK for a very long time. The horrific murder of 13 year old Billie-Jo Margaret Jenkins in Hastings (England) in 1997 was a case that shocked and baffled not only the UK public but beyond. This beautiful young girl was just painting the patio doors in the back garden of her foster family home, when she was suddenly attacked and bludgeoned to death with an iron tent peg. She was later 'found' by her foster father, Sion Jenkins but there was more to this than met the eye. 

Going into Billie-Jo's background, she had a tough start with her biological parents. Born in East London on the 29th of March 1983, her biological parents had not exactly been prepared for her arrival. With a father in prison and a mother who was struggling to make ends meet, Billie-Jo was taken into foster care and ended up with Sion and Lois Jenkins (they shared the same surname which can make it a bit confusing when discussing the case). The couple had four daughters and a beautiful house and at the beginning, Billie-Jo was welcomed in with open arms....at least by Lois. It seemed that Sion had a bit of a short temper to say the least. A man who was described as being quick to fly off the handle at the least little thing, he ruled his family with an iron fist. 

Sion had been a troubled child and not much is known about his childhood except that he had been kicked out of school for his behaviour. Behavioural issues have been noted and his constant need for telling lies about the least little thing. He was a fantasist and like a lot of people, he would tell a few lies on his CV and application forms in order to get teaching jobs. Like a true narcissist he couldn't just tell a few lies about dates or the odd qualification here and there, he made out that he had 10 O-levels and was qualified for specific teaching roles when all he had was a pretty average educational background but not adequate training in the specific roles he was going for. He did manage to get away with a few things because he was quite good at presenting a certain image as well as being able to charm people. 

So at home, the guy was a nightmare to live with and if anyone was to do anything that he deemed to be wrong or not perfect, he would raise his hand or use weapons to 'punish' his daughters. His wife also had been on the receiving end of his temper one too many times. 

(Sion Jenkins. Picture credit: thesun)

Billie-Jo had been living with the Jenkins family for 5 years up until she was murdered and even though she was technically a 'foster child', Sion didn't let her escape his 'punishments' either. The pair clashed on a regular basis over silly things to do with music being on too loud or not doing homework. Sion would physically assault Billie-Jo to the point where she would go to school covered in bruises and her school friends would become concerned. Billie-Jo would tell them that Sion would get angry and grab her by the neck and hurt her. Billie-Jo was an abused child there's no doubt about that, she was in such turmoil that she had written 'I Hate My Dad' (meaning Sion) on her knuckles on one occasion. Her friends at school knew what had been going on at home and there was an incident where Billie-Jo had sprained her ankle and during an argument, Sion deliberately kicked her on the affected area. Various witnesses had seen similar incidences involving Sion's abuse of Billie-Jo and his family. It was no secret but for some reason people were too scared to say anything. Sion could also cut quite an intimidating figure. 

So there had been trouble for a while when Sion had returned from a trip and had arranged for Billie-Jo to paint the patio doors in the back garden in exchange for some extra pocket money. Two of his other daughters were going to wash the car at the front of the house. The date was the 15th of February 1997 and Sion's behaviour on this day was reported to have been strange. He had two of his daughters in the car when he got out and left them inside before returning a short time later. He then drove to a DIY store with no money and then drove a different way home which took longer than his usual route. During this time, Billie-Jo was lying deceased in the back garden of the house. Nobody else was home at the time and when Sion and the girls returned, Sion went into the back garden where he claimed that he had suddenly found Billie-Jo laying in blood, unresponsive. 

The odd behaviour continued with him taking his time to call for help having been practically forced to by a neighbour. He then refused to follow the operator's instructions on the phone of checking to see if Billie-Jo was still breathing. He just stood there calm and telling them that he didn't need to check that it was obvious she was deceased. Foster parent or not, you would think that in that situation and absolute horror at seeing this poor girl in the state that she was in, would be utterly devastating and that he would want to be by her side until the ambulance and police arrived. He vanished into the house for a short period of time and then came back. His story to the police wasn't straightforward either. 

Because he was a well-dressed, well-spoken man of a certain class (or the appearance of a certain class with the nice big house, car etc), it was often the case that these types of people were treated a certain way by the police because he didn't look like a typical suspect. The police even asked him to do a public appeal for information but as the days went on, a lot of things were not adding up. The police began to see holes in Sion's story including the fact that he went to the DIY store without any money for items that he already had at the house. The different route he had taken to and from the DIY store which was soon seen as a way for him to provide some sort of alibi. Before going to the DIY store he had been bringing the two girls home from a clarinet lesson when he left the car for a short period of time and then returned to go to the DIY store. 

Police believe that in that time, he had gone to the back of the house where he confronted Billie-Jo and some sort of argument ensued. There was paint on the windows of the patio doors and knowing how crazy Sion could get about things, maybe there was a disagreement about that? There was an iron tent peg that had been left in the garden and this was the weapon that was used to strike Billie-Jo violently over the head five times. The police believe that he then went back to the car and took the girls to the DIY store without any money, for items that he did not need, as a way to create an alibi. 

During the time that Billie-Jo was murdered there were theories about someone else being involved and a few potential suspects had been thrown into the mix, however the police could not establish a connection to either of these suspects and experts claim that it would have been impossible for a random person to break into the back garden, find a weapon so quickly, murder Billie-Jo and then flee the scene without anyone noticing. 

There was also the fact that Sion Jenkins (strangely enough - I say that in a sarcastic tone) just happened to have small droplets of Billie-Jo's blood all over him from head to toe. It was later determined that included in the droplets were pieces of bone and matter. Sion claimed that he had held Billie-Jo at some point and that she had breathed these droplets out on to him. He was arrested and put on trial and everyone around him believed he did it, including his wife and his own biological children. Too many people had seen or been a victim of his temper in the past and knew what he was like. People had also seen his treatment of Billie-Jo. 

At the first trial they threw the book at him, sentenced him to life imprisonment and it looked like justice had been served but he decided to appeal, luckily this was thrown out. With the support of an Investigative Journalist, Sion and his supporters (yes, he has supporters!) pushed forward with another appeal and a re-trial was granted. This was based on the possibility that Billie-Jo could have (due to gases in her lungs) breathed out the blood on to Sion. It was all if's, but's and maybes but the re-trial went ahead. 

So he had the first trial and was convicted and then appealed which was thrown out (hope you are still with me here) then a bunch of busy-bodies got involved and they pressed for another appeal. He was granted a re-trial which couldn't come to a conclusion, the jury were hung so another re-trial was ordered and guess what? long story short, he walked! Nobody could come to a decision on his guilt so he was set free. According to the powers that be, they couldn't prove that he was 100% guilty and they couldn't prove he was 100% not guilty. 

(Newspaper article on the case. Picture credit: buggedspace)

I don't know what was going through anyone's minds at these trials but how much more red flags do you need? This was a violent man who abused his own family, even his wife and biological children believed him to be guilty. He wasn't just abusive, he was a pathological liar. 

It seemed to be that because so much money had been spent on this case (apparently somewhere in the region of £10 million pounds) and so much time and work had gone into the trials that it came across that they had simply given up. It was like Sion Jenkins was too clever for them, he outsmarted them because I know people who have been thrown in jail for less. As they often say in the true crime community, this guy had the smoking gun. The time frames, the strange behaviour before, during and after the murder, the history of violence and constant lying. The microscopic blood, bone and matter that been found all over him. 

You can't blame some people for still talking about this case today because for a lot of people in the UK this guy got away with murder! Where is the justice for Billie-Jo? After the decision was made to let him go, the police announced that they had fought so hard to get justice for Billie-Jo but they were closing the investigation. People were furious and quite rightly so. In my opinion and as I've often read in other cases over the years, the police believed that they had their perpetrator, they believe Sion Jenkins to be guilty 100% but why continue to waste tax payers money looking for another suspect that didn't exist? The police do all they can but in the end it's the courtroom that decides.

After being set free after spending 6 years in prison, Sion played (and still continues to do so) the part of the innocent man done wrong. He teamed up with his Investigative Journalist pal and they wrote a book about the case with a picture of Billie-Jo on the front cover. Criminals are not allowed to profit off of crimes but because he was technically set free obviously he was given the go-ahead to write a book. I haven't read it but my friends in the true crime community have and it did nothing to change their minds of his guilt and the words ''very narcissistic'' popped up a few times. 

Sion decided to try and make more cash by doing interviews with anyone who would listen as well as trying to bag £500,000 compensation for being 'locked up for a crime he didn't commit'. Thankfully the attempt at wasting more tax payers money didn't happen because the board couldn't determine him to be 100% not guilty and eligible for compensation. To think he had the actual nerve to write a book, do interviews and try and claim compensation. You'd think that an innocent man would be too busy moving heaven and earth trying to find the supposed real murderer. 

So where is he now? Well he tried to get into politics (I think he enjoys attention on a public platform way too much) but failed and is apparently living in Hampshire with his new wife. 

I mentioned earlier that the police closed the case but in January 2022 they decided to do a case review which got everyone's hopes up. Basically this just means that they are not re-opening the investigation, they are just reviewing the case as they do routinely with 'cold cases'. This was reported in January 2022 and there hasn't been an update since. There was talk of a possible link to the murder of Billie-Jo to that of a well known convicted r**ist but nothing more has come of that either. If any updates happen I will share them as soon as they come up. 

Billie-Jo would have been 40 years old today (at time of writing - 2023) if she hadn't had her life so cruelly taken. Just 13 years old with her whole life in front of her, she had a lot on her shoulders at 13, one let down after another and one wonders if when she first arrived at the Jenkins family home, was she thinking that this could finally be the place to call a true home? Her biological family vow to keep going and fight for justice for her. Her biological father passed away and is buried in the same plot as Billie-Jo at City of London Cemetery and Crematorium. 

(Billie-Jo's final resting place. Picture credit: findagrave)

It's so heartbreaking to think that she only had 13 years on this earth and the majority of that was very difficult for her and then for it all to end in such a horrific way, it's just devastating. I pray for justice for Billie-Jo, it' important that none of us forget what has happened here. 

(Billie-Jo Jenkins. Picture credit: unilad)

Further Reading & Sources:

- Billie-Jo Jenkins: Article | The Mirror

- Billie-Jo Jenkins: Article | BBC

- Billie-Jo Jenkins: Article | Daily Mail

- Billie-Jo Jenkins | The Forensics Library

- Billie- Jo Jenkins | Wikipedia

- Billie-Jo Jenkins: Article | The Standard

- Billie-Jo Jenkins: Article | Sussex Express

- Billie-Jo Jenkins | Find A Grave

- Documentary Segment Feat The Billie-Jo Jenkins case

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