But 27 years on, her devastated family are still without answers as to who did it.
13-year-old Billie-Jo Jenkins was murd*red in 1997 after being beaten with an iron tent peg.
The family of Billie-Jo Jenkins face fresh heartache after a forensic review of the 13-year-old's unsolved murder found no new clues. They were told this week that detectives "are not looking for any new suspects" 27 years after Billie-Jo was battered with an 18-inch iron tent peg.
Sussex Police began the scientific probe in 2022 in the hope that the latest techniques could snare her killer. But it has now concluded after finding no new lines of inquiry and the case, codenamed Operation Cathedral, will not be reopened.
Billie-Jo was killed in February 1997 as she painted patio doors in the back garden of the house in Hastings, East Sussex, that she shared with foster dad Sion Jenkins, his wife Lois and their four daughters.
He was convicted of the murder and jailed for life but he always denied the crime and was acquitted in 2006 after two inconclusive retrials. Det Supt Andy Wolstenholme said on Wednesday: “The review’s findings have now been collated and assessed, in consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, and unfortunately no new evidence or opportunities to further progress the investigation have been identified.
"Billie-Jo and her family have remained at the forefront of our minds throughout this review and we share their ongoing desire for justice for Billie-Jo. We are grateful for their patience while the case was reviewed and the outcome shared with them.
"While we are not looking for any new suspects, anyone who has any new information in this case is encouraged to contact Sussex Police by calling 101 at any time, quoting Operation Cathedral.”
Biilie-Jo's mother, Deborah Barnett, died aged 59 in 2018, a year after calling on police to reopen the case after the files had remained untouched for 15 years. She said: "It would be great if they could open the investigation again and get some fresh eyes on it.
The police have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I can't describe it to you, unless you have lost a child, it's a nightmare. I want to get justice for her. I want them [the police] to do everything possible."It is believed the re-examination focused on 158 microscopic blood spots that were found on Mr Jenkins's trousers and fleece jacket.
Prosecutors argued that the pattern of the spray was consistent with "impact spatter" allegedly caused by Mr Jenkins repeatedly striking Billie-Jo on the head with the tent peg.
The defence claimed that the blood was breathed out by Billie-Jo on to Mr Jenkins as he tended to her while she lay dying. Mr Jenkins, then a deputy head teacher at a secondary school, was convicted of the crime in July 1998. After six years in jail, the conviction was quashed after the Criminal Case Review Commission passed it to the Court of Appeal.
Juries in two subsequent retrials could not reach a verdict and Mr Jenkins was formally acquitted. He now reportedly lives with his second wife in York.
His first marriage to Lois broke down after the murder and she later accused her former husband of having a violent temper. He denies this and says Billie-Jo was murdered by a prowler.
Jenkins told the Mirror in 2017 he has "had to face the realisation" that witnesses he has spoken to in the past few years have forgotten "key details".
He added: "I continue, however, to be open to the possibility of new evidence and will not give up hoping and looking."
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