Calls for police to reopen Billie-Jo Jenkins
The mother of murdered schoolgirl Billie-Jo Jenkins has called for police to reopen the case 20 years after the 13-year-old was bludgeoned to death.
Billie-Jo was found in a pool of blood in the back garden of foster father Sion Jenkins' house in Hastings, East Sussex, on February 15, 1997.
Police arrested Mr Jenkins and he was initially found guilty of her murder and spent six years in prison before being acquitted in 2006 following two retrials.
Deborah Barnett, right, has called for police to reopen the case over the murder of her daughter Billie-Jo Jenkins, 13, left, 20 years to the day she was bludgeoned to death
Speaking on the 20th anniversary of her death, mother Deborah Barnett, 58, told the Daily Mirror she wanted 'fresh eyes' to look at the case.
She said: '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.'
Foster father Sion Jenkins, pictured, was initially convicted of her murder and jailed, but his conviction was quashed and he was cleared following two retrials in 2006
Billie Jo was bludgeoned to death with an 18inch iron tent spike.
Mr Jenkins was convicted of murdering her in 1998 and failed with an appeal a year later.
But following a two-year review by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, his case was eventually brought back to the Court of Appeal in 2003 and a year later his conviction was quashed and he was released on bail ahead of a retrial, which ended with the jury unable to reach a verdict.
A second retrial at the Old Bailey in 2006 ended in the same way and Mr Jenkins was declared not guilty, with the CPS announcing it was not pursuing another retrial.
It is believed the full cost of the investigation, trials and subsequent appeals was around £10million.
Billie-Jo's family has previously called for police to investigate M25 rapist Antoni Imiela over her death.
As reported by MailOnline, her aunt Margaret Costner demanded police look into Imiela's whereabouts during the crime after claiming there were 'similarities' between her death and his other crimes.
Billie-Jo was found dead in the back garden of Mr Jenkins' home in Hastings, pictured
An 18inch iron tent spike, pictured, was used to bludgeon the schoolgirl to death
Billi-Jo had revealed to friends she was being stalked by a man wearing a leather jacket from December 1996, with Imiela also known to wear black leather jackets.
Imiela, who was known to have been a sex offender since 1987, lived 20 miles away from Billi-Jo's home and had friends living in Hastings at the time she was murdered.
He was reportedly obsessed with girls around Billie-Jo's age and often used improvised weapons in his violent attacks.
in 2012 Imiela was found guilty of brutally raping mother-of-two Sheila Jankowitz, 29, on Christmas Day in 1987 thanks to DNA evidence.