Murder of Danielle Jones

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Danielle Jones (16 October 1985-c. 18 June 2001) is a British missing person believed to have been murdered.

Stuart Campbell (born 1958) was a builder who was convicted in December 2002 of abducting and murdering his niece Danielle Jones, 15, and lost an appeal on January 21st 2005. She disappeared on 18th June 2001 while walking to a bus stop in East Tilbury, Essex, where she lived. Her body has never been recovered, and Campbell has always maintained his innocence.

[edit] Disappearance and investigation

Danielle was last seen alive near her home in East Tilbury, Essex, on 18 June 2001, when she was 15 years old.

The police who investigated Danielle's disappearance were convinced that she had been murdered, and by 14th November 2001 (five months after she vanished) had decided that they had enough evidence to charge her uncle Stuart Campbell with murder even though it would be harder to secure a conviction without a body.^[1]

[edit] Murder trial

In October 2002, Campbell went on trial at Chelmsford Crown Court on charges of abduction and murder. Although her body had not been found, she had been seen talking to a man with a blue Ford Transit van resembling Campbell's on the morning of her disappearance, and testing found Danielle's DNA on blood-stained stockings and lip gloss found in Campbell's home, as well as Campbell's DNA on the stockings. After her disappearance Campbell had received a text message sent from Danielle's phone, but transmission records showed Campbell and Danielle's phones had been in the same place when the message was sent, indicating that he had sent the message himself to make it appear that she was still alive. Several young women testified that Campbell had manipulated them into posing for topless photographs. He was found guilty of both charges on 19th December 2002 and sentenced to life imprisonment for murder as well as 10 years for abduction.^[2][1]

It is unusual to prosecute for murder in the UK without a body, but police did find a pair of blood stained stockings in his home, the DNA of which matched both Campbell and Danielle. This evidence was enough to convince the police that Danielle Jones was dead and that Stuart Campbell was responsible for her death. In his diary, which police used in evidence, Campbell revealed an obsession with teenage girls. Campbell also claimed Danielle had text messaged him, but evidence from mobile phone masts shows that when she supposedly texted him his mobile phone was in the same place as hers, evidence that he had taken her mobile, and used it to text his own. His own mobile phone also disproved his alibi that at the time he was in a D-I-Y store half an hour's drive away in Rayleigh. In one 20 minute interview with the police he said "no comment" to 50 questions, causing the police to describe him as uncooperative. A police superintendent said to the BBC that "he developed a relationship with Danielle that was certainly inappropriate and probably unlawful. She apparently tried to disengage herself, but he resisted."

At the end of his trial, Campbell was convicted of murder and abduction. He received a life sentence on the murder charge and a 10-year fixed sentence on the abduction charge, although his recommended minimum term has never been made public.

Following the jury's verdict, it was revealed that the 44-year-old Campbell was already a convicted sex offender who was known to the police for his unhealthy interest in young girls.^{[citation needed]} Danielle's body has still not been found.

After his trial, it was revealed that Campbell was known to pose as a photographer to take photos of teenage girls in parks. In 1976 he was sentenced to 4 years in prison for robbing a 16 year old girl in the street, while in 1989 he was given a 12 month suspended sentence for forcibly detaining a 14 year old girl in his house and taking photos of her in a karate outfit.

[edit] References