1 week Ago By Sally Guyoncourt
Jayden Parkinson was a vulnerable, teenage girl who disappeared from her hostel in Oxford and was found dumped in a grave in a cemetery miles away.The 17-year-old went missing in December 2013 after arranging to meet her abusive ex-boyfriend.Two weeks later, police discovered her body buried in another person’s grave in Didcot.
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addToArray({"pos": "inread-hb-ros-inews"}); }Murder Scene: The Incident Room – The Girl in the Grave is an hour-long Channel 5 documentary which chronicles how detectives eventually found her.The programme, which airs this Wednesday 9 April at 8pm, has interviews with Jayden’s family and those involved in the investigation.We take a look at what happened to Jayden and her killer.
Jayden Parkinson went missing in December 2013 (Photo: Thames Valley Police/Getty)Who was Jayden Parkinson? Jayden Parkinson was a 17-year-old girl, originally from Kent, who had lived with her mother in Didcot, Oxfordshire.if(window.adverts) { window.
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adverts.addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l1"}); }She met Ben Blakeley when she was just 15 years old through her friendship with Ben’s younger brother. By the time she was 16, they were in a relationship.
However, it was one her mother Samantha Shrewsbury had had concerns about from the start.Former binman Blakeley had a reputation as being violent, abusive and controlling.In an interview on This Morning in 2014, Shrewsbury said: “He took her away from everyone in the family – her sisters, brother, me, her dad.
“He used to cut up her SIM card and smash up her phone.”He was known to have kicked, punched, choked and burnt Jayden with cigarettes during their relationship. It later emerged he had pushed a former girlfriend, who was seven-months pregnant, down the stairs in a rage over the child’s paternity.
And when Jayden had lived with him in a flat, he had starved her and isolated her from her family.if(window.adverts) { window.
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adverts.addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l2"}); }#color-context-related-article-3628368 {--inews-color-primary: #EDA400;--inews-color-secondary: #FDF6E5;--inews-color-tertiary: #EDA400;} Read Next square CULTURE Matthew Hoffman now: What happened to Tina Herrmann's killer and how long he's in jailRead MoreEventually, she moved back to her family home but continued to see Blakeley.After an intervention from social services, she moved to a hostel for young people in Oxford.
But even there, he was able to control her, isolating her from other residents in the hostel, becoming angry if she spoke to anyone or even left her room to use the toilet, resulting in her urinating in containers in her bedroom.He took her mobile phone away from her.In November 2013, Jayden finally plucked up the courage to end the relationship with 22-year-old Blakeley.
He then threatened to humiliate her by posting photos of her naked on social media. She reported him to the police.Shortly after this, Jayden discovered she was pregnant with Blakeley’s child and so she arranged to meet him on 3 December, 2013 to discuss the matter.
She left Oxford by train and travelled with Blakeley to Didcot station, where they walked out into the countryside.if(window.adverts) { window.
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adverts.addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l3"}); }Ben Blakeley, 22, strangled and later buried Jayden in a grave at a cemetery (Photo: Thames Valley Police/PA)Who is Ben Blakeley and what did he do?On a footbridge over a disused railway line between Didcot and Upton, the pair argued on 3 December 2013 and Blakeley strangled Jayden.She collapsed and died.
Recounting the moment in court, Blakeley said he had grabbed Jayden around the throat with both hands a “million” times before and thought she was “joking” when she fell to the ground.He hid the teenager’s body in a ditch, covered by a branch, and then returned by train to his home in Reading.A few days later he went back to the field and recovered Jayden’s body, stuffed it into a suitcase and took a taxi to the cemetery at All Saints’ Church in Didcot.
Here he had enlisted the help of his younger brother Jake to dig a hole in the grave of their uncle Alan Kennedy. Under cover of darkness, Blakeley dumped Jayden’s body into the grave.A police forensic tent in the graveyard of All Saints’ Church, Didcot on in December 2013 (Photo: Matt Cardy/Getty) Jayden was reported missing to police on 4 December and Blakeley was initially interviewed by police.
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addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l4"}); }He denied knowing anything about her whereabouts, claiming he was now in a relationship with someone else.A witness later reported seeing Blakeley with a suitcase near the cemetery and on 18 December police began excavating a disturbed grave at the site.There they found the body of Jayden Parkinson.
Where is Ben Blakeley now and how long was he jailed for? Ben Blakeley finally admitted killing Jayden but claimed it was manslaughter and not murder.He went on trial for murder at Oxford Crown Court in summer 2014 and was found guilty of her murder on 24 July.He had pleaded guilty to a second count of perverting the course of justice, by burying Jayden’s body.
It emerged in court the former binman had previous convictions for violence and possession of drugs.if(window.adverts) { window.
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adverts.addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l5"}); }And as a teenager he had told a member of staff at the children’s home where he lived if he ever had to dispose of a body he would hide it in an old grave so the body parts would get mixed up, confusing any DNA tests.He was sentenced to life in prison, to serve a minimum of 20 years.
Sentencing him Judge Patrick Eccles said: “To every reasonable enquiry by police officers and others about the disappearance of Jayden you responded with foul mouthed abuse in which you created a web of lies about where she might be, accompanied by obscene imprecations that you did not care where she was and that she meant nothing to you. “It required a heart of stone to keep up that pretence, and a heart of stone as well to deal with her body in the way you did.”Samantha Shrewsbury at her daughter Jayden’s grave (Photo: Channel 5)After Blakely was sentenced, Jayden’s family released a statement saying: “We will never be able to find an ounce of forgiveness for the evil that murdered Jayden and then concealed her body in such a cold, calculated and callous manner.
“For us as a family, today is not the final chapter in this tragedy.“We will never be able to celebrate birthdays, Easter or Christmas with Jayden, and we will never get to see Jayden grow up, get married and have children – this is our life sentence, it’s now time for Ben Blakeley to start his.”if(window.
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adverts) { window.adverts.addToArray({"pos": "mpu_tablet_l6"}); }Jayden’s father Paul Parkinson had suffered a heart attack and died just days before the murder trial began.
Ten years after her daughter’s murder in December 2023, Ms Shrewsbury spoke to the BBC about the case.The mother-of-three said she would “never, ever” forgive Blakeley and would “detest and hate that man for the rest of my life”.But she added: “I think I would meet him – I want to see him face-to-face and look into his eyes and I want to know why.
”The 57-year-old now shares help and advice with victims of domestic abuse on her Jayden’s Gift Facebook page..
