00:00:19
- [Vivica] Observing the signs. - It's his armor. as long as I've got
this hood up, you can't harm me.
00:00:28
- [Vivica] Detecting
changing stories. - [Vivica] Spotting
when to hold back.
00:00:36
- [Kul] The questions
that the officers posed... ...are incredibly
intuitive questions.
00:00:44
- [Vivica] And when to close in. - I'm Vivica A. Fox. And I'm about to
take you on a journey
00:00:54
to uncover the secrets
of the interrogation room. As an award-winning actress,
I know how to play a part,
00:01:01
and convince audiences
I'm someone else. In the interrogation room, a suspect must
play the role of their life
00:01:09
to convince detectives
of their innocence, if they wanna
make it out of that room
00:01:13
with their freedom. (dramatic music) - [Vivica] It's December, 2013, and in Reading, England,
00:01:39
a 22-year-old man has been
brought in for questioning by Thames Valley Police.
00:01:53
- [Vivica] Ben Blakeley
is being questioned about the disappearance
of his former girlfriend.
00:02:03
- [Vivica] Jayden Parkinson
is 17-years-old. She was seen on CCTV
over a week ago,
00:02:09
leaving the shelter
where she lives. - Jayden was very outgoing.
She was funny, entertaining.
00:02:28
- None of Jayden's
family or friends have heard from her
since she left the shelter.
00:02:33
And detectives are growing
increasingly concerned for her wellbeing. Eventually,
the case finds its way
00:02:39
to the head of major crime,
Chris Ward. - Jayden was reported missing in the early hours
of the 4th of December.
00:02:55
- Jayden's gone missing before,
but in those cases, she'd always
made contact with people.
00:03:08
- [Vivica] Jayden
had started seeing former garbage collector
Ben Blakeley a year earlier.
00:03:24
- He's very charming,
he spent money on her, he looked after her. - [Vivica] Ben also turned on
the charm with Jayden's family.
00:03:45
- [Vivica] But it wasn't
long before mom, Sam, started to notice cracks
in the relationship
00:03:49
between her daughter, Jayden, and the dream boyfriend. - When we started to look
back at the events
00:04:14
that happened prior to
Jayden going missing, the first thing that
was really clear
00:04:18
was that she was being
completely controlled by Ben. - [Vivica] After 11-months,
00:04:23
and with the relationship
taking a troubling turn, Jayden told Ben it was over.
00:04:29
Whatever a person's character, the job of the detectives
in the interrogation room
00:04:34
is to focus on the crime. And that's just as true for the
Thames Valley police detectives
00:04:40
interviewing Ben Blakeley. - An unwritten law, really, for British policing
investigations,
00:04:47
when you start focusing in
on the individual, you can actually create a lot of
bias within the investigation.
00:04:53
- This person here,
he could be innocent, and therefore we have to look
at this with a clean slate.
00:04:59
- He's not a very pleasant
person at all, in any regard, but that doesn't make
him guilty of anything.
00:05:04
- In the case of
a missing person, an initial line of questioning
for detectives
00:05:09
is to talk to those
who are closest to that person. In the case of a young woman,
00:05:14
there may be things that
only her ex-partner may know. - We would always seek to
speak to the person's partner,
00:05:20
that's part of
the investigation. What you're seeking to do
is establish where should they be?
What have they told you?
00:05:25
Is there anywhere
we can go and look for them? Are there any concerns? - [Vivica] Cops are hoping that
00:05:30
by talking to Jayden's ex, they can work out
why she's gone missing, or even where she could be.
00:05:36
(dramatic music) - We can see with Blakeley,
quite early in the interview, that this is not somebody that's
a stranger to a police station.
00:06:03
- [Chris] I wouldn't say
he was a prolific criminal. The local police knew him.
00:06:06
He was a suspect in quite a few theft offences on the railways, antisocial behavior.
00:06:12
- Blakeley is as comfortable
in a police interrogation as one could be, 'cause he's
been there many times before.
00:06:16
This is what he does,
this is who he is. - [Vivica] And as the interview
gets underway,
00:06:22
Blakeley keeps his hoodie
firmly over his head. - It's his armor, if you like, it's almost saying, "As long
as I've got this hood up,
00:06:28
you can't harm me." - To him, that's being street, that's being cool,
that's being hip,
00:06:34
that's being, "I don't care". - [Vivica] He may seem
openly defiant, but Ben Blakeley
is facing some serious charges.
00:06:42
Former girlfriend Jayden
contacted her ex eight-days ago
to arrange a meetup. No one has seen her since.
00:07:07
- So with Blakeley, we've got a very
larger-than-life character. - [Vivica] Detectives
proceed to question Blakeley
00:07:20
on his last meeting with Jayden, although he seems to have
no intention of playing ball.
00:07:39
- [Ciolino]
These are all attempts of just taking the heat off. Anything to deflect
the topic of conversation,
00:07:46
which is
where's this missing girl? - Despite the protests
and the aggressive attitude,
00:08:13
this is a breakthrough
in Ben Blakeley's interview, he's admitted to
meeting up with Jayden,
00:08:18
crucially, around the time
she was last seen alive. Detectives now have
a line of questioning
00:08:24
that is providing a lead. Coming up,
the life-changing news that rocked Jayden's world.
00:08:32
- [Chris] She told him that
she was pregnant, he'd been a shouting
down the phone.
00:08:34
- [Vivica] And the body language that portrays
Blakeley's mindset. - You'll notice he sits back
in his chair, extends his arms,
00:08:42
so that's basically saying, "I have no fear." (dramatic music) (tense music) - [Vivica] 22-year-old former
garbage collector Ben Blakeley
00:09:06
says it's over weeks since his
ex-girlfriend, Jayden Parkinson, has been in touch.
00:09:11
- The key to
any missing person inquiry is, we call it clearing
the ground from under your feet.
00:09:14
So where should that person be? Where are they
actually missing from? - Then moving on to who was
the last person to see them?
00:09:31
What were the circumstances in
which they last saw the person? - [Vivica] But far from
clearing the ground,
00:09:41
the detectives in this case are facing obstacles
at every turn, thanks to Blakeley's
lack of cooperation.
00:10:02
- We see some very tell-tale
gestures that he makes. - These are all around
dominance, arrogance,
00:10:16
trying to undermine the process, trying to intimidate
the officers. - The police have already
got one of my phones.
00:10:23
- When we stretch
our arms out, or, say, if we're standing
and we spread our feet,
00:10:29
the more space that we occupy, psychologically,
what we're saying is that the more powerful person that
they believe themselves to be.
00:10:40
- So, often you may see
stars on the red carpet, they'll put their
hands on the hips,
00:10:45
you'll see politicians
making similar gestures. So, with Blakeley you'll notice
he sits back in his chair,
00:10:50
extend his arms. So that's basically saying,
"I have no fear." - If Blakeley can remember
the phone number
00:10:57
Jayden used to call him, detectives may be able to
work out where she was
at the time of the call.
00:11:05
- It's really important to
have a timeline of events. So things that you know,
00:11:09
and can categorically say, particularly about
where somebody was. - [Vivica] With the call
failing to reveal any clues,
00:11:20
detectives try a different tack. CCTV recorded the moment
the 17-year-old left the shelter
called One Foot Forward.
00:11:40
- [Vivica]
According to Blakeley, ex-girlfriend Jayden
came straight to the point.
00:11:50
- Well, he had 20,
and I wasn't giving her 20.
Gotta eat, right? - Blakeley's recollection
of the meeting is revealing.
00:11:56
He seems to be
making suggestions as to Jayden's whereabouts. - Throughout the interview,
00:12:38
there's lots of moments
of paranoia. He likes to think
he's a super confident guy,
but he's not.
00:12:44
I think he's riddled with
self-doubt, with insecurity, and lack of self-esteem, really.
00:12:49
He's what we call
a school-yard bully. - They do a couple
of clever things, I noticed,
00:13:02
in the interview process, particularly
the main interviewer drops from having this
very professional voice,
00:13:11
to actually bringing out
his local accent quite strongly. - And it's almost like
coming down to Blakeley's level.
00:13:22
They were both
ground-floor accents,
if you like. And I think what he was trying
to do was build a rapport.
00:13:29
- Rapport building is really
important in an interview, because if you become negative
or critical of the person,
00:13:34
or what you think they've done, that can cause the person
to completely disengage.
00:13:50
- They don't mistreat him, they don't talk down to him,
they're just trying, "Listen, we're trying to
locate this girl,
00:13:57
"we're trying to find her." - Our main investigation
objectives are to find Jayden,
00:14:02
and anything that he could
tell us, or tell the police that would find her is obviously really useful
and helpful.
00:14:19
- The fact that the couple met
just before Jayden vanished doesn't mean that Ben Blakeley
is involved.
00:14:25
But there is more
about their history together that may have played a role
in her disappearance.
00:14:31
The teenager had just received
some life-changing news. (Sam exhales) - [Vivica] Sam arranged
to meet her daughter
00:14:55
to discuss the situation. They went to a pub to talk through
what Jayden wanted to do.
00:15:12
- [Vivica] Jayden had already
told staff at the shelter and they were looking at
a plan of action
00:15:17
that would support
the situation. - [Vivica] Back in
the interrogation room, detectives want to find out
00:15:33
if Jayden had shared
the news of her pregnancy with her ex-boyfriend. - She'd had a conversation
with him on the telephone,
00:16:13
and she told him that
she was pregnant. - [Vivica] Cops believe
Jayden and Blakeley
00:16:28
decided to meet up to discuss
the pregnancy in person on the same day she disappeared.
00:16:34
- [Chris] She arranged
to meet him later that day to have a conversation
with him about the baby,
00:16:38
and what she wanted to do. - Detectives are not convinced by Blakeley's casual response
to Jayden's news,
00:16:55
or his denials that it was
ever discussed at their meeting. They decide to probe
a bit deeper
00:17:01
into his reaction
to the possible pregnancy. - His excuse is,
"Hey, I'm a weed smoker, man,
00:17:16
you all know
we don't have children."
Really? - [Vivica] And when
the detectives ask more
about this,
00:17:22
Blakeley becomes defensive. - He lost all that bravado,
that cockiness, that smile suddenly disappeared,
00:17:32
and he said,
"It's none of your business." - You could see that this
whole issue around children
00:17:44
does play with him. It is something that,
for whatever reason, is something that resonates
with him quite strongly.
00:17:53
- [Vivica] And it turns out
that Blakeley is, in fact, already a father. - [Chris] He had two children
with a previous partner.
00:18:00
He wasn't allowed to
see the children, and he wasn't allowed to
have anything to do with them.
00:18:26
- The revelation that Blakeley
not only has other children, but also that
he's estranged from them,
00:18:32
is a cause for concern,
in relation to an allegedly pregnant
17-year-old Jayden Parkinson.
00:18:38
Not only that, but detectives are also aware that Jayden
had contacted the cops
00:18:45
in the days before
her disappearance, worried about the threats
that Blakeley had made.
00:19:06
- [Vivica] Blakeley, however,
is flat-out denying any knowledge of any threats.
00:19:38
- One of Blakeley's big defenses
in this whole case is, "Well, I would
spend money on her."
00:19:43
Blakeley has no concept of
what a normal relationship is. This is part of
the problem, right?
00:19:48
- [Vivica] As detectives
increase the pressure
on Blakeley, he becomes angrier,
and starts to lose control,
00:19:54
lashing out
with hateful, racist language. - He was being racist,
he was being very disrespectful.
00:20:19
He was trying to
antagonize the police. - [Kul] A lot of the people
that we will interview
00:20:23
will use very similar language. So you sort of
get hardened to it. But what you're also looking for
00:20:28
is little breaks
in his accounts. You're looking for
the little gaps. You're looking for the nuances,
00:20:36
you're looking for the little
mistakes that he's making. - [Vivica] Blakeley realizes
00:20:53
he just admitted to knowing more
about the threats after all. - There's something called
the law of reversal effect
in psychology.
00:21:06
The more that somebody
wants something, the less it tends to happen. So the more he gets angry,
00:21:10
the more calmer
the officers become, and that's not what he wants. So therefore that
gets him even more angry.
00:21:26
- [Vivica] As the atmosphere
intensifies, the layout of the
interrogation room is important.
00:21:30
- The table's
bolted to the floor, so the suspect can't
throw it at the officers,
00:21:34
and sometimes
the chairs are as well. - [Vivica] Even the seating plan
is designed to help the cops.
00:21:40
- You'll see the officers
are effectively behind a table. He's sat directly
in front of them.
00:21:45
So it's more of a two people
talking to one person. - [Vivica] But Blakeley
refuses to be intimidated,
00:21:51
and he continues to
protest his innocence. - He's wearing these things
like a badge of honor,
00:22:07
and saying,
"Look, I'm a serious criminal, "I'm a serious, career criminal, "and kidnapping
is not my thing."
00:22:13
- [Vivica] Ben Blakeley
may be working hard to convince his interrogators that he's not involved
00:22:17
in Jayden Parkinson's
disappearance. But alarm bells are ringing. He's confirmed
his former girlfriend
00:22:24
told him she was pregnant, but he seems to be in denial. He insists
he hasn't threatened Jayden,
00:22:32
but he seems to know specific
details about those threats. There's a growing
sense of urgency
00:22:38
for the detective team
to uncover just how much Jayden's
ex-boyfriend really does know.
00:22:45
Coming up, try to get Blakeley
to face up to reality. - His facial muscles
suddenly relax,
00:22:53
and he looks serious
for just, like, a second or two. - [Vivica]
And the change of heart
00:22:58
that leads to an offer of help. - If you're an interrogator, what's gonna motivate this guy
to tell me the truth?
00:23:31
- British detectives
are trying to work out if 22-year-old Ben Blakeley knows anything about
the disappearance
00:23:38
of his former girlfriend Jayden. - What's going on in the
interrogation room is a dance,
00:23:59
we're tangoing with each other. - The questions that the
officers pose towards Blakeley
00:24:04
might seem like
innocent questions, but they're incredibly
intuitive questions,
00:24:09
and there's a couple of points
where the police officers ask some really powerful questions.
00:24:15
- You suddenly see Blakeley having what I call
an emotional shift. You see his facial expressions
just suddenly drop,
00:24:21
his facial muscles
suddenly relax, and he looks serious
for just a second or two.
00:24:27
So what the officers
managed to do there is get Blakeley to reimagine
where Jayden actually is,
00:24:33
and what has actually
happened to Jayden before he puts this veneer on
again of cockiness.
00:24:47
- And what they do
for those officers is no more than
send an alarm bell saying,
00:24:52
"Okay, we've touched on
something here," note it,
and come back to it again.
00:25:07
- Blakeley likes the game,
he likes the chase. He likes outsmarting
the authorities,
00:25:13
or thinking
he has outsmarted them. - I do believe
that to some degree he thought this was
like a game of chess.
00:25:32
Was he going to win, or were
the officers going to win? - The truth is, I believe,
that he's thinking on his feet.
00:25:57
- He almost wants
to keep talking, 'cause he's
that sort of a person. He wants to be
center of attention.
00:26:03
He wants to be right
at the forefront. - [Vivica] Blakeley
starts to get carried away,
00:26:32
seeming almost concerned
about Jayden's whereabouts, even claiming he's seen
a car driven by the mystery man
00:26:38
he thinks she's seeing. - I think that he probably,
during the interview process,
00:26:51
in his own head,
was kicking himself, because he's now having to
create a whole new cover story.
00:27:14
- With Blakeley only willing
to provide sketchy details, it seems the interview
may have gone as far as it can.
00:27:22
But as the detectives
start to wind things up, Blakeley puts a startling
proposition on the table.
00:27:33
- He, all of a sudden,
kicks into this whole, "Well I could find her
right now,
00:27:37
"I could go out
and find her easily." - Blakeley wants the detectives
to believe that
00:27:42
his current indifference
to Jayden's welfare is the reaction of
a jilted boyfriend.
00:27:47
But cops know that
even before she disappeared, their relationship
was often tense.
00:27:54
- What we know is that when
she made the initial call to Ben from One Foot Forward,
00:27:58
'cause she didn't have
her phone, 'cause he had it, she phoned his mobile
from a landline there.
00:28:07
- He had taken her phone, so she had no contact with
other people on social media.
00:28:43
- [Vivica] It's becoming clear that Blakeley had a history
of abusive behavior,
00:28:47
so much so that Jayden had recently
reported some of it to the cops. - Jayden had come
forward to the police,
00:28:55
before her disappearance, and reported the fact
that Ben Blakeley had taken photographs of her
on his phone
00:29:01
of her coming out
of the shower naked. - Even though they
weren't together, he would insist that
she wasn't allowed to
00:29:23
go out into the communal areas
of One Foot Forward. - [Vivica] Most worrying
is the fact that
00:29:37
Ben had been physically violent
toward Jayden. - [Chris] That she became very
quiet, very insular,
00:29:45
didn't speak to many friends. - [Vivica] On that occasion,
Jayden's mom drove to Reading,
00:29:57
a town west of London,
to rescue her, but it was far from
an isolated incident.
00:30:04
- There are stories there
from one of the past girlfriends where she was seen talking
to somebody in the street.
00:30:09
He went into a violent rage. - We know he'd harmed animals,
he'd killed cats, and left it
on his ex-girlfriend's pillow.
00:30:25
- [Vivica] Family had
noticed a change in Jayden, but she refused to
confirm Blakeley's abuse.
00:30:49
- [Vivica] It's because of
this history that Blakeley has been
arrested on suspicion of kidnap.
00:31:13
- This was one of the pivotal
moments in the interview. - You saw on his face,
momentarily fell,
00:31:22
he became serious. - After more than an hour
in the interview room, the detectives have nowhere
left to go with Blakeley.
00:31:56
He has failed to provide
any substantial testimony that might help them
find Jayden.
00:32:02
And they have insufficient
evidence to charge him. - [Kul] I'm sure that the police
officers involved
00:32:10
would've thought that
he is guilty of something. - [Chris] I was immediately
very concerned
00:32:15
about the circumstances, and I decided then that this would come into
a major crime inquiry.
00:32:23
- They would've been looking
to break down that interview, to look for every single thing
that he said in that interview
00:32:29
to see whether we could prove
or disprove what is being said. - After eight days,
00:32:34
when no one has
seen or heard from vulnerable 17-year-old Jayden, detectives know that
time is running out.
00:32:43
However, the team is about to
make a breakthrough in the case, with the help of critical CCTV.
00:32:50
Coming up, evidence
that allows detectives to track Blakeley's movements around the time
that Jayden disappears.
00:32:58
- We see Blakeley arriving
back into that train station very late at night. - [Vivica] And one breakthrough
leads to another.
00:33:06
- [Chris] They'd gone to
quite a lot of trouble to cover up the soil. On examining it,
it became obvious that
00:33:11
that had been
recently disturbed. - [Vivica]
On December 11th, 2013, 17-year-old Jayden Parkinson
00:33:22
had already been missing
for eight days when her ex-boyfriend was
released from custody
00:33:28
because the cops didn't have
enough evidence to charge him. Ben Blakeley said that
he travelled by train
00:33:33
to nearby Oxford
on December 3rd, the day Jayden disappeared, for a brief meeting with her.
00:33:41
Cops decided to examine CCTV
from local train stations. It told a different story.
00:33:48
- [Chris] And what
was very clear was that both Jayden
and Ben Blakeley had walked through
Oxford Railway Station
00:33:54
through the ticket barriers. - The CCTV was part of
a number of pieces of evidence
00:34:07
that were very significant, because they just confirmed that
they had both been in Oxford,
00:34:12
they'd both gone to Didcot. - This was the breakthrough
the cops needed. But footage from Didcot Train
Station later that same day
00:34:21
caused the cops real concern. - We saw early on in the day that Jayden,
quite clearly with Blakeley,
00:34:29
is leaving the train station. But then we see Blakeley
later on in the CCTV footage
00:34:36
arriving back
into that train station very late at night, by himself. - Combined with
Blakeley's history of abuse
00:34:42
and violent threats, the CCTV footage
persuaded the cops to rearrest Ben Blakeley
00:34:49
just two-days
after his first interview. Only this time,
it was on suspicion of murder.
00:35:05
- It's quite an important
and brave step for the police to take. - [Chris] It was
probably 24-hours
00:35:11
after we'd reviewed everything that I was, sadly,
but realistically, of the opinion that
Jayden was dead.
00:35:21
- [Vivica] When cops
spoke to Blakeley, there was an obvious change
in his behavior.
00:35:26
- He wasn't as arrogant,
he wasn't baiting the officers. He was simply sat there
saying nothing.
00:35:31
- He must now be thinking, "Goodness, for them
to arrest me for murder, "they must know something."
00:35:37
- [Chris] He's not prepared
to say anything that might incriminate him, or give away any evidence
of what he has done to Jayden.
00:35:46
- Most murder investigations
begin when a body is discovered, but it's much more unusual
00:35:52
for somebody to be charged
without this. And for a prosecution to
be successful in court,
00:35:58
the cops know they still
need compelling evidence to secure a conviction. - Crown Prosecution Services
made it very clear to me
00:36:05
that if we hadn't found
her body within a week, it was unlikely that they would
pursue that case at that time.
00:36:14
We started doing
some media appeals, and it was gaining
quite a lot of traction,
00:36:17
particularly in Didcot. - [Vivica] Within 24-hours, an important witness
contacted the cops.
00:36:24
- A taxi driver came forward. He was quite concerned, because he described
picking up a young man
00:36:30
at two o'clock in the morning
in a dirt track. - He had to help lift
this muddy suitcase,
00:36:37
that was extremely heavy,
into the taxi. - The guy that he took said that his wife had
kicked him out of the house,
00:36:44
and that's why
he had the suitcase. But he thought
that was very suspicious, given that
there was a girl missing.
00:36:50
- Detectives didn't recognize the name of the person
who booked the cab, so they looked to identify
the owner of the phone.
00:36:58
The call to the cab driver was made from a cell phone that belonged to none other than
Ben Blakeley.
00:37:05
- We then went to
the grandparents' house, to speak to them. And they said, "Oh, yeah,
Ben came here the other day.
00:37:12
"He was really desperate
for a suitcase." She goes, "It's in the shed." And when we went to the shed,
00:37:16
there was the suitcase,
covered in mud. - [Vivica] Despite the evidence
stacking up,
00:37:21
cops still don't know
where Jayden is. An interview with Blakeley's
younger brother, Jake,
00:37:27
was about to change all that. - Ben's brother was arrested, because we had CCTV of him
00:37:33
a week after we knew Jayden
had gone missing, coming back through Didcot,
and he had mud on his clothing.
00:37:41
- [Vivica] Jake said nothing
during his interview. But afterwards, his solicitor handed the cops
a note Jake had written.
00:37:48
- He'd written words
to the effect of, "I believe the body
of Jayden Parkinson
00:37:52
"is buried in a grave in Dicot." - [Reporter] But as officers
search for clues as to what happened to Jayden,
00:38:00
and the excavation process
continues, ultimately, it's here
where the answers may lie.
00:38:08
- [Vivica] Meanwhile,
Jake described to cops how he remembered the night. - [Chris] He said that
both him and Ben
00:38:16
had gone to their uncle's grave
at one o'clock in the morning. Ben had explained to his brother
00:38:21
that there were a dead cat
and dog in the suitcase that he needed to dispose of.
00:38:27
And he said that he tipped
the contents into the grave. His brother said
he didn't see what that was,
00:38:33
and then he just helped him
put the soil back on top. - Officers are
securing that grave
00:38:40
in a certain part
of the cemetery as we speak. - [Vivica]
On December 18th, 2013,
00:38:45
two-weeks after she was
first reported missing, cops discovered Jayden's body
in the church graveyard.
00:38:51
It's the job of a specialist
family liaison officer to break the devastating news
to Jayden's family.
00:39:18
- Ben Blakeley still said
nothing about Jayden's death. A court date was set
for July the following year.
00:39:25
It wasn't until
the trial was just weeks away that Blakeley decided to speak
to a prison priest.
00:39:32
- He told the prison chaplain he had gone to an area
called the Spooky Barn, which is in Didcot.
00:39:39
They had then
walked to a bridge, where they'd had an argument. He describes grabbing Jayden
around the throat,
00:39:45
and then her falling
off a bridge. He then said he tried to
help her and resuscitate her,
00:39:51
but he was unable to do so. He panicked,
he didn't contact the police, or the emergency services,
00:39:57
and he subsequently dug a grave,
effectively, in that field and he buried her body in there.
00:40:03
His story
didn't stack up at all, because when you
go to that bridge, it's less than a foot
off the ground.
00:40:09
So there was no way
you could fall off that bridge and give yourself
a significant injury.
00:40:15
- [Vivica] Seven-months
after Jayden was killed, Ben Blakeley was
tried for her murder.
00:40:23
In court he appeared to have
regained all of his bravado. - [Chris] I've never seen
somebody behave
00:40:30
like Ben Blakeley
behaved in court. From the moment that he arrived, he was swearing,
he was shouting,
00:40:36
he was threatening the judge, he was threatening
the prosecution barrister. - The witnesses that
very bravely gave evidence
00:40:48
about his previous behavior had to be put behind screens, so we had to have
special measures for them.
00:40:54
But even when
they walked out of court, he would shout at them,
and be very derogatory.
00:41:00
- The evidence provided in court all pointed to Jayden's death being anything but
a crime of passion.
00:41:08
Blakeley deliberately lured
his pregnant ex-girlfriend to a quiet barn nestled in
the secluded countryside.
00:41:16
- I believe that Jayden
was murdered in the barn. He then dragged her
body across the field,
00:41:21
and that's where we found
her bracelet in the hedge. Then he buried her body
near to the bridge.
00:41:29
- [Vivica] Blakeley returned to
the spot six-days later to move Jayden's body
to his uncle's grave.
00:41:35
- He was worried that
she would be discovered there, so I think he moved her
in order to hide it in somewhere
00:41:40
where he thought
she'd never be found. - [Vivica] There was even
a suggestion that Blakeley had thought
through where to hide a body
00:41:48
from a young age. - On July 25th, 2014, Ben Blakeley was found guilty of the murder
of Jayden Parkinson,
00:42:14
and sentenced to life in prison. The judge ruled that he must
serve a minimum of 20-years.
00:42:21
The following year,
his brother Jake was convicted of perverting
the course of justice,
00:42:26
and sentenced to
three years in prison for his role in the crime. Thanks to the hard work
of detectives,
00:42:34
Jayden's killer was
finally brought to justice. But her family are still left
with the pain
00:42:40
of losing a daughter
and her unborn child. - She's a 17-year-old girl,
she's just beginning her life.
00:43:00
She gained some independence. - Now all that's
been taken away from her. - [Vivica] Jayden's mother
00:43:12
wants her daughter's
story to be remembered. She hopes it may stop
someone else
00:43:17
from suffering
the domestic abuse that ended Jayden's young life. (dramatic music)