Video: ‘Time will never erase the evil that took Jayden away from us’

Yesterday the teenager was jailed for three years for unknowingly concealing the 17-year-old’s body in an occupied Didcot grave.

Blakeley, of Venners Water, Didcot, admitted perverting the course of justice after his 22-year-old brother Ben murdered Jayden in countryside south of Didcot.

The 18-year-old was involved in hiding her body twice in December 2013 – first in a hole dug near the murder scene, then in the grave of the men’s uncle Alan Kennedy in All Saints churchyard.

• Ben Blakeley

Ben Blakeley, of Christchurch Road, Reading, was found guilty of his ex-girlfriend’s murder last year at Oxford Crown Court and sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 20 years.

Ben Blakeley’s younger brother went on trial twice accused of knowingly preventing a lawful burial, but was found not guilty after both juries failed to reach verdicts.

The teenager has always maintained he had no idea Ben had killed Jayden – instead thinking he was first helping him bury weapons, then a dead dog and a dead cat.

• Jake Blakeley

Jake claimed it was not until December 17, 2013, that he realised the truth, causing him to tell police where they could find Jayden’s body.

But yesterday Jayden’s mum Samantha Shrewsbury said her family would never forgive either brother for their crimes.

In a statement read in court by prosecutor Matthew Walsh, she wrote: “Nothing will ever convince my family and I that Jake has any remorse other than for himself.

“When the jury could not reach a verdict he was sitting in the dock smiling and laughing and rubbing his hands together as if he had won a prize.

“I and my family do not believe justice has been done for Jayden and will not ever feel any form of forgiveness for the Blakeley brothers for the horror they have inflicted upon Jayden and our family.”

Speaking outside court she added: “We will never be convinced that Jake did not know what he was doing that night in the church cemetery.

“Time will never erase the evil that took Jayden from us. We can never forget or forgive the Blakeley brothers.

“Our nightmare will never end.”

Jayden Parkinson.

Sentencing Jake Blakeley, Judge Patrick Eccles said he had “prolonged the agony” of Jayden’s family and friends.

He told the teenager: “It seems to me you were guilty of an almost incredible degree of stupidity and obtuseness, by helping Ben conceal her body without knowing what you were doing.

“The pain you caused by impeding the police investigation was significant.”

Martin Steen, defending, said his client would “never live down” helping to conceal Jayden’s body, but maintained he had not realised what he was doing.

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Reading a letter from Jake Blakeley, which caused Jayden’s family to walk out of court, he said: “What happened should never have happened.

“If I had really known what was going on I would have done anything and everything I could to prevent it. But I couldn’t, because I didn’t know.”

Mr Steen added: “He will never live down the fact that he is Ben Blakeley’s brother.

“He will never live it down in the eyes of people who are determined to ignore some parts of the evidence and to hold against him that which he has not done. It wasn’t Jake who killed Jayden, and he should not be sentenced or vilified on the basis that he did.”

The officer who led the investigation, Detective Inspector Craig Kirby from Thames Valley Police’s Major Crime Unit, said: “Jake Blakeley was sentenced to three years detention, having previously pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice on a ‘basis of plea’.

“He knew he was helping his brother to conceal a criminal act, but did not know he was helping to bury Jayden Parkinson’s body.

“While I am disappointed that the jury were unable to reach a verdict in respect of the preventing a lawful burial charge, the hung jury demonstrates the difficulties that the investigation faced in piecing together what happened on December 3, 2013, and over the following week.”