Coroner: Inquest ruling will give no closure to Jenny's family (From The Northern Echo)

Coroner: Inquest ruling will give no closure to Jenny's family

1:25pm Tuesday 24th November 2009

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A RULING that teenager Jenny Nicholl was unlawfully killed by her middle-aged lover will not bring closure to her family, a coroner said yesterday.

Coroner Geoff Fell said her parents, Ann and Brian Nicholl, would only find closure when the 19-year-old’s body was found.

Speaking at the inquest into Jenny’s death, held in her home town of Richmond, North Yorkshire, Mr Fell urged the teenager’s killer, David Hodgson, to reveal out of “common humanity”

where he hid her body.

He said: “We don’t know where Jenny died, we don’t know really when Jenny died and we don’t know how she died – all we know is Jenny died.”

He continued: “Those who love and miss Jenny should be able to lay her to rest.

“This inquest is not closure for the family. That can only come when her family know where her permanent resting place is.”

The shopworker disappeared after leaving her family home on June 30, 2005, telling her mother she would not be back that night.

Fifty-year-old Hodgson was convicted of murdering Jenny last year after a court heard the pair had been lovers.

Prosecutors suggested the relationship came to a violent end when Hodgson became jealous over his brother, Robert’s, growing friendship with the teenager.

The father-of-two has refused to disclose how Jenny died or where he hid her body.

Detective Inspector Pete Martin, deputy senior investigating officer, said the evidence suggested that Jenny was killed in the Sandbeck Plantation, on the outskirts of Richmond.

Hodgson and Jenny would meet in wooden hides in the woods.

Jenny’s possessions, including her portable stereo and teddy, where found hidden in the plantation.

The inquest was held after authorisation was given by Justice Secretary Jack Straw, which is needed when someone is presumed dead, but no remains have been found.

Police will continue to push Hodgson to reveal the location of Jenny’s body, however no searches will take place until new leads come forward, Det Insp Martin said.

“The murder of Jenny Nicholl by David Hodgson will forever remain a tragedy to the people who loved and cared for her most, as well as for the wider community of Richmond,” he added.

“The outcome of the inquest will not provide closure for Jenny’s family and friends.

They and the police will not be satisfied until Jenny’s body is located and laid to rest in the way that she deserves.”

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