Jenny Nicholl Murder Trial
The trial of David Hodgson, who is accused of killing teenager Jenny Nicholl. David Hodgson, 47, of Olav Road, Richmond, denies murdering the 19-year-old in June 2005.
VIDEO
* Detective Superintendent Sue Cross speaks outside court
* Brian and Ann Nicholl speak outside court
* Reporter Joe Willis looks back over the investigation.
CASE CLOSED
Police: We won't rest until we find Jenny
DETECTIVES are planning to interview murderer David Hodgson in the hope of persuading him to reveal where he hid Jenny Nicholl's body.
Whatever the outcome of the interview, the detective who led the murder investigation pledged officers would never stop looking for the teenager's remains.
Hodgson, an unemployed father-of-two, was yesterday branded a devious liar by the judge, before being led away to begin a life sentence for the 19-year-old's murder.
Hodgson, 48, of Olav Road, Richmond, North Yorkshire, showed no emotion as he was told he must serve a minimum of 18 years.
Speaking outside Teesside Crown Court, Detective Superintendent Sue Cross said: "We won't really stop until we have found Jenny's body.
"That is important, not only to us to find out what happened, but primarily to the family to give them that dignity - that closure.
"We will review the case so far, then look at the options open and available to us and that will include making approaches to David Hodgson."
She added: "If David Hodgson hears this, I would appeal to him to search inside his conscience and tell us what's actually happened to Jenny and where she is.
"Only David Hodgson can answer that question. Only he can decide if his conscience is sufficiently damaged by this experience to tell us where Jenny is."
Jenny's parents, Brian and Ann Nicholl, attended yesterday's hearing, but declined to comment on the sentence.
Hodgson was found guilty on Tuesday of murdering Jenny on or around June 30, 2005.
During the five-week trial, the court heard the pair had been having a relationship since Jenny was at school.
Prosecutors claimed Hodgson was a jealous man, who was angry about Jenny's new relationship with his brother, Robert.
The jury was told the defendant murdered Jenny after the pair went camping together.
Det Supt Cross said: "The difficult decision was deciding that Jenny was dead and really that was based on Jenny's personality, her lifestyle. Everything that we had in our investigation told us that there was no reason why this young girl would just leave Richmond and not have any contact with her family.
"Once that decision was made, there was an awful lot of hard work, using things like telephone data to actually build a case around David Hodgson, who has been primarily our only suspect."
The officer said text messages sent from Jenny's mobile phone by Hodgson soon after the teenager vanished were key.
The texts were sent to Jenny's father and two of her friends.
She said: "This is a new type of linguistic analysis that is taking place, looking at text messages and how they can be used.
"I think everyone has an individual texting style and that was put to the jury - that these text messages, we believed, were never sent by Jenny Nicholl."
Det Supt Cross appealed to family members, friends or associates of David Hodgson to come forward with information they may have held back from police.
Anyone with information is asked to call 0845-60-60-247.
2:03am Thursday 21st February 2008
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