Jessie Earl inquest: Former detective had 'no doubt' woman was murdered

Miss Earl's remains were found in dense undergrowth near Beachy Head nine years after she disappeared

A former detective told an inquest she always believed an art student found dead more than 30 years ago was murdered.

The body of Jessie Earl, 22, was found in undergrowth near Beachy Head, East Sussex, in 1989, nine years after she disappeared.

An inquest at the time concluded an open verdict.

Former Sussex Police Det Sgt Anne Capon told the hearing: "It was always my opinion that Jessie was murdered."

The High Court approved a new hearing in December.

Miss Earl's parents, John and Valerie Earl, had criticised the first police investigation as "woefully inadequate".

The force had treated Miss Earl's death as suspicious, but in 2000, after forensic, scene, witness and pathology inquiries, Sussex Police recorded her death as murder.

The new hearing opened at Eastbourne Town Hall on Tuesday

On the first day of the fresh hearing at Eastbourne Town Hall, Ms Capon, who worked on the original case in 1989 and the re-investigation in 2000, said she "never had any doubt as soon as her [Miss Earl's] remains were found".

The inquest heard that Miss Earl's body was found with no clothes except for a knotted brown bra.

Ms Capon told the hearing that evidence at the time pointed to Miss Earl probably being restrained with her bra and possibly sexually assaulted.

The inquest heard from former Det Sgt Anne Capon, who worked on the case in 1989 and when it was re-investigated in 2000

Forensic evidence

When the case was re-investigated in 2000, Ms Capon said she was brought in to work on the inquiry, and it was discovered that most of the original evidence exhibits had been destroyed, including the brown bra.

"There would have been every chance we might have got DNA, especially from the bra. The offender would have touched it. It was a really important thing for us", Ms Capon told the hearing.

The inquest also heard that in 1989 the Senior Investigating Officer had made a "policy decision" that the case was not going to be a murder investigation, and Ms Capon said she remembered "being told in no uncertain terms not to refer to it as a murder".

On opening the inquest, Sussex deputy coroner James Healy-Pratt told Miss Earl's family that he was "conscious you've had a long wait to put things right for Jessie".

Giving evidence remotely, Miss Earl's mother Valerie criticised the police investigation in 1989 saying: "We didn't seem to be making progress."

Mrs Earl said: "I was surprised how little we were told but I believed that was the way the police worked. I was very naïve, I felt I couldn't complain."

Her father John Earl said any suggestion at the time that his daughter was under pressure from her exams was "absolute nonsense".

The inquest continues.

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