AS THE ‘EVIL’ STEPFATHER OF MURDERED SCHOOLGIKEIG
AS THE ‘EVIL’ STEPFATHER OF MURDERED SCHOOLGIRL KEIGHLEY BARTON WAS JAILED FOR A MINIMUM OF 25 YEARS ON THURSDAY HER BLONDE
MOTHER SCREAMED AT HIM FROM THE PUBLIC GALLERY: ‘YOU BASTARD.
I HOPE
YOU ROT.
‘
MR JUSTICE TURNER, WHO MADE THE 25 YEARS RECOMMENDATION
AFTER PASSING THE STATUTORY SENTENCE OF LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR
MURDER, TOLD 46 YEAR OLD RONALD BARTON:
‘YOU ARE AN EVIL, CYNICAL AND DEPRAVED MAN WHO SOCIETY AND
YOUR WIFE AND FAMILY DESERVE TO BE, AND NO DOUBT WILL BE, PROTECTED
FROM YOU FOR MANY YEARS.
‘
THE CASE IS ONE OF THE MOST BIZARRE IN BRITISH LEGAL
HISTORY.
THE PRETTY TEENAGER’S BODY HAS NEVER BEEN FOUND AND
MORE THAN 20 PEOPLE HAVE COME FORWARD TO REPORT SEEING THE 14 YEAR
OLD ALIVE AND WELL AFTER SHE WAS REPORTED MISSING.
BUT THE JURY DECIDED THAT HER STEPFATHER TOLD THE TRUTH
WHEN HE CONFESSED TO A PRISON CELLMATE THAT HE HAD KILLED THE GIRL
AND PUT HER BODY INTO A CAR CRUSHING MACHINE.
HE WANTED HER DEAD FOR TWO REASONS – TO SILENCE HER AND TO
GET BACK AT HIS ESTRANGED WIFE, WHO HAD TAKEN A NEW LOVER.
MR JUSTICE TURNER TOLD BARTON: ‘I AM SATISFIED THAT YOU NOT
ONLY SEXUALLY DEBASED, BUT WERE PREPARED TO COMMIT THE ULTIMATE CRIME
OF MURDER AGAINST THAT POOR GIRL.
‘
AS HE WAS JAILED BARTON GROANED AND COLLAPSED INTO THE ARMS
OF A PRISON OFFICER.
THE JUDGE REVEALED TO THE STUNNED COURT THAT HE HAD BEEN
SEXUALLY MOLESTING 14 YEAR OLD KEIGHLEY FOR YEARS
‘IT IS DISTURBING THAT YOU HAD STARTED GRATIFYING YOUR
SEXUAL DESIRES WITH HER WHEN SHE WAS ONLY EIGHT.
‘IT IS QUITE CLEAR TO ME THAT YOU MUST HAVE CONTINUED TO
ABUSE HER SEXUALLY .
INDEED IT IS CLEAR THAT IN RESPECT OF
OFFENCES, WHICH WERE NEVER TESTED, THAT YOU ACHIEVED HER SILENCE.
‘BUT IT WAS DIFFERENT STORY IN AUGUST, 1985.
YOU WERE
PREVENTED BY AN INJUNCTION OF THE HIGH COURT FROM SEEING EITHER YOUR
WIFE OR YOUR STEP DAUGHTER AND IT IS PLAIN THAT YOU APPRECIATED ANY
ATTEMPT TO INTERFERE WITH HER WAS GOING TO BE VERY MUCH MORE
DIFFICULT.
‘
BARTON ALSO WANTED TO ‘GET BACK’ AT HIS WIFE, WHO HAD TAKEN
A NEW LOVER.
THE JUDGE ALSO REFERRED TO TWO LETTERS WRITTEN BY KEIGHLEY
AFTER HER DISAPPEARANCE.
THE SCHOOLGIRL REFERRED IN THEM TO HER
MOTHER BEING ‘GREEDY AND SELFISH.
‘
BUT THE JUDGE COMMENTED: ‘ALTHOUGH THOSE LETTERS WERE
WRITTEN PHYSICALLY BY YOUR STEP-DAUGHTER, IT WAS YOUR MIND THAT WAS
BEHIND THEM.
‘
BARTON WAS ALSO CONVICTED BY THE JURY OF ABDUCTING THE
GIRL.
HE WAS GIVEN A SEPARATE SEVEN YEARS SENTENCE FOR THAT
OFFENCE.
MORE.
.
.
.
.
CENTRAL NEWS, PRESS ROOM, OLD BAILEY – TEL: 236 0116
ADD BARTON
AFTER THE VERDICT THE 38 YEAR OLD MOTHER OF KEIGHLEY
BARTON TALKED ABOUT THE NIGHTMARE OF NOT KNOWING WHERE HER
DAUGHTER’S BODY WAS.
THERESA BARTON SAID THE GRIM SECRET BARTON HAD TAKEN
TO THE CELLS WITH HIM HAD WORSENED HER TORMENT, WHICH BEGAN 15 MONTHS
AGO.
RED EYED SHE SAID ‘AFTER ALL THIS TIME I STILL DON’T KNOW
WHERE SHE IS.
I WANT TO GIVE HER A DECENT BURIAL.
‘
SHE TOLD HOW THE MAN SHE MARRIED TURNED INTO A VIOLENT SEX
MONSTER.
SHE HAD SEEN HIM THREATEN THE CHILD WITH A GUN
TO STOP HER GIVING EVIDENCE AGAINST HIM IN 1982.
‘HE FLEW INTO A RAGE AND HELD A .
22 RIFLE AT KEIGHLEY’S HEAD
AND THREATENED TO SHOOT HER IF SHE DID NOT DROP THE CHARGES.
WE WERE
PETRIFIED.
I SHOULD HAVE LEFT HIM EARLIER BUT I WAS TOO FRIGHTENED.
HE WAS LIKE A MADMAN.
‘
SHE SAID THAT AT FIRST THEY WERE VERY HAPPY TOGETHER AND
BARTON PLAYED THE CARING FATHER OFTEN CHANGING KEIGHLEY’S NAPPIES.
BY THEIR MARRIAGE THEY HAD TWO BOYS DARREN, AGED 12, AND DANNY, FIVE.
BUT AS THE YEARS WENT BY BARTON’S FATHERLY ROLE TOWARDS
KEIGHLEY TURNED INTO A SINISTER SEXUAL DESIRE, SHE REVEALED.
.
HE ALSO BECAME VIOLENT TOWARDS HER AND HER OTHER TWO
CHILDREN.
‘HE HAS THREATENED TO KILL THEM IF HE GETS OUT OF JAIL.
I
HOPE HE STAYS INSIDE FOR EVER.
I DON’T WANT TO BE LOOKING OVER MY
SHOULDER.
‘ THE BLONDE HOUSEWIFE CONTINUED.
SHE OUTLINED AN INCIDENT WHEN THEIR ELDEST SON DARREN WAS
ONLY 10.
‘DARREN WAS MUCKING ABOUT WITH A SQUEEZY BOTTLE WITH A
FRIEND AND SOME WATER WENT ON RONALD’S CAR.
HE WENT MAD.
HE
STARTED KICKING DARREN.
HE KICKED HIM WHILE HE WAS ON THE GROUND.
LIVING WITH HIM WAS A NIGHTMARE.
HE GOT MORE VIOLENT WITH DRINK.
‘
JUST TWO DAYS BEFORE KEIGHLEY DISAPPEARED, BARTON MADE A
TERRIFYING TELEPHONE CALL TO HER HOME IN SEBERT ROAD, FOREST GATE.
‘HE WAS DRUNK AND SAID ‘GET KEIGHLEY TO DROP THE
ALLEGATIONS AGAINST ME’.
HE SAID HE WOULD BLOW HIMSELF AWAY AND TAKE
SOMEONE WITH HIM IF I DIDN’T.
WHEN I SAID ‘ME?’ HE LAUGHED
HORRIBLY.
‘I THEN SAID ‘KEIGHLEY?’ AND HE LAUGHED AGAIN.
HE
ADDED ‘DEAD PEOPLE DON’T TALK’.
I WAS TERRIFIED AND SO WAS KEIGHLEY.
SHE SLEPT IN MY BED THAT NIGHT AND I STAYED UP ALL NIGHT WORRYING AND
LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW.
‘
AFTER ALL THE YEARS OF MISERY MRS.
BARTON HAS NOW BEGUN TO
FIND SOME HAPPINESS, ALTHOUGH SHE KNOWS THAT THE HORROR OF WHAT
HAPPENED TO KEIGHLEY WILL LIVE WITH HER FOREVER.
SHE IS NOW PLANNING TO MARRY HER CHILDHOOD SWEETHEART, ERIC
CROSS, 37.
THEY MET WERE THEY WERE TEENAGERS AND HAD A CHILD
TOGETHER.
BUT DURING THE PREGNANCY THE RELATIONSHIP BECAME STRAINED AND
THEY SPLIT UP.
AFTER THE VERDICT SHE FLUNG HERSELF INTO THE ARMS OF MR CROSS
AND SOBBED BITTERLY.
THEIR DAUGHTER, TRACEY, WHO IS NOW 19, GREW UP IN A FOSTER
HOME.
AFTER LEAVING THE HOME SHE WAS DETERMINED TO FIND HER
PARENTS.
HER PERSISTENCE PAID OFF AND WHEN SHE MET THEM SHE URGED
THEM TO GET TOGETHER AGAIN.
MRS.
BARTON SAID: ‘WE MET A FEW TIMES AND GOT A LOT CLOSER
AFTER KEIGHLEY DISAPPEARED.
NOW WE WANT TO GET MARRIED.
I’M BACK IN
LOVE.
IT IS UNBELIEVABLE.
‘
ERIC, WHO RUNS AN AMUSEMENT ARCADE IN THE WEST END OF
LONDON, SAID: ‘SHE HAS BEEN VERY BRAVE THROUGHOUT.
WE ARE DOING WHAT
WE SHOULD HAVE DONE IN THE FIRST PLACE, GETTTING MARRIED.
‘
MRS.
BARTON STILL HAS KEIGHLEY’S CHRISTMAS PRESENTS WAITING
AT HOME UNOPENED IN THE HOPE THAT ONE DAY KEIGHLEY WILL RETURN AND
CLAIM THEM.
BUT AS YESTERDAY’S VERDICT SUNK IN THAT HOPE BEGAN TO
FADE.
ENDS
ADD BARTON 2
TOWARDS THE END OF THE THREE WEEK LONG TRIAL THE JUDGE
WAS SO CONCERNED WITH SUGGESTIONS THAT KEIGHLEY MIGHT BE STILL ALIVE
THAT HE ALLOWED THE DEFENCE TO MAKE AN APPEAL FOR PEOPLE WHO MAY
HAVE SEEN KEIGHLEY TO COME FORWARD.
A SKETCH OF THE GIRL DRAWN BY
BARTON HIMSELF WHILE HE WAS ON REMAND WAS ISSUED BY THE COURT FOR
PUBLICATION.
.
THE ‘NO BODY’ MURDER MYSTERY BEGAN ON AUGUST 10 LAST YEAR
WHEN KEIGHLEY’S MOTHER, THERESIA, REPORTED HER DAUGHTER MISSING.
KEIGHLEY HAD TAKEN THE FAMILY DOG ‘REX’ FOR A WALK ON WANSTEAD FLATS
IN EAST LONDON.
REX RETURNED TO THEIR SEBERT ROAD, FOREST GATE HOME BUT THE
PRETTY SCHOOLGIRL WAS NOWHERE TO BE SEEN.
A MASSIVE POLICE HUNT WAS LAUNCHED.
IN SPITE OF HOUSE TO
HOUSE INQUIRIES NO TRACE OF THE CHATTY SCHOOLGIRL HAS EVER BEEN
FOUND.
BUT DETECTIVES WERE QUICKLY AWARE THAT BARTON, WITH A
HISTORY OF SEX CRIME AND DISHONESTY, WAS THE OBVIOUS SUSPECT.
MR.
MICHAEL WORSELY, PROSECUTING, SAID THAT BARTON HAD THE
PERFECT MOTIVES FOR WANTING KEIGHLEY DEAD – JEALOUSY AND FEAR OF
GOING TO JAIL.
HE SAID BARTON WAS ENRAGED BECAUSE HIS WIFE HAD TAKEN A NEW
LOVER, A GREEK CALLED CHRISTOS, WHO SHE MET WHILE ON A FAMILY
HOLIDAY IN MARGATE.
THEIR STORMY 13 YEAR MARRIAGE WAS ALREADY ON THE ROCKS.
THERESIA OBTAINED A COURT INJUNCTION IN AUGUST, 1985, BANNING HER
HUSBAND FROM COMING WITHIN A QUARTER OF A MILE OF THE HOUSE.
BARTON BY HIS OWN ADMISSION WAS UPSET AND HURT BY THE
REJECTION.
HE EVEN SPIED ON THE HOUSE TO SEE WHO THE NEW MAN WAS.
MR.
WORSLEY SAID: ‘CHRISTOS HAD USURPED HIS PLACE IN THE
HOUSEHOLD.
HE HATED HIS WIFE AND WANTED TO GET AT HER THROUGH HER
CHILDREN.
SHE HAD HIS TWO SONS SO HE WOULD GET HER DAUGHTER.
‘
BUT THE MORE POWERFUL MOTIVE WAS THE FACT THAT KEIGHLEY WAS
DUE TO GIVE EVIDENCE AGAINST BARTON IN COURT CLAIMING HE HAD MOLESTED
HER.
MR.
WORSLEY SAID: ‘HE HAD DEVELOPED A PASSION FOR HIS
STEPDAUGHTER’.
THE JURY HEARD THAT IT WAS THE FOURTH TIME KEIGHLEY HAD
MADE SEX ALLEGATIONS AGAINST HER STEPFATHER.
IN 1980 WHEN
KEIGHLEY WAS EIGHT BARTON WAS GIVEN A SUSPENDED SENTENCE FOR GROSS
INDECENCY WITH THE CHILD.
.
TWICE AFTER THAT KEIGHLEY WITHDREW SEX ALLEGATIONS JUST
BEFORE SHE WAS DUE TO GIVE EVIDENCE IN COURT.
THE PROSECUTION CLAIMED
SHE HAD BEEN PRESSURISED BY HER STEPDAD.
BUT IN AUGUST LAST YEAR, WITH BARTON BANNED FROM COMING
ANYWHERE NEAR THE HOUSE, HIS INFLUENCE ON KEIGHLEY WAS GONE.
MR.
WORSELY SAID: ‘HE WAS IN A DIFFERENT SITUATION THIS TIME
IT WASN’T GOING TO BE AS EASY AS BEFORE TO GET THE ALLEGATIONS
DROPPED.
WHEN IT CAME TO THE QUESTION OF SENTENCE HE MIGHT WELL FACE
IMPRISONMENT.
HE WAS A MAN WITH A POWERFUL MOTIVE.
HE DID NOT WANT
THAT GIRL TO SUBSTANTIATE HER ALLEGATIONS AGAINST HIM.
‘
WHILE BARTON WAS IN CUSTODY CHARGED WITH KEIGHLEY’S
ABDUCTION POLICE CLAIMED HE MADE DAMNING ADMISSIONS.
THE COURT HEARD
HE TRIED TO BARGAIN FOR BAIL BY SAYING HE KNEW WHERE THE GIRL WAS AND
IF HE WAS NOT RELEASED SHE WOULD DIE AND IT WOULD BE THE POLICE’S
FAULT.
TWO OF BARTON’S CELLMATES REVEALED TO THE COURT THAT HE HAD
TOLD THEM THE GRISLY FATE KEIGHLEY HAD SUFFERED.
SHE WAS PUT IN A
CAR WHICH WAS SENT THROUGH A CRUSHING MACHINE.
HE ALLEGEDLY TOLD ONE OF THE PRISONERS: ‘THE CAR WAS CRUSHED
IN FRONT OF ME.
I HAVE A FRIEND IN THE SCRAP METAL GAME.
I PAID HIM
#50.
WHEN THE CAR WENT IN THE MELTING POT THE BODY WOULD COME OUT AS
JUST DROSS.
THERE WOULD BE NO OTHER TRACE.
‘
THE PRISONER, REFFERED TO ONLY AS MR.
X, SAID BARTON TOLD
HIM HE HAD KILLED THE TEENAGER TO GET BACK AT HIS WIFE SAYING: ‘YOU
CAN ALWAYS GET EVEN THROUGH THEIR KIDS.
‘.
BUT IN SPITE OF INTENSIVE POLICE INQUIRIES THE SCRAP YARD OR
THE DEALER WERE NEVER TRACED.
ON OCTOBER 22 LAST YEAR POLICE CHARGED BARTON WITH MURDER.
BUT DURING THE TRIAL THE DEFENCE POINTED TO WHAT THEY SAID WERE HUGE
HOLES IN THE EVIDENCE.
MR ROBIN GREY QC SAID THERE WAS NOTHING LINKING BARTON WITH
HER DISAPPEARANCE.
ALL THE EVIDENCE WAS CIRCUMSTANTIAL.
BUT THE FIRST REAL BOMBSHELL WAS DROPPED BY THE JUDGE.
HE INSISTED THAT IN THE INTEREST OF JUSTICE TWO SUPRISE WITNESSES
SHOULD BE CALLED.
NEITHER THE DEFENCE OR PROSECUTION HAD THEM DOWN TO
GIVE EVIDENCE.
THEY WERE KEIGHLEY’S FORMER SCHOOLTEACHER AND HER THIRTEEN
YEAR OLD SON, LEE.
THEY TOLD THE HUSHED COURT THAT THEY HAD SPOTTED
KEIGHLEY IN WALTHAMSTOW MARKET IN EAST LONDON NEARLY A YEAR AFTER SHE
DISAPPEARED.
MRS.
LYNDA JACKSON, WHO KNEW KEIGHLEY WELL AFTER TEACHING
HER AT JUNIOR SCHOOL FOR THREE YEARS, TOLD THE JURY: ‘I SAW KEIGHLEY
SHOPPING DOWN THE MARKET LOOKING AT CLOTHES STALLS.
SHE LOOKED QUITE
HAPPY.
SHE LOOKED IN NO WAY DISTRESSED OR AS IF SHE WAS TRYING TO
AVOID BEING SEEN.
‘
SHE SAID SHE AND HER SON FOLLOWED THE GIRL FOR HALF AN HOUR
BUT DID NOT APPROACH BECAUSE SHE WAS NOT 100 PER CENT SURE IT WAS
HER.
‘HER FACE HAD ALTERED SLIGHTLY AS IF IT HAD MATURED.
THAT IS
THE DOUBT I HAVE.
‘ SHE ADDED.
BARTON THEN WENT INTO THE WITNESS BOX AND TOLD THE JURY THAT
THE DAY KEIGHLEY DISAPPEARED HE WALKED ROUND THE WEST END OF LONDON
BY HIMSELF.
.
HE DENIED MAKING ANY ADMISSIONS TO POLICE OR CELLMATES.
‘I LOVE KEIGHLEY LIKE A DAUGHTER,’ HE SAID.
TWO MORE WITNESSES HEIGHTENED THE DRAMA LATE IN THE TRIAL
WHEN THEY CAME FORWARD TO CLAIM THEY HAD SEEN KEIGHLEY SINCE HER
DISAPPEARANCE.
FIRST INTO THE BOX WAS MRS.
CONSTANCE BURLES, A GRANDMOTHER
IN HER SIXTIES.
SHE SAID SHE HAD SEEN KEIGHLEY TWICE IN HEATHWAY,
DAGENHAM, ESSEX.
SHE INSISTED THAT SHE KNEW THE GIRL BECAUSE SHE HAD
OFTEN SEEN HER WALKING THE DOG ON WANSTEAD FLATS.
THE JURY HEARD THAT THE LATEST SIGHTING WAS ON OCTOBER 6 THIS
MONTH.
MR.
ROBIN GREY QC DEFENDING DESCRIBED THE EVIDENCE OF FIONA
COOPER AS ‘SENSATIONAL’.
THE ATTRACTIVE SECRETARY, IN HER MID-
TWENTIES, SAID SHE WAS ‘CONVINCED’ SHE HAD SEEN KEIGHLEY ON VICTORIA
STATION WHILE WAITING FOR A DISTRICT LINE UNDERGROUND TRAIN.
IT WAS ALSO REVEALED THAT THE NIGHT BEFORE KEIGHLEY
DISAPPEARED SHE ROWED WITH HER MOTHER.
THERESIA BARTON, WHO HAD HERSELF RUN AWAY FROM HOME AT
SIXTEEN, ADMITTED SMASHING KEIGHLEY BEDROOM DOOR OPEN DURING THE ROW.
BARTON, A MINICAB DRIVER OF 155 MILDENHALL ROAD, CLAPTON,
HAS BEEN IN CUSTODY SINCE AUGUST 15 LAST YEAR.
HE DENIED MURDERING
AND ABDUCTING KEIGHLEY.
WELL OVER A HUNDRED POLICE OFFICERS WERE INVOLVED IN THE
HUNT FOR THE PRETTY TEENAGER, WHO HAD JUST HAD A PRINCESS DI
LOOKALIKE HAIRCUT WHEN SHE DISAPPEARED.
THERE WERE UGLY SCENES IN THE STREET OUTSIDE THE COURTS
AFTER THE VERDICT.
PHOTOGRAPHERS WERE SENT SPRAWLING AS
KEIGHLEY’S MUM WAS BUNDLED INTO THE CAR OF A TELEVISION COMPANY
ENDS
