Sion Jenkins' wife wrote to him in prison begging him to confess to Billie-Jo's murder, a court has been told.

In the letter, sent by Lois Jenkins in April 1997, while her husband was awaiting trial, she wrote: "The girls would be relieved of an enormous burden if they felt human beings have the capacity to own up to things.

"The children need to experience again the reality of honesty and confession."

Mrs Jenkins, 43, taking the witness stand for the second day at the Court of Appeal in London, just a few feet from her former husband, was shown the letter by lawyers acting for Jenkins.

Clare Montgomery QC, for Jenkins, accused Mrs Jenkins of trying to "convince your husband to confess that he had killed Billie-Jo, for the sake of the children" so that daughters Annie and Charlotte, who were with him on the day of the murder, would not have to give evidence.

Miss Montgomery said: "The first thing you tried was to try to make your husband confess to killing Billie-Jo."

After reading the letter, Mrs Jenkins answered: "I don't remember."

She added: "It is a personal letter between me and my husband."

Miss Montgomery said: "You would only write it if you thought he was guilty."

Mrs Jenkins replied: "I did not see Sion Jenkins kill Billie-Jo and I will never be 100 per cent sure but there is a difference between 100 per cent and thinking."

Miss Montgomery said: "Your motive was to stop the children giving evidence."

Mrs Jenkins said: "Of course I didn't want them to give evidence but I wasn't pre-empting it.

"At this time the last thing on my mind was the children giving evidence."

Jenkins, 46, was jailed for life at Lewes Crown Court in 1998 for battering his 13-year-old foster daughter to death with an 18in metal tent spike as she was painting a patio door at their home in Lower Park Road, Hastings, on February 15, 1997.

Mrs Jenkins was also accused of "making things up" to throw doubt on evidence that could have helped his defence.

She had told the court that, on the evening of the murder, her husband kept questioning their daughter Annie about what had happened and she put a stop to it.

Miss Montgomery said: "You are simply making it up to cast doubt on Annie's video interview."

Mrs Jenkins retorted: "No, I am not making it up."

Miss Montgomery said: "I suggest there was no opportunity for Mr Jenkins to discuss Annie's evidence with her at all and you are not telling the truth about it."

Mrs Jenkins replied: "I can assure you he discussed the evidence with her at the end of the living room on more than one occasion and also in the bedroom on at least one occasion.

"There is no doubt in my mind that these conversations happened."

Mrs Jenkins, who divorced her husband after his conviction for murdering Billie-Jo and now lives in Tasmania with her current partner, martial arts expert Vincent Ives, and their two-year-old son, had earlier been accused of giving misleading information to police suggesting the two girls were hostile to their father.

This deterred defence lawyers calling them to give evidence at his trial, which could have led to his acquittal.

Mrs Jenkins, who looked intently at Miss Montgomery while giving her evidence, denied she had made anything up.

Wearing a black skirt and a white short-sleeved linen blouse with gold crucifix earrings, Mrs Jenkins replied: "No, I'm not."

Miss Montgomery continued to suggest Mrs Jenkins, who avoided her ex-

husband's gaze throughout the exchanges, had lied to police about her former husband talking to their children.

Earlier in the day Mrs Jenkins broke down in tears as she told the court about the difficulty of trying to deal with the aftermath of the murder.

Mrs Jenkins maintained she did not ask her daughters about the day of the murder but said it was difficult as the children had no one else to talk to.

She said: "They wouldn't go to see a psychiatrist, they wouldn't have a therapist.

"We became a very close-knit unit helping each other.

"These things were happening under extreme pressure.

"I felt these things should be said to a psychiatrist.

"I arranged to have a counsellor come to talk to the whole family."

Mrs Jenkins broke down in tears in the witness box as she told the court: "Not to have a mother who has to say to them 'Children, I can't talk to you'. I'm still in that situation seven years later."

The hearing continues.