The ex-wife of Sin Jenkins will give evidence against their two daughters as he bids to quash his conviction for murdering their foster daughter Billie-Jo.

Social worker Lois Jenkins has flown from her new home in Tasmania to act as a prosecution witness against her former husband.

She divorced Jenkins and emigrated with their four natural daughters in July 2002 after he was found guilty of killing 13-year-old Billie-Jo.

But two of their daughters will act as alibi witnesses for Jenkins.

Lottie, 17, has travelled to Britain to give evidence at the Court of Appeal. Her sister Annie, 19, has made a video statement.

Neither appeared at his original trial at Lewes Crown Court.

They were both with Jenkins, now 46, on the day Billie-Jo was found dead at the family's Victorian home in Lower Park Road, Hastings, in February 1997.

The trial in July 1998 was told that, after battering her, Jenkins went shopping for white spirit at a DIY store before pretending to discover the body when they returned.

He was jailed for life after the jury heard he had bludgeoned Billie-Jo with an 18in metal tent spike.

Churchgoer Jenkins was due to take over as headteacher at all-boys William Parker School in Parkstone Road, Hastings, the following September.

The appeal was due to begin yesterday but was postponed until tomorrow after it emerged senior judge Lord Justice Kay had had a suspected heart attack at the weekend.

During the appeal, which is expected to last up to three weeks, three judges will hear fresh evidence from Jenkins' lawyers.

This includes details of a mentally-ill man with a fixation for plastic bags, called Mr X, who was seen acting suspiciously near where Billie-Jo was killed.

She had pieces of plastic bag wedged deep into her nostrils which Jenkins' team will claim was a striking feature of the crime.

The appeal judges will examine fresh evidence relating to microscopic blood spots belonging to Billie-Jo found on Jenkins' clothes.

At the trial, the Crown claimed the 158 droplets were consistent with him battering her to death.

However, Jenkins' lawyers will argue the blood spattered on to his clothes as he tended Billie-Jo in her dying moments.

Jenkins stood behind bars in Court 4 as defence and prosecuting counsels spent 30 minutes explaining to Lord Justice Rose the sequence of the appeal yesterday.

Jenkins' counsel at his trial, Anthony Scrivener QC, will give evidence explaining why Lottie and Annie were not called as witnesses at the time.

The appeal will be Jenkins' second.

He failed to overturn his conviction at a hearing in December 1999.

However, in April 2001 a file containing new evidence was handed to the Criminal Cases Review Commission and a fresh appeal was ordered.

Members of Jenkins' family were in court yesterday.

Also attending were some of Billie-Jo's natural family, including her father Bill Jenkins, and Detective Chief Superintendent Jeremy Paine, who led the murder inquiry.