The brother of the murderer of Danielle Lloyd who has never revealed where he hid the body of his niece says it was “unthinkable” when he was told of the heinous crime.
Stuart Campbell was jailed for life in December 2002 for the kidnap and murder of the 15-year-old schoolgirl. Danielle left home in Tilbury, Essex on June 18, 2001, to catch a bus to school when Campbell lured her into his blue transit van and abducted her. Her devastated parents never saw her again and, cruelly, Campbell has never confessed to the killing nor said where her body is .
His brother Alix Sharkey said the truth was “unthinkable” when he heard Campbell was involved. He told MailOnline : “At first, unable to believe my brother could be involved in such a sickening crime, I’d hoped it would turn out to be a hideous case of mistaken identity.
“After all, only five years earlier, Danielle had been a bridesmaid at Stuart and Debbie’s wedding alongside my own daughter Fiona.
“How do you cope when you discover your younger brother – the once bright and cherubic little boy who had a beautiful singing voice and went to private school – is a sex offender and a killer? And worse still, the clues were there all along, but you had never realised.
“Our brotherly connection means I still cannot say I hate Stuart, though obviously I can never love him as I once did. Almost 24 years on from her death, I still hope one day Stuart does the right thing and tells them where she is buried.”
Mr Sharkey previously said his brother should not be released until he says where Danielle is. He said: “I do not believe my brother should be released until he discloses what he did with Danielle Jones’ body.
“Her parents have been through a living hell. They have never had closure. My brother hasn’t even given them their daughter so they have a place to grieve.”
Danielle’s disappearance led to a search of more than 1,500 locations. Campbell was arrested within weeks and found guilty at trial after a pair of white stockings with Danielle’s DNA on them were discovered at his home.
He was also found to have faked texts from Danielle and lied about where he was at the time of the murder. In 2019, Danielle’s mother, Linda Jones, said she did not want Campbell to be released from prison if he did not reveal where her body was.
She said she backs Helen’s Law, named after murdered Helen McCourt, which aims to prevent parole for killers who refuse to reveal the location of their victim’s body.
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