Man in court for 1961 murder of Jacqueline Thomas

Nov 30 2007 By Catherine Lillington, Birmingham Mail

A MAN has appeared in court charged with the 1961 murder of a 15-year-old Birmingham schoolgirl.

Antony Hall, aged 70, of no fixed address, appeared at Birmingham Magistrates yesterday accused of killing teen Jacqueline Thomas, 46 years ago.

Slightly-stooped with long grey hair, Hall turned up to court wearing blue jeans, a short sleeved shirt and socks and sandals.

The elderly suspect, who would have been 24 at the time of the murder, was brought to Birmingham for questioning before being formally charged late on Wednesday night.

He kept a neutral expression during the hearing, which lasted about five minutes.

District judge Christopher Johnson remanded Hall in custody and told him to appear at Birmingham Crown Court on December 6.

Jacqueline, one of eight sisters, disappeared after visiting a travelling fun fair in Ward End Park, Ward End, on August 18.

The teenager had been missing for more than a week before her body was found.

Jacqueline was discovered in undergrowth on a disused allotment, near Belchers Lane, only a few hundred yards from her Alum Rock home.

She had been sexually assaulted and strangled with an underskirt.

Police believe she had been killed on the spot where she was found and had been dead for at least four or five days.

A major manhunt was launched but Jacqueline's killer was never brought to justice.

The case has been investigated by the Major Crime Review Team, a group of senior West Midlands police detectives expert in examining historic cases.

In the past few years the 'cold case' team has succeeded in using DNA technology to crack a number of old unsolved sex crimes dating back more than 20 years.

They began reviewing old case papers into Jacqueline's murder earlier this year.