Parents of missing girl charged with her murder
THE PARENTS of a missing teenage girl were charged with her murder yesterday.
Scott and Sarah Walker had led the campaign to find their daughter Bernadette 17, after they reported that she had vanished on July 21.
Mr Walker, 50, was arrested on Saturday and Miss Walker, 37, was detained that evening before both were later charged.
The couple, from Peterborough, appeared before magistrates in the city during a virtual hearing yesterday, after which they were remanded into custody. They are due to appear at Peterborough Crown Court tomorrow.
Searches for Benadette had been coordinated by the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire major crime unit before a ‘no body’ murder investigation was announced on Friday.
The family’s five-bed terraced council house in Peterborough was cordoned off over the weekend while forensics officers searched inside.
Neighbours described them as a ‘good family’ who are ‘always looking out for their children’. Though they were not married, Miss Walker used her partner’s surname.
It is understood they were engaged and neighbours said they were expected to marry next month.
Care assistant Miss Walker, a motherof-nine, gave birth to a baby girl around six months ago.
Miss Walker had put up missing posters appealing for information after her 5ft 6in daughter – who has a facial piercing and two home-made tattoos – disappeared. The couple told police she had got out of their car and run away.
In a magazine interview, Miss Walker said: ‘None of her friends have heard from her and she’s not accessed social media.
‘I can’t eat or sleep properly. I miss and love my eldest princess so much, she’s already missing out on her baby sister.
‘I have to think that she is hiding at one of her friend’s homes, worried about coming home now the police will want to speak to her. I just wish someone would just say
‘We have yet to find Bernadette’
“She’s here and she’s safe”.’ Mr Walker, wrote a message aimed at Bernadette on his Facebook page last week, saying: ‘You can imagine how much we are both worried. We miss you. We need to know that you are safe.’
The teenager, who likes to dye her hair, had blonde locks on one side and brunette on the other when she was last seen on July 18. She was dressed in black clothes and a denim jacket, and was wearing dark-framed glasses.
Detective Superintendent Jon Hutchinson said: ‘While my team have made significant progress in the last few days, we are yet to find Bernadette.
‘ My plea is for anyone who has information on what has happened to her, or where she might be, to get in touch as a matter of urgency.’