19 years ago my Jennifer was raped, stabbed 16 times and set on fire.. I WANT JUSTICE
A MUM whose daughter was raped, stabbed 16 times and set on fire has urged her killer: “Hand yourself in and end our nightmare.”
The murder of Jennifer Kiely remains unsolved, 19 years after her body was found dumped in a beach shelter.
In an exclusive interview with the Mirror, her mum Margaret, 76, has told how she wants answers before she goes to her grave.
Cold case officers have linked the 36-year-old’s death to some of Britain’s worst offenders, such as Sally Anne Bowman’s killer Mark Dixie and sex monster Peter Tobin.
But police have yet to trace the murderer and are offering a £20,000 reward for clues that solve the crime. Speaking directly to Jennifer’s killer, from her home in Buncrana, County Donegal, Margaret said: “If you’re reading this, hand yourself in and face the music.
“All we want is justice. I want him to come forward so we can end this nightmare. I never have imagined it would take 19 years to get answers.
“It makes me angry. It frustrates me he’s out there, living his life, travelling where he wants, but my daughter can’t.
“She’s in a coffin. I think about her every day, she had the most amazing smile. I want him caught, he needs to be caught.” Mum-of-three Jennifer’s body was found in a beach shelter in Eastbourne, East Sussex, on January 22, 2005. It was so badly burnt she had to be identified through dental records.
In 2017, police probed Dixie, 54, over the former beauty queen’s killing and reopened a new line of inquiry.
Jennifer’s murder bore many hallmarks of Dixie’s vile crimes – including the fact she was alone, late on a weekend night, when she was stabbed in a “frenzied and macabre” attack.
She was also set on fire and, like Dixie victim Sally Anne eight months later in Croydon, South London, raped while dying or dead.
But despite the similarities and a new forensic clue, the probe came to a dead end and Dixie was eliminated as a suspect.
Margaret said: “You know when these men are guilty. You can see it in their faces. But I keep being told there are these new lines of inquiry, just like with Dixie. Then I get a call saying, ‘He’s not the man.’ It raises your hopes then crashes them down again. “I’ve never lost faith though.” Detectives also probed Tobin over the murder, analysing DNA found on sick trophies he collected from victims.
Tobin was jailed in 2008 for the 1991 murder of Vicky Hamilton, 15. He died in prison in 2022 aged 72. Again, police drew a blank and Margaret said: “Every false dawn breaks my heart.”
Jennifer, who had been out visiting friends, was last seen at about 1am walking along the seafront.
Council workers found her body at 5am. Margaret said: “Jennifer was a little peach. She was my world. “She was friendly, she loved people.” Officers want to trace a man, who appeared to be eastern European, seen nearby. Det Chief Insp Simon Dunn, of Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team, said: “Jennifer’s family deserve to know what happened.”