Man, 20, in court accused of murdering girl Scout Jodie

A 20-YEAR-OLD Croatian man appeared in court yesterday charged with the murder of teenager Jodie Chesney, whose death shocked the nation.

Manuel Petrovic looked calm as he was led into the glass dock at Barkingside Magistrates Court in East London for a three-minute hearing.

Miss Chesney, right, was stabbed in the back as she listened to music with her boyfriend and friends in a park in Harold Hill, East London, on March 1.

The Explorer Scout, 17 – described by her father as a ‘great girl’ and a ‘proud geek’ – died at the scene.

Petrovic, from Collier Row, East London, was arrested in Leicester on Tuesday and charged in the early hours of yesterday with Jodie’s murder. He was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey tomorrow. A second man was last night still being questioned by detectives.

Petrovic appeared in the dock dressed in a grey prison-issue tracksuit. He spoke only to confirm his birth date, nationality and address.

Told to sit, he glanced at reporters in the crowded public gallery.

Crown prosecutor Varinder Hayre told magistrates: ‘Mr Petrovic is charged with an offence of murder of the victim Jodie Chesney.’

Magistrate Nigel Bower told Petrovic: ‘You have heard what’s gone on. You are remanded in custody and are going to the Central Criminal Court on Monday. You may go.’

Mr Petrovic nodded and said ‘thank you’ before he was led out of the dock and back to the cells.

Later, obscured from view, he was placed in the back of a white van and driven away.

A post-mortem gave the cause of Miss Chesney’s death as trauma and haemorrhage. Police have said they are still trying to determine a motive.