The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
SILENCE OF A KILLER
On the eve of his sentencing for murdering his daughter, Scott Walker still refuses to talk to police and say where her body is
The man who killed 17-yearold Bernadette Walker has refused to speak to police about where he has buried the teenager’s body..
Scott Walker - known to Bernadette was ‘dad’ but not her biologi- cal father - was convicted of murder in July.
He denied killing Bernadette, saying she had ran off from his car in July last year. She has not been seen - alive or dead - since he picked her up from her grandparents home earlier that morning. A jury saw through the lies he told both to police and in court.
Scott Walker (51) of Century Square, Peterborough, is set to be given a life sentence when he appears at Cambridge Crown Court on Friday for sentencing.
Extensive searches for Peterborough College student Bernadette - known as Bea - have taken place since in countryside in and around Peterborough since she disappeared, with drones, police divers and sniffer dogs all used, but sadly officers have been unable to locate her.
Following Scott Walker’s conviction folowing l a six week trial, it was hoped he would reveal where he had disposed of his body, so Bernadette’s loved ones could say a proper farewell to the popular teen.
Police urged him to speak, and tried to arrange to meet him in prison to let him tell them what he had done with Bernadette’s body.
Speaking to The Peterborough Telegraph, DI Justine Jenkins, the senior investigating officer in the case, said; “Everybody who has worked on this investigation is invested in it and would like to know what happened to Bernadette and be able to locate her body and give her a proper burial.
“As investigators you always want every piece of the puzzle and not finding Bernadette is a piece that’s missing.
“I can’t say whether we will ever find Bernadette or have an answer as to what her final moments were, or indeed where they exactly were but I hope that Scott Walker will provide further information to the team.”
Nicola Rice, senior prosecutor from CPS East of England added: “Despite a police investigation and search, Bea’s body has never been recovered. We all hope that one day Scott and Sarah Walker will do the right thing and say where she is in the hope that dignity can be returned to her.”
But a Cambridgeshire po
lice spokesman said Scott Walker had refused to speak to officers since being found guilty.
Following his conviction, officers have received a number of phone calls from members of the public, who were hoping to help find Bernadette - but detectives have still been unable to trace her.
The trial heard how in the days leading up to her disappearance, Bernadette had told her mum, Sarah Walker, that Scott Walker had abused her over a number of years.
She went to stay with her grandparents on the night of July 17, with Scott Walker going to pick her up the following morning. After picking her up, Scott Walker’s mobile phone was switched off for an hour and half - and while the prosecution in the trial were unable to say how he killed Bernadette, they said it was most likely that he murdered her during that time period.
Bernadette’s phone, email and social media was then hacked into by Scott and Sarah Walker, who used the accounts to give the impression to friends and family Bernadette was still alive.
Mobile phone cell site and GPS data was used by police to search locations visited by Scott Walker over the following days with searches in Cowbit and around Peterborough. The main search operation was finally called off on Christmas Eve.
Scott Walker was found guilty of murder and two counts of perverting the course of justice, while Sarah Walker (38) of Century Square, Peterborough, was found guilty of two counts of perverting the course of justice.
Since they were found guilty, they have been remanded into custody ahead of Friday’s sentencing. The mandatory sentence for murder is a life sentence, and judge Mrs Justice Maura McGowan will tell Scott Walker how long he will have to serve before being eligible for parole.