| Flowers in Gods Garden
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27/10/92
- Letters from a jail cell nailed little paul's evil killer
by IAN KEY
Today
A SEX killer who strangled a seven-year-old boy on his
allotment was trapped by letters he wrote from jail, a
court heard yesterday. Evil Richard Blenkey, 33, struck
up a correspondence with a stranger while on remand charged
with murder.
He swapped 36 letters over a year and eventually his pen-pal
had amassed enough evidence to satisfy police Blenkey
was guilty even though he had never admitted murder to
them. Officers believed they had enough forensic evidence
for a jury to convict him of killing little Paul Pearson.
The written confession, to a man from "Basildon,
Essex, who often contacted prisoners involved in notorious
crimes, was the final break-through they needed. An officer
involved in the case said later "He had, in effect,
admitted his guilt."
Yesterday bachelor Blenkey changed his plea to guilty
and was jailed for life. The judge recommended he should
serve at least 20 years for "a most appalling murder".
Paul was throttled with a length of garden twine after
being lured into a chicken hut on Blenkey's allotment
as he cycled home, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Once in the shed Paul was stripped, beaten and probably
sexually abused before being strangled. Then his killer
calmly went babysitting for another family before returning
later to dump Paul's bike and body in a nearby ravine.
As hundreds of members of the public helped look for the
missing boy, Blenkey stood guard on his allotment directing
searchers elsewhere. Paul's underclothes and socks were
later found on the allotment and Blenkey's palm print
was discovered on a handlebar of his bike. He was charged
with the murder in August 1991 but still never admitted
his crime to police.
Ironically, Paul's parents Ken and Julie Pearson, both
31, had moved to the seaside town of Marske, Cleveland,
thinking it would be a safer place in which to bring up
their four children. Just two weeks later Paul was dead.
Trusting Paul met his killer through a schoolfriend, the
court heard.
Jobless Blenkey, who lived with his mother in Saltburn,
Cleveland, was a well-known sight as he tended his allotment.
Few people in the area, however, knew of the killer's
past. Stephen Williamson, prosecuting, revealed how in
1978 Blenkey had abducted a young boy and dragged him
into nearby woods.
The child escaped after kicking his attacker and Blenkey
was subsequently convicted of a breach of the peace. Mr
Justice Blofeld told Blenkey: "Paul Pearson had his
whole life in front of him. In your hands he suffered
a terrifying experience which ended in his death."
Outside the court, Paul's distraught parents called for
the death penalty to be brought back for child killers.
Mr Pearson said: "The punishment has got to fit the
crime." His tearful wife added: "If the death
penalty existed, the world would be a safer place in which
to bring up children." |
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