Facebook allows mum access to murdered daughter's account taken over by killer
Grieving Samantha Shrewsbury clasps a cherished portrait of the beloved daughter she lost at the hands of her abusive boyfriend.
Almost exactly 10 years ago, Samantha was excitedly making plans to go shopping for maternity clothes with newly pregnant Jayden Parkinson. Hours later the 17-year-old was dead, strangled by the controlling father of her unborn child.
Since then Samantha, 56, has found solace by helping countless others escape abusive relationships. She says: “I have received hundreds of messages from women and girls telling me that Jayden’s story has helped them find the strength to leave abusive partners, or persuade their daughters to leave abusive partners.
Jayden Parkinson with her mum Samantha Shrewsbury (Samantha Shrewsbury / SWNS)“It haunts me every day that I wasn’t able to do that for Jayden. But even though I couldn’t save my own daughter, her story has saved others.” Jayden was 14 when she met Ben Blakeley, who was five years older than her, a drug user and petty criminal.
Over the next three years, she changed from “bright, beautiful and gobby” into a reclusive nervous wreck, isolated from her friends and family. When, at 17, Jayden found out she was pregnant, she was thrilled.
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Jayden pictured as a happy little girl (Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
Mum Samantha fights to raise awareness of domestic abuse (Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)But grandma of eight Samantha was nervous. She says: “I knew she was in an abusive relationship. Ben had taken her phone, she couldn’t do anything without his say-so. She was so happy, though, and we made plans to go maternity clothes shopping two days later.”
Later that same day, December 3, 2013, Blakeley, then 22, strangled Jayden, who was living in a hostel, after she told him she was having his child. He buried her body in his uncle’s grave in Didcot, Oxon.
Jayden died aged 17 (Samantha Shrewsbury / SWNS)Blakeley was a serial abuser who punched, kicked and bit his girlfriends, confiscated their phones and did not let them socialise. Haunted by her daughter’s fate, Samantha admits she contemplated suicide a number of times. She says: “Even 10 years on, it doesn’t get any easier to talk about it. I still have nightmares but I force myself to because I know it is making a difference to other women.”
Samantha, who started a Facebook page, Jayden’s Gift, and speaks at conferences about the dangers of domestic abuse, went on: “I have had messages saying, ‘Jayden saved me in ways I’ll be thankful for, after finding out what happened to her I left my abusive ex… the world should know her name, she is the voice for millions of girls’.
“One message said, ‘My daughter was caught in a bad relationship and finally got out. Jayden would be so proud to see all you are doing’.” Samantha wants to get the issue of domestic violence taught in schools and to ensure her four granddaughters, aged six to 17, are informed on healthy relationships. She says: “We still have a long way to go. They need to understand what a healthy relationship is. I will keep stamping my feet until my last breath to let people know about Jayden and ensure what happened to her doesn’t happen to my granddaughters.”
Blakeley, a former binman from Reading, Berkshire, was jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years in 2014. He could be up for parole in 10 years’ time. To Samantha, of Bicester, Oxon, that’s a frightening thought.
She says: “That’s young enough to meet someone else and start a family. Someone like him is incapable of rehabilitation. I will do everything in my power to let people know who he is and what he is capable of.”
Ben Blakeley killed Jayden (SWNS)To mark 10 years since Jayden’s death, Samantha is travelling to her grave in Folkestone, Kent, where she is buried next to her great-grandma. She will go with her partner Dom, 42, and dad Eric, 80, to release balloons.
Samantha has also been campaigning for access to Jayden’s Facebook account – which Blakeley took over – to turn it into a memorial page. She says: “Facebook won’t let me in and it breaks my heart. There are hundreds of pictures and messages I’ve never seen.”
Samantha adds: “I imagine every day what Jayden would be like now, a bright, bubbly woman. She wanted to be a hairdresser and loved doing mine and her hair and make-up. I think about the grandchild I would have, what kind of person they’d be.
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“The anniversary will be a celebration of Jayden’s life but also a reminder so much more needs to be done.” Meta, which owns Facebook, said it had memorialised Jayden’s Facebook account and granted Samantha access after being approached by this newspaper.
If you’re struggling, call the Samaritans on 116 123 or visit samaritans.org
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