03 January 2024 , 17:33
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A murderer who killed a teenage girl and refused to tell her family where her body is has died in prison.
Scott Walker, 53, was serving life for the murder of Bernadette Walker, who had called him her father but was not his biological daughter. She claimed he had sexually abused her over a number of years.
Walker was jailed after a trial at Cambridge Crown Court in 2021 but, last month, the killer died at HMP Full Sutton near Pocklington, East Yorkshire. A Prison Service spokesperson said: "Prisoner Scott Walker died on December 22 at HMP Full Sutton and, as with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate. We know this will be difficult news for the family of Bernadette Walker and our thoughts are with them."
Bernadette Walker was murdered by the man she called her father (PA)The thug had been convicted of murder and perverting the course of justice, after the jury heard he collected Bernadette from his parents' house in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, on July 18, 2020. Prosecutors said Walker then killed Bernadette to "prevent her pursuing her allegations of sexual abuse any further".
He never told the student's family or police where her body was, reports Wales Online. Speaking at his sentencing in September 2021, the judge said this "means she (Bernadette) can't be shown the respect she deserves".
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"Cruellest of all it's likely to mean some members of her family and friends will go on hoping she might be alive and might someday come back into their lives," Judge Mrs Justice McGowan said at Cambridge Crown Court.
Bernadette, who was studying photography, had written in a diary entry: "Told my mum about my dad and the abuse. She called me a liar and threatened to kill me if I told the police." This was read to the jury in court.
Walker said that Bernadette ran away from his car when he stopped the vehicle, but jurors at Cambridge Crown Court rejected his account. It is still not known how she was killed or where her body is.
Prosecutor Lisa Wilding KC said that Walker formed an "unholy alliance" with Bernadette's mother, his ex-partner Sarah Walker, to cover up the girl's death, sending messages from Bernadette's phone to give the impression she was still alive. Sarah Walker, who was 38 at the time of the sentencing, was convicted of perverting the course of justice and sentenced to six years in prison.