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Justice served after 46 years say family of murdered Beenham girl





Convicted child killer Burgess, aged 64, showed no emotion as the jury at Reading Crown Court delivered a majority verdict of 11 to one to find him guilty of the murder of 17-year-old Yolande Waddington in the village of Beenham 46 years ago.
He was jailed for life in 1967 for the killing of nine-year-old girls Jeanette Wigmore and Jacqueline Williams in the same village, and after the verdict was delivered to cries of relief from the areas where their family members were sat, emotional tributes were paid to the murdered girls.
An emotional Giles Waddington, the brother of Yolande, fought back tears as he read out a statement on behalf of the family.
"We are grateful that justice has now been completed and Yolande's murderer has been identified after more than 45 years," he said.
"Yolande's murder had a traumatic and irreversible effect on our family life and has cast a long shadow over nearly five decades.
"From the outset our trust of others was destroyed and as a consequence our family unit closed ranks; keeping the outside world at arm's length.
"Our mother and father were deprived of experiencing the hopes and aspirations fo their only daughter's development. They have been robbed of their daughter's life events such as her wedding and her children and the comfort she would have given them in their later years.
Mr Waddington thanked the Thames Valley Police major crime review team and the Crown Prosecution Service for their efforts, and his words were echoed by the family of Jeanette Wigmore.
A statement released by the Wigmore family said their thoughts were with the Waddington family during the incredibly stressful time.
"We hope that they can find some peace in the knowledge that their daughter's killer has been brought to justice after such a long time. Not knowing all of these years must have been terrible for them."
Thames Valley Police principle investigator Pete Beine said modern-day technology and significant forensic evidence had linked Burgess to the murder, which led to his arrest in 2011.
He said: "David Burgess has never accepted his guilt despite confessing to the crime to prison officers on three separate occasions. He has never fully explained how or why he killed Yolande.
"I hope today's conviction will bring some comfort to the Waddington family after all these years.
"The passage of time is no defence and review teams across the country are carrying out such work daily to ensure our communities are protected."
The jury took five days to reach the decision, and this morning had been told by the judge, the Honourable Mr Justice Andrew Nicol, that a majority verdict would now be accepted.
At 4.10pm, 20 minutes before the court was due to adjourn for the day, the jury dramatically returned the guilty verdict.
Yolande who had only moved to Beenham from Newbury five days before her death, had been stripped naked, stabbed and strangled.
She was found dead in a ditch in Clay Lane, Beenham, on October 30, 1966.
Burgess had previously been convicted of murdering nine-year-old girls Jeanette Wigmore and Jacqueline Williams, whose bodies were found in a disused gravel pit in Beenham on April 17, 1967.
He will be sentenced on Monday.
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from Monday and for full coverage see next Thursday's Newbury Weekly News.



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