Father Found Guilty Of Murdering Daughter Bernadette Walker

Scott Walker found guilty of killing 17-year-old Bernadette Walker at Cambridge Crown Court despite her body never being found.

It is still not known how Bernadette, known as Bea, met her fate but the last confirmed sighting of her alive was when Scott picked her up from his parents’ home in Werrington, Peterborough, on Saturday 18 July last year.

She had been there as a result of the allegations she’d made the previous day against the person she knew as “dad” but was not her biological father.

However, Scott did not bring the teenager back to their home in Century Square, Millfield, that morning.

His mobile phone activated cell sites in the Dogsthorpe and Gunthorpe areas, both in the opposite direction, and at just before 11.30am it disconnected from the network and didn’t reconnect for an hour-and-a-half.

For the following seven weeks, Scott and his former partner, Bernadette’s mother Sarah, deceived friends, family and police by laying a false trail to suggest Bea was still alive and had run away from home.

Scott was found guilty of murder and two counts of perverting the course of justice, relating to providing false information to police and sending messages from Bernadette’s phone.

Sarah Walker had previously admitted perverting the course of justice by sending messages from Bea’s phone and providing false information to police (without knowing Bea was dead and with the intention to cover up the sexual allegations against Scott).

Police claim Sarah did know Bea was dead, which is being deliberated by the jury. No verdicts have been given for these charges yet and the jury have been told a majority verdict would be acceptable for those counts. This means that a verdict on which at least 10 jurors are agreed can be taken.

Detective Inspector Justine Jenkins, from the Beds, Cambs and Herts Major Crime Unit, said: “I am pleased we have been able to get justice for Bea after what has been such tragic circumstances. I just hope now we may get the answers we need to be able to find her and lay her to rest. If anyone has any information about this investigation which may help us find Bea, please get in touch.

“We may never know the truth about what Scott did and why, but we do know Bea had made allegations of abuse against him.

“My plea to anyone who may have been subjected to abuse is to speak to us. Bea thought she could confide in her own mother, who should have been able to protect her, but instead she met a tragic end.”

Both Scott and Sarah Walker will be sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court on a date which is yet to be confirmed.