May 6, 2001
Vital evidence not heard during one of the most
notorious child murder cases in recent years could prove that the man
convicted of the crime is innocent and the true killers are still at
large, according to a fresh investigation.
Nine-year-old Zoe Evans disappeared from her home
in Warminster, Wiltshire, in the early hours of 11 January 1997 after
being tucked up for the night by her mother, Paula.
Despite launching Britain's biggest search for a
missing person, it took police six and a half weeks to find Zoe's
body, in a badger sett less than half a mile from her home.
The post-mortem found that the child had died from
asphyxiation - her T-shirt was pushed into her mouth to stop her
screaming.
Miles Evans, Zoe's stepfather, who was 27 at the
time of the disappearance, was arrested five days after her
disappearance when his bloodied T-shirt was found close to the burial
scene. Two weeks later, the former soldier was charged with murder.
Evans has always protested his innocence and,
although the Court of Appeal announced last week that it would
consider his case, he has continued to insist on a full retrial to
clear his name.
According to new evidence to be revealed this week,
a retrial may prove that Evans could not have murdered Zoe. The
investigation points to two other possible suspects whose names were
withheld from the original trial because of lack of evidence. It will
attempt to prove that Zoe's body was only placed in the badger sett a
few days before it was discovered by police; if successful, it could
clear Evans's name.
'The prosecution claimed the six-week delay was
because the body was originally fully buried and was only later pulled
out by animals,' said Steve McDonnell, editor of the Meridian
Television Focus programme, to be screened this week.
But five weeks before the body was discovered, a
team of Metropolitan Police officers with dogs trained to search for
bodies was told not to look in the area around the badger sett,
because it had already been searched.
'Evans's movements from the morning after Zoe's
disappearance were fully accounted for,' added Ashton. 'So, if the
body was put there after that point, he could not have been
responsible for the murder.'
The investigation also found that two youths seen
roaming around Warminster on the night of Zoe's disappearance, who
were later accused of raping a young woman that same night, could have
been near Zoe's home at the time she disappeared.
One, identified as Youth A, had a conviction for
indecent assault. When questioned by police shortly after the murder,
he denied knowing Zoe but later changed his evidence, conceding that
he was familiar with the child because she was a schoolfriend of his
sister.
The new investigation has also uncovered two
witnesses who did not appear in the original trial. They say they saw
two men, one bearing a close similarity to Youth A, disposing of a
full bin liner in bushes the morning after Zoe's disappearance.
'The men were acting very suspiciously,' said
Loretta Pritchard, a local hairdresser. 'They had a bin liner that
they were trying to deposit in the trees and one was walking off while
the other was looking around, making sure that no one was watching
them.'
She reported her sighting to the police but a brief
search by an individual officer found nothing. Five days later,
however, Pritchard saw someone resembling Youth A for a second time.
'He came back and deposited something else in the same place,' she
said. 'He was very furtive.'
Mike Schwarz, Miles Evans's lawyer, said: 'Evidence
has now come to light that poses serious questions about the movements
and activities of Youths A and B on the night of Zoe's murder. The
jury should have heard about those questions and, if they had done,
they might have had another account consistent with Miles Evans's
innocence.'
Evans's mother, Sandra, maintains her belief in her
son's innocence. 'It takes a very clever person to lie for four years
and to keep that lie going and not to crack,' she said. 'I'm his
mother and I can say that he's not the brightest person but he has not
changed his story from the day he was arrested. That takes a clever
person. And I don't think he would be able to do it.'
Stepfather appeals over Zoe murder
BBC.co.uk
February 19, 1999
A former soldier jailed for murdering his
stepdaughter has lodged an appeal against his conviction.
Miles Evans, 25, from Wiltshire was found guilty at
Bristol Crown Court of killing nine-year-old Zoe in January last year.
Lawyers working for the ex-Army driver have
formally lodged their appeal against his conviction to the Appeal
Court in London.
He is serving a life sentence for killing Zoe,
whose body was found buried in woodland less than a mile from the
family's home in Warminster.
Fake appeal
The discovery of Zoe's body in January 1997 ended
the largest-ever police search for a missing person in Britain.
Evans even made an appeal for her return with his
weeping wife at a news conference days after Zoe's disappearance.
The jury at the subsequent trial heard that Evans
took the little girl from the family home, punched her face and
suffocated her outside.
He then half-buried her in a disused badger sett on
Battlesbury Hill, just over half-a-mile from the house.
Police found Zoe's naked and decomposing body six
weeks later with her crop top stuffed in her mouth.
Speaking to reporters after the court hearing,
Zoe's mother, Paula Hamilton, had said she believed the death penalty
for such crimes should be reinstated.
A judge is expected to decide in the early summer
if there are sufficient grounds for appeal.
Officers will now work to compile material from the
original trial to counter Evans' attempts to overturn the conviction.
Soldier guilty of stepdaughter's murder
BBC.co.uk
April 2, 1998
A soldier on trial for the murder of his
nine-year-old stepdaughter has been found guilty.
Miles Evans, a 24-year-old army private, denied
taking Zoe Evans from her bed, assaulting her and burying her in a
badger sett half-a-mile away.
But after three days' deliberation a jury at
Bristol Crown Court returned on Thursday and found him guilty by a
majority of 10-2.
The judge, Mr Justice Eady, said Zoe must have
suffered a "terrifying ordeal" and sentenced Evans to life
imprisonment.
Evans took the youngster from the family's home in
Warminster, Wiltshire, punched her face and suffocated her outside.
He then half-buried her in a disused badger sett on
Battlesbury Hill, just over half-a-mile from the house.
He even made an appeal for her return with his
weeping wife at a news conference days after Zoe's disappearance.
Police found Zoe's naked and decomposing body six
weeks later with her crop top stuffed in her mouth.
Speaking to reporters after the court hearing,
Zoe's mother, Paula Hamilton, said she believed the death penalty for
such crimes should be reinstated.
"Today Miles Evans was convicted of the murder of
my beloved daughter Zoe," she said, on the point of tears.
"There has been no doubt in my mind that he would
be convicted of this cruel and callous act. However, at this time I
cannot help but think that the only suitable punishment for taking the
life of such a beautiful girl should be the death penalty.
"Only he knows the suffering he has caused and may
it remain with him and burden him for the rest of his life."
Detective Inspector Trevor Symes, of Wiltshire
police, who led the investigation, said Evans showed no emotion as the
sentence was read out.
Miles Evans is now planning an appeal.
Miles Evans
Zoe Evans, 9
