Sion Jenkins was attacked outside court by members of murdered Billie-Jo Jenkins natural family.

The assault happened minutes after the Old Bailey in London heard a second jury had failed to reach a verdict over whether the former deputy headteacher had bludgeoned to death his 13-year-old foster daughter. The judge had told the court he would retire for a few minutes before he discussed with lawyers in the case what would happen next.

But as Jenkins left Billie-Jo's natural father Bill Jenkins, who has been in court for the duration of the retrial, glared down at the defendant from the public gallery.

A woman member of his family shouted: "It's not over yet you slag." Jenkins, who had been looking at his new wife Tina as he stood in the dock, left the court room as shouting continued in the public gallery.

Outside the court a woman, believed to be a family member of Billie-Jo, hurled herself at Jenkins outside the courtroom and punched him repeatedly in the face.

As she was dragged away by police officers, Jenkins appeared shaken and had blood on his chin.

Jenkins, 48, was jailed for life in 1998 for the murder of the 13-year-old following his first trial, but a retrial was ordered by the Court of Appeal in 2004.

He has now spent nine years trying to prove he did not batter Billie-Jo at least 10 times over the head with an iron tent peg.

He told police he found her in a pool of blood on the patio where she had been painting doors at the family home in Hastings on February 15, 1997.

But he became the prime suspect after police discovered that his life was a lie, with his school job obtained using fake qualifications.

One of the fiercest legal battles in British justice followed and cost an estimated £10 million.

Jenkins was to tell the jury it had cost him his family, his home and six-and-a-half years of his freedom.

His first appeal was turned down in 1999.

But in 2004, a second appeal succeeded and a retrial was ordered.

Last year an Old Bailey jury failed to reach a verdict after the first retrial, which lasted three months.

Today, another panel of six men and six women reached a similar impasse.

Jenkins, who was given bail in August 2004, has since remarried and lives in Lymington, Hants.