A couple out walking their dog have told a court they saw a tearful girl matching Danielle Jones's description sitting in the passenger seat of a blue van on the morning of her disappearance.
Anthony and Vivienne Cumper, of Stanford Road, East Tilbury, took the witness stand at Chelmsford Crown Court for the trial of Stuart Campbell who is accused of abducting and murdering the 15-year-old schoolgirl.
Mr Cumper was first to give his account of how he and his wife left their house at around 8am on June 18.
He said he noticed a blue van parked in Saffron Gardens, about 300 yards away, facing towards Stanford Road.
The van turned into Stanford Road and drove towards the couple.
While he only got a "glimpse" of the man, he was able to describe the girl in greater detail, saying she was aged 16 to 17, with blonde hair down to shoulder length and single-hoop earrings. In addition, she wore a white blouse with no tie or jacket.
He told the court: "She was sitting as close to the door as possible. As if you and your wife had had a row, you don't sit close to each other, you sit as far away as you can."
When he saw a photograph of Danielle on the side of police vans he said he did not think it was the same girl.
When Mr Cumper later went to Corringham police station to give a statement he was shown a picture of Danielle in her school uniform and identified her as being the girl in the van.
Mrs Cumper told the court: "The girl sitting in the passenger seat. She was sitting right on the edge of the seat, right up against the door, right up against the bulkhead of the door."
She told the jury she only realised the importance of her sighting on the following Saturday after hearing the news which spoke of a missing teenage girl.
Only after hearing a later bulletin which pinpointed the disappearance as being in East Tilbury did she decide to contact the police.
Stuart Campbell, 44, of Meadow Road, Grays, denies the abduction and murder of Danielle Jones, of Hayle, East Tilbury. The case continues
Follow the case day by day in the Evening Echo
Published Thursday October 31, 2002
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