The father of schoolgirl Danielle Jones has told a court how his brother-in-law tried to avoid talking to him in the days after his daughter's disappearance.

Tony Jones told Chelmsford Crown Court that Stuart Campbell did not offer to help with the search for the missing girl.

Danielle Jones disappeared on 18 June last year.

Stuart Campbell, 44, denies abducting and murdering the 15-year-old.

He said, 'I thought you were the boys in blue' and he laughed

Tony Jones

Mr Jones said he had called at Mr Campbell's home on 20 June when he appeared jittery and distant.

"He didn't want to look at me, he was just looking all around the room, he didn't want to look at me," he said.

He explained that Mr Campbell was showing Mr Jones's mother a text message, allegedly received from Danielle, the day of the schoolgirl's disappearance.

He said that when he called at Mr Campbell's house two days after Danielle went missing, Mr Campbell answered the door.

Good relationship

Mr Jones told the court: "He said, 'I thought you were the boys in blue' and he laughed."

Mr Jones, who described his daughter as a mature but unconfident girl, said the relationship between Danielle and her uncle had changed at the beginning of 2001.

He said Mr Campbell came round to the house more often and would give Danielle compliments.

Mr Jones said he had a good relationship with his daughter in the months leading up to her disappearance but said they had had their "moments".

He said: "She wasn't the cleverest person in the world but she always did her best at school."

Danielle's father also told the court that when he went round to Mr Campbell's house the afternoon his daughter disappeared, he looked through the window and saw a camera tripod and camera film boxes.

The case has been adjourned until Thursday.

The court will not sit on Wednesday, which would have been Danielle's birthday.