By Nicola Pearson

Danielle Jones went missing in June last year as she made her way to the school bus stop.

When she was reported missing, friends and family desperately searched for her.

One family member, however, did not. Her uncle, Stuart Campbell, declined to help out.

Five months after Danielle's disappearance, Campbell was charged with her murder.

Danielle Jones went missing in June last year

He has now been found guilty of the abduction and murder of the Essex schoolgirl.

The 44-year-old from Grays in Essex had become obsessed with his niece.

He was not a blood relative of Danielle's but married to Debbie Jones, Danielle's father's sister.

During the trial the jury heard a catalogue of evidence from young women who had in some way been manipulated by Campbell.

Text messages

Some had been lured into posing for topless photographs, others he took photos of from an upstairs window of his home.

For Campbell, Danielle was a target within easy reach. He sent her scores of text messages and even kept a diary detailing the contact he had with his niece.

Danielle's parents, Linda and Tony Jones, knew nothing of their brother-in-law's feelings or behaviour towards their daughter.

They said to discover a member of their own family had murdered their daughter was "a double whammy".

Vital evidence

He would visit teenage porn sites on the internet, and he had an obsession with taking photographs of girls.

Campbell chatted up teenage girls in his local health club and told two 15-year-olds he would take photographs of them for free.

It was Stuart Campbell's mobile phone that provided vital evidence.

On the morning Danielle disappeared he made several phone calls which - with the help of the mobile phone companies and phone transmitters - the police used to prove Campbell was in the vicinity of East Tilbury.

He had denied he was in the area.

To try to cover his tracks he used Danielle's phone to send two text messages to his mobile.

He showed these to Linda and Tony to reassure them their daughter was fine.

The truth was he had probably already killed her.

Family in court

Throughout the trial, Campbell sat emotionless in the dock, rarely looking up.

He continually wrote notes and often could be observed passing them to his defence team.

Linda Jones sat in court with family liaison offers on each side of her most days.

She often appeared tearful, having to listen to evidence about her daughter.

After two months and 209 prosecution witnesses, Campbell declined to give evidence in his defence at his own trial.

Danielle's body has never been found, but the jury decided her uncle had killed her.

Her family are now hoping he reveals where the teenager's body is hidden.