Niece charged with uncle's murder

Bernadette Meadowcroft and Robert Peter Atkinson were due to appear before Blackburn magistrates today charged with the murder of the former horse dealer.

The battered and blood spattered body of Mr Jackson, 70, was found in his Blackburn home in November, 1990.

Meadowcroft and Atkinson were arrested after police swooped on two addresses yesterday morning.

The suspects were taken to separate police stations and quizzed by detectives for several hours before being charged.

Bernadette Meadowcroft, 30, was arrested at a house in Haworth Avenue, Church. Meadowcroft was 21 at the time of the murder and was living in Leeds Close, Blackburn. She was unemployed and her maiden name was Jackson, the same as her murdered uncle.

Robert Peter Atkinson, 36, was arrested in Monsall Road, Collyhurst, Manchester, but he also formerly lived in the Blackburn area.

Mr Jackson, who was 5ft 1in tall and disabled, is thought to have died two days before his battered body was found in the bathroom of his sheltered housing flat. His home in Sussex Drive, Audley, had been ransacked and several items of jewellery including a gold sovereign ring had been taken. Mr Jackson's pet dog was found cowering behind the settee.

Police launched the biggest murder inquiry the town had ever seen and thousands of homes were visited in the Audley area.

Hundreds of people were interviewed and one man was arrested and questioned for several days about the murder.

At the height of the investigation more than 100 detectives took part in the inquiry and leads were followed up across the country.

Detective Superintendent Paul Buschini was asked to review the murder inquiry recently.

He said: "This is the latest development in an extensive inquiry and is the culmination of a long review and a lot of hard work by officers."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.