Missing Girls Found: Hunt was led by the South Coast murder specialist

THE MAN who led the successful hunt for the two missing girls from Hastings is no stranger to the media limelight and high-profile cases.

Detective Superintendent Jeremy Paine was also the officer in charge of the hunt for the killer of Billie-Jo Jenkins, the 13-year-old battered to death in her garden in Hastings in February 1997. He was the officer who briefed the media in July last year after his officers helped to convict Sion Jenkins of murdering his foster-daughter.

Det Supt Paine was awarded a Chief Constable's commendation for his work in pulling together that difficult case. A month into the inquiry, he took a break to be with his wife, Helen, at the birth of their child, Harriet, who weighed in at 7lbs. Three hours later, he was back on the murder trail.

He was educated at Imberhorne School, East Grinstead, Sussex, and joined Sussex Police in 1979 as a constable. He has worked his way up the ranks, gaining the respect ofcolleagues for his intelligence and hard work. He has served at Hastings, Brighton, Hove, Crawley and East Grinstead, and is now based at CID headquarters in Brighton.

He is considered a professional and approachable man and he has worked on a string of complex cases on the south coast.

In October last year he took charge of the investigation into the shooting death of Tony Robinson, 61, found in his camper van in Hove. A man has been charged with the murder.

The next month, he led the inquiry into the death of Michael Furnival, 34, found dead at his flat in Queensway, Brighton. A man has been charged with this murder.

Det Supt Paine worked on the successful inquiries in Crawley into the 1996 murder of Janet Hazle, and Sujad Khan, killed in 1995. He is still investigating the fire deaths of two women in Hastings.