A man suspected of killing his six-year-old sister, their mother and her partner has been found dead in Oxford, bringing a dramatic end to a police manhunt involving more than 100 officers.
The body of Jed Allen, 21, was discovered by members of the public on Monday night in woodland less than a mile from Oxford University Parks where the search had focused.
Detectives had been hunting for Allen since the bodies of his sister Derin, mother Janet Jordon, 48, and Philip Howard, 44, were found at their house in Didcot, Oxfordshire, on Saturday night.
At a press conference on Monday evening, detectives said they were no longer looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths.
Det Supt Chris Ward, who is leading the murder investigation, said: “My condolences go out to the families and loved ones of Janet Jordon, Philip Howard and Derin Jordon. We have specially trained officers with the families and we will continue to support them at this extremely difficult time.
“I would like to thank the public for all their help during this investigation, as well as their patience while we have been carrying out searches across Oxfordshire. I would especially like to thank the residents of Didcot who have cooperated with the police during this tragic period.”
The discovery came after a 30-hour manhunt involving sniffer dogs, armed officers and a police helicopter. The search had spanned Oxford, but centred on University Parks where Allen was a groundsman.
Detectives will now shift their focus to the circumstances surrounding the triple murder. The 21-year-old, who was known to police, was said to have struggled to come to terms with his parents’ divorce and posed with knives in pictures posted on social media.
Earlier on Monday, parents and children lit candles at All Saints primary school where Derin was in year 1. John Myers, the headteacher, said he was “shocked and devastated” to lose a child in such tragic circumstances. “She was a beautiful little girl, happy and gentle and smiley. She was a wonderful little child,” he added.
Tributes were left outside the family home where the bodies of Janet, Philip and Derin were discovered with fatal knife wounds. A yellow teddy bear was placed inside the police cordon alongside a handwritten tribute attached to a bunch of flowers. Part of it read: “You are my family and always will be. I will miss you all each day … You have all left a massive void in my heart which will never be filled. I love you all so much, Jan, Phil and my Dezzy Doo.”
In an appeal for information hours before Allen’s body was found, investigators gave an insight into the Oxford University groundsman’s whereabouts shortly before his family’s bodies were discovered.
Police believe Allen boarded a train at 5.24pm on Saturday to Oxford from Didcot railway station, a five-minute walk from his family’s house in Vicarage Road. Twenty minutes later he arrived in Oxford and was captured on CCTV in WHSmith buying a bottle of water.
After leaving WHSmith, police believe Allen made the one-mile walk through Oxford city centre to University Parks. Meanwhile, 15 miles south of Oxford, police were called to Vicarage Road at 8.23pm where they found three bodies.
A triple murder investigation was launched immediately, but it was not until 11am on Sunday that detectives took the highly unusual step of naming their chief suspect.
Over the past 18 months, Allen had kept his friends inundated with updates on his life, posting more than 500 pictures and videos on his Instagram account. His profile, on which he called himself Mr Meat Tank, reveals his interest in bodybuilding and comic-book characters.
Several of the images show him posing as the blade-wielding X-Men character Wolverine while in others he grins at the camera as he shows the distinctive spider tattoo on his left hand.
On Facebook, Allen told friends in June last year: “Works turned sour already. Fed up of being treated like dirt.” Days earlier, he wrote that he wasn’t a “morning person”, adding: “I’ve decided there is no time of day that I function well.”
Videos from four months ago show Allen singing Bohemian Rhapsody with a boy in a small bedroom, alongside a teddy bear in a Liverpool FC shirt and what appeared to be a Batman dressing gown. In another, Allen sings the Shaggy song Boombastic with the caption: “A few days ago when I was happy.”
Eight months ago, Allen posted a video on Instagram showing him pretending to be stabbed by his friend, who was standing over him with a knife.
Steve Connel, a councillor for Didcot North East on South Oxfordshire district council, said he would seek answers about why Allen was known to police and about the circumstances of his employment by Didcot town council.
He said it was a shock to learn that Allen was a council groundsman. He said: “It is something we will look into more fully but in situations like this it’s difficult to know when someone will allegedly act like that. It will be something that we will review.”
Allen’s friends have posted remarks on social media defending him, pointing out that he is innocent until proven guilty.
