Daylight investigations at the scene were also raising questions – Jenna was found face down with jewellery and her possessions scattered around her.
Insp Emma White, the family liaison officer, said: “It didn’t appear that she’d been thrown from the vehicle, just looking at the windows and things like that.”
As the sun rose, Pauline received a visit from the police that devastated her life forever.
“I wouldn’t let him tell me. I kept talking over him. He said, ‘do sit down’. I said, ‘no, I don’t want to. I don’t want to know.’ Because I knew what he was going to say.”
Shaddick was missing, but after an appeal he appeared at Neath police station where he refused to answer any questions.
With no other information to rely on, the work of the pathology team was to be crucial.
Fatal neck injuries are common in people flung from a moving vehicle. But examination of Jenna’s neck revealed something different – her larynx had been crushed, suggesting extreme pressure had been applied.
Dr Shepherd said this, combined with the distribution of the bruising and no bone fractures meant “the appearances were starting to suggest strangulation”.
When this was put to Shaddick, he responded in writing only.
White says: “He suggested he had crashed because he was being assaulted by Jenna and it was self-defence.”
He claimed he put his arm around Jenna to calm her down and it was only when she went limp that he realised he had accidentally killed the woman he claimed to love.