[4] Owing to his being under 16 at the time he committed the murders, Jones escaped execution for his crimes; instead being sentenced to be detained At His Majesty's pleasure on 1 November 1921.

[8] Jones and his siblings attended a local council school where he was regarded as a popular and exemplary pupil, showing a particular flair for sports, and holding aspirations to become a professional boxer.

[11][12] When Burnell had not returned home after an hour, her frantic parents began making inquiries, including at the store Freda had been sent to visit.

In addition, an axe handle determined to have caused the blunt trauma to the child's head was discovered concealed beneath some sacking inside the shed.

Aside from his employers, Jones was the only individual in possession of a key to the shed, and investigators established a clear time frame of between 9:15 and 9:40 a.m. when no witnesses had physically seen him inside the store.

A friend of Jones named Levi Meyrick also informed police that Jones had actively dissuaded him and another youth named Frank Mortimer[21] from accompanying him to the shed at approximately 10:20 p.m. on 5 February; another witness also informed police he had heard a female child's screams emanating from this shed on the actual morning of Burnell's disappearance.

Nonetheless, investigators were convinced otherwise, and Jones was held in detention at Abertillery Police Station to await the outcome of the coroner's inquest.

Although Jones had contradicted himself on several occasions at the initial inquest, he remained calm when called to testify in his own defence at trial, also withstanding rigorous cross-examination.

[7] Despite the evidence presented at this trial clearly indicating that Burnell had most likely been killed in the shed belonging to Jones's employers, and only Harold and the Mortimer family having access to the key, after deliberating for over five hours[23] the jury found Jones not guilty of the murder, returning a unanimous verdict[18] of murder by person or persons unknown.

[25] Jones walked free from the courtroom to a private and reportedly tearful reunion with his parents before being escorted to a local restaurant for a meal.

"[8] He subsequently returned to Abertillery in a charabanc adorned with flags and bunting to cheers from the local public, most of whom found the notion that a 15-year-old boy could sexually assault and kill a child simply inconceivable.

"[28] Seventeen days after his acquittal of Burnell's murder, on 8 July, Jones observed a neighbour of his named Florence Irene Little playing hopscotch with his sister, Flossie, outside his home at 10 Darran Road.

Having washed all the bloodstains he noted from the sink, walls, floor, and entrance hatch to the attic, Jones proceeded to bathe himself.

[32] Questioned by police as to whether he had seen Little on the day of her disappearance, Jones repeated the same lie he had earlier recited to Little's mother, Elsie, when she had called upon his house asking as to her daughter's whereabouts: that she had been at his front door, but had then simply "ran off.

[34] Informed of the discovery in his attic, Jones's father left his property and performed a citizen's arrest on his son as he conversed with a friend in nearby Mitre Street.

Again conducted by the deputy coroner for the district, the jury heard testimony on this date that Little had bled to death from the wound to her throat.

The inquest was adjourned until 23 July with the jury subsequently reaching a unanimous verdict of wilful murder against Jones after just thirty minutes' deliberation.

[37] When asked if he had anything to say in relation to this verdict and his being committed to again stand trial at Monmouthshire Assizes for a child murder, Jones—having taken copious notes of the court proceedings[31]—reportedly jumped to his feet and proclaimed his innocence.

[38][n 7] "I, Harold Jones, do confess that I wilfully and deliberately murdered Florence Irene Little on 8 July, causing her to die without preparation to meet her God.

This statement—also penned prior to his trial—read: "I, Harold Jones, wilfully and deliberately murdered Freda Burnell in Mortimer's Shed on 5 February 1921.

At the conclusion of the Second World War, Jones briefly resided in Newport,[14] although by 1948, he is known to have relocated to Fulham, London, using the alias Harry Stevens.