The Babes In The Wood Murders

The Babes In The Wood Murders shocked the nation in the late 80s and is still considered the longest and largest inquiry ever conducted by the Sussex Police. Two nine-year-old girls were reported missing by their parents on October 9th, 1986. The bodies of both girls, Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway were later found the following day in Wild Park. Wild Park is located in Moulsecoomb, Brighton and is just a short walk from where the girls both lived on a local estate. A search party of over 200 people was conducted on October 10th in Wild Park where the bodies were found by two searchers in what looked like a makeshift den. The initial autopsy revealed that Nicola and Karen had been strangled and sexually assaulted.

Although the police had a few potential suspects, including Nicola’s father Barrie and the family’s lodger Douglas Judd, and made multiple arrests over the years their main suspect has always been a local man called Russell Bishop. Bishop who was twenty at the time of the murders lived about one point five miles from both girls, in the Hollingdean area. He lived with his pregnant partner and son but was known for having an array of girlfriends. Most of which were still at school. In Oct 1986, he was seeing sixteen-year-old Marion Stevenson who lived around the corner from the girls. Bishop also played football with Barrie Fellows and close friend Dougie Judd was lodging with the Fellows family at the time. Bishop was known for wolf-whistling at schoolgirls and making homemade pornographic films of local teens which were passed around the men on the estate.

Bishop initially fell under suspicion for being too close to the investigation. He was seen on the evening of the 9th on Lewes Road, the last place both girls were seen alive, at around 18:30 wearing a light blue top. He also took part in the search, claiming his terrier Misty was a highly trained tracker dog and insured for £17,000 and was close by when the girls’ bodies were found.

1987 Trial

After being initially arrested (31/10/86) and charged (03/12/86) Bishop did not stand trial until the following December. The four-week trial started on 10th Dec 1987. He was tried for the rape and murder of both girls at Lewes Crown Court. Unfortunately, due to multiple mistakes made throughout the investigation, the prosecution’s case fell apart in court. The temperature of the girl’s bodies was never recorded so an accurate time of death could not be proved therefore Bishop’s alibis could not be challenged. Also, the strangulation marks were not measured on the girl’s necks so couldn’t be compared to any suspects and forensics failed to analyse blood found in Karen’s underwear. The prosecution’s key piece of evidence, a blue Pinto sweatshirt, was found by the railway line near Moulsecoomb station. It was believed that Bishop discarded it after killing the girls but due to bad preservation of evidence doubt was cast over the reliability of the sweatshirt. Bishop claimed the sweatshirt belonged to another of his girlfriends, Jennifer Johnson,  but she said it was definitely owned by him. Johnson later claimed in court that she had never seen the sweatshirt before. Bishop was acquitted by the jury after just two hours of deliberations.

In 1990, Bishop was convicted of the kidnapping, sexual assault and attempted murder of seven year-old-girl Claire Perkins who was found in the Devil’s Dyke area. He was later sentenced to fourteen years before eligible for release. 

After the repeal of the Double Jeopardy provision in April 2005 meant that Bishop could be retried for the girl’s murders if new evidence was found. Although the case was soon reopened the families were told in 2006 that there wasn’t enough evidence for Bishop to be recharged.

Eventually, the case was fully re-investigated and in 2014 the Eurofins Forensics Service, known for their recent successes on the Stephen Lawrence retrial, were asked to reexamine the evidence. They found a billion to one DNA match linking Bishop to the sweatshirt but the bad preservation still caused an air of doubt. Also, a taping from Karen’s left forearm contained Bishop’s DNA and had been preserved so well that they could use it to prove Bishop’s guilt.

2018 Trail

Bishop was re-arrested in relation to the Babes In The Wood case on 10 May 2016. In December 2017 the court of appeals ordered for the 1987 acquittal to be quashed. The prosecution then announced in February 2018 that Bishop would be tried at the Old Bailey. The trial was scheduled for 15 October 2018. Prosecutor Brian Altman claimed that the second trial was not based on Bishop serving time for a similar crime but because the re-evaluation of evidence was a significant breakthrough. This due to DNA profiling being in its infancy in 1986/7. 

During the trial, Bishop claimed that the Police had spent thirty-two years building a case on the wrong man and that Barrie Fellows was the true culprit. Barrie Fellows had already spent decades of torment due to the investigation claiming that he was involved in the girls’ abuse and murder. However, this investigation was closed after no evidence against him being found.

After a nine-week trial, a jury of seven men and five women returned a guilty verdict after two and a half hours. On December 11th 2018, Bishop was sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommended minimum term of thirty-six years. He is likely to remain in prison until he is at least eighty-eight. If he serves his whole sentence it will be the longest imprisonment served in the legal history of England and Wales.

In March 2020 it was announced that Jennifer Johnson, Bishop’s girlfriend at the time of the murders, was to be charged with perverting the course of justice in relation to the police statements and court evidence which she had given during the original investigation and 1987 trial.

After 32 years the families of both Nicola and Karen finally have justice for their little girls and are now at peace that their murderer is behind bars at last.

M🌸 & C🌙