BBC expresses ‘very deep regret’ for losing clothes of Babes in the Wood murder victim

The BBC has said it is a “matter of very deep regret” that the missing clothes of “Babes in the Wood” murder victim Karen Hadaway have never been found.

Karen’s mother, Michelle Hadaway, handed her daughter’s clothes to reporter Martin Bashir on August 15 1991, to have them DNA tested by the BBC as part of investigations for the social affairs programme Public Eye.

Karen and Nicola Fellows, both aged nine, had been found sexually assaulted and strangled in a woodland den in Brighton in October 1986.

In 1987, Russell Bishop was found not guilty of their murder.

In 2002 and 2004, Ian Heffron, uncle of Nicola Fellows, contacted the BBC for the clothing, following reform of the law relating to double jeopardy, which would allow Bishop to be retried.

However, BBC investigators were unable to locate the clothing.

Bishop was convicted at a retrial in 2018.

Director-general Tim Davie wrote to MP Julian Knight, chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee, after he appeared before the committee in September.

The letter, dated November 8 but published by the DCMS on Tuesday, said that after a BBC review, they had concluded that “regrettably thirty years on, little more can be done to find the missing clothes”.

Mr Davie said: “The distress caused to the families is a matter of very deep regret.”

In the letter, Mr Davie added: “We hope that it is some little consolation that the police have confirmed that all forensic evidence needed had been already obtained from the clothing in 1986 and stored separately and therefore the unavailability of the clothing had no material impact on the investigation or the 2018 prosecution which eventually brought Russell Bishop to justice.”

In the letter, the BBC confirmed the clothes were lost after being given to Mr Bashir, who signed a receipt for them, adding that it was “fundamentally wrong that better care was not taken of the clothing”.

Mr Davie added: “This should never have happened. We are appalled that it did and extend our sincere apologies to the families, both that the clothing was lost in such circumstances and that we have been unable, both now and in 2004, to give them any answers about what happened to the clothing.”

The story of the lost clothing re-emerged following the publication of Lord Dyson’s report on the 1995 Panorama interview with the late Diana Princess of Wales, where reporter Mr Bashir was found to have deceived the princess in order to obtain his exclusive interview with her.

In the letter to the DCMS, Mr Davie said he had instructed one of his senior editorial executives to oversee a review of what steps had been taken in 2004 to find the clothes and “to ensure that there was no further action that we could take now that may help to locate them”.

As part of the review, Mr Bashir acknowledged that he had signed a receipt for the clothes, but “very regrettably” had no recollection of what had happened to them.

The review, which was “hampered by the passage of time,” concluded that the clothes had not been found.

A BBC spokesman said: “The BBC is extremely sorry for the distress this has caused Ms Hadaway and we deeply regret we have not been able to give her any answers about what happened.

“The director-general wrote to Ms Hadaway to offer our sincere apologies for the distress caused to her and her family, and extended that apology to the family of Nicola Fellows.”

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