Advertisement

Russell Bishop is 'evil personified', say mothers of Babes in the Wood victims as killer is convicted of their murders after 32 years

The distraught families of the murdered Babes in the Wood schoolgirls have branded killer Russell Bishop as "evil personified" after he was convicted following a 32-year wait for justice.

The girls' loved-ones told of their "living death" over the last three decades as Bishop was finally convicted for the 1986 murders.

Bishop was 20 years old when he sexually assaulted and strangled nine-year-olds Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway in a woodland den in Brighton.

He was cleared of their murders on December 10 1987 but within three years went on to kidnap, molest and throttle a seven-year-old girl, leaving her for dead at Devils Dyke on the edge of the Sussex seaside city.

Karen Hadaway (left) and Nicola Fellows were found dead in Wild Park near Brighton (PA)
Karen Hadaway (left) and Nicola Fellows were found dead in Wild Park near Brighton (PA)

While serving life for attempted murder, Bishop, now 52, was ordered to face a fresh trial under the double jeopardy law in light of a DNA breakthrough.

He was today convicted at the Old Bailey after just two and a half hours, on the anniversary of Bishop's original acquittal.

Michelle Hadaway, the mother of Karen Hadaway (left) and Sue Eismann the mother of Nicola Fellows, outside the Old Bailey in London (PA)
Michelle Hadaway, the mother of Karen Hadaway (left) and Sue Eismann the mother of Nicola Fellows, outside the Old Bailey in London (PA)

Afterwards, Karen's mother Michelle Hadaway said Bishop was an "evil monster".

She said: "After 32 years of fighting, we finally have justice for Karen and Nicola.

"Time stood still for us in 1986. To us them beautiful girls will always be nine years old. They will never grow up.

Bishop, pictured circa 1988, has been found guilty of murdering Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway (PA)
Bishop, pictured circa 1988, has been found guilty of murdering Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway (PA)

"What people like Bishop inflict on the families of their victims is a living death."

She added: "People talk to me of forgiveness, but I can never forgive or forget what that evil monster did to my beautiful Kaz and Nicky."

The Fellows family said: "Nicola and Karen. Our beautiful girls. We will never forget their smiles that would light up a room. Their laughter. Their cheekiness.

"During the past eight weeks, we have endured re-living the horrific details of their murders and we have learned an awful lot about the true meaning of heartbreak all over again.

Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway were playing in Wild Park before they were murdered (PA)
Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway were playing in Wild Park before they were murdered (PA)

"We stand here as two families united in our grief. United in our fight for justice. And now united in our elation at today's guilty verdict.

"Together we have changed history with this 'double jeopardy' ruling and we finally have the correct outcome - Russell Bishop remains behind bars where he belongs.

"The guilty verdict doesn't bring Nicola and Karen back, but we know that other children are now safe from the hands of Russell Bishop.

"He is a monster. A predatory paedophile. Russell Bishop truly is evil personified."

The case, dubbed Babes in the Woods murders, shocked the nation in 1986 and blighted the tight-knit community of Moulsecoomb, on the edges of the South Downs in Brighton.

It is believed to be the oldest double jeopardy case and Sussex Police's longest-running murder inquiry.

In the retrial, a sweatshirt discarded on Bishop's route home was linked to the defendant by DNA while fibre, paint and ivy hairs placed it at the murder scene in Wild Park.

Tests on a sample from Karen's left forearm also revealed a "one in a billion" DNA match to Bishop.

Adjourning sentencing until Tuesday, Mr Justice Sweeney paid tribute to the families' "extraordinary diginity" throughout the trial.

Nigel Pilkington, of Crown Prosecution Service South East, said Bishop was an "extremely dangerous man" who had been convicted on "overwhelming and incontrovertible" evidence.

He said: "He is a violent predatory paedophile and he gets cross when you call him that. He also considers himself to be a victim in the sense of the 1990 conviction."

Bishop had denied all the charges against him.

Additional reporting by Press Association.