Ex-girlfriend of ‘Babes in the Wood’ child murderer Russell Bishop is charged with perjury over evidence in trial that saw him acquitted 31 years before he finally faced justice
- Russell Bishop sexually assaulted and killed Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows
- The murderer was wrongly cleared at a trial in 1987, a year after the murders
- Jennifer Johnson, 54, faces charges relating to the evidence she gave at time
- Bishop was finally convicted of the two murders in Brighton in 2018
An ex-girlfriend of child killer Russell Bishop will be charged with perverting the course of justice.
Jennifer Johnson from Brighton has been summonsed over the failed prosecution of Bishop in 1987.
He was cleared of killing Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows, who were both found sexually assaulted and strangled in the seaside town’s woodland in 1986.
Karen Hadaway (left) and Nicola Fellows (right) were found dead in woodland in Brighton, East Sussex
Ms Johnson, 54, faces charges over her court evidence and police statements after the nine-year-old children were found.
Her former boyfriend Bishop attacked another child in 1990 and was convicted of Karen and Nicola’s murders in December 2018.
The youngsters’ bodies were found in Wild Park, which sits on the edge of Brighton, East Sussex.
Pictured: Russell Bishop, who sexually assaulted and killed the nine-year-old schoolgirls in Brighton, before waiting 31 years to be brought to justice
The tragic discovery was made just half a mile from both of the girl’s family homes.
A spokesperson for Sussex Police said: ‘We have ensured that the families of Karen and Nicola, and the victim of Russell Bishop in 1990, are fully aware of this significant development in the case and we will continue to keep them informed.’
Bishop was previously cleared of the Babes in the Wood murders in 1987, but within three years he went on to kidnap, molest and throttle the seven-year-old girl, leaving her for dead at Devil’s Dyke.
While serving life for that crime, Bishop was ordered to face a fresh trial for Nicola and Karen’s murders in light of a DNA breakthrough.
In 2017 Bishop’s acquittals were quashed paving the way for a second trial, ending five long anxious years for the families.