Babes in the wood victim’s dad: I did not kill the girls..
Father denies part in sexual abuse
THE father of “Babes in the Wood” victim Nicola Fellows wept in court as he denied murdering her.
Barrie Fellows has been accused of killing his daughter and her friend Karen Hadaway, both nine, to cover up complicity in her sexual abuse.
The allegations were made by the barrister for Russell Bishop, 52, who is on trial accused of sexually assaulting and strangling the girls in woods on the edge of Brighton in 1986.
Joel Bennathan QC, crossexamining for Bishop, asked: “Were you party to Nicola being filmed in a pornographic video?” Mr Fellows replied: “No.”
The lawyer went on:
“Were you anything to do with her death?”
Mr Fellows looked close to tears as he again replied:
Russell Bishop “No.” He said he was cleaning a swimming pool and gardening at a house in Hove on the day the girls vanished. And Mr Fellows wept when talking of identifying Nicola’s body.
He was also quizzed on why he told Karen’s mother Michelle that her daughter was “in the wrong place at the wrong time”. He said: “I probably did say that – so was Nicola. They should not even be in Wild Park.” The girls disappeared while out playing near their homes on the Moulsecoomb estate. Their bodies were found the next day in nearby Wild Park on the South Downs. Bishop was acquitted of the killings in 1987 but ordered to stand trial again after DNA testing advances. He denies murder and the Old Bailey trial continues.