Of father smeared as the Babes in the Wood
police that under no circumstances were they to tell my wife Sue. That was my job.
“I went outside to look for her, but heard the terrible high pitched scream of a wounded animal. It didn’t sound human. That was Sue. I just knew.
“Some fool had told her without me being there. By the time I reached her she was wailing and sobbing. I tried to comfort her but she was hysterical. Completely lost. I think that was the moment our marriage was lost, too.
“Nicky’s murder cast a shadow over the family’s life. Things were never the same again.”
The case against Bishop fell apart in the first trial after Ms Johnson retracted the statement the sweatshirt belonged to Bishop. Mr Fellows alleged: “It sickens me she knew the sweatshirt belonged to the perverted killer of two innocent children. She hadn’t been mistaken.”
He also claimed: “She realised what she’d said would probably put him away for life. She went on to have another baby with him after he was acquitted.”
After his acquittal Ms Stevenson accused Mr Fellows of watching a porn film of Nicola and a lodger who shared their home. Mr and Mrs Fellows were forced to leave their home and move to London to get away from the vile slurs.
They later divorced under the strain, before Mr Fellows moved to Cheshire to try to start a new life.
Mrs Fellows, who refused to believe anyone other than Bishop was behind Nicola’s murder, said: “I just don’t believe these allegations. I don’t believe Barrie would be involved in anything like that.”
Mr Fellows added: “I knew Marion to say ‘hello’ to but not much more. But somehow she developed a deep dislike towards me. That’s all I can assume to explain what she did to me after Bishop was released. It had a terrible effect on me and my family. Enough people believed there was no smoke without fire and it got so bad we were virtually driven out to London.
“My marriage to Sue didn’t survive. Bishop was laughing his socks off. He was off the hook and his victim’s father was in the frame.”
Mr Fellows was arrested in 2009 after Ms Stevenson made a formal complaint to police, but he was cleared after officers found no case to answer. He said: “I still can’t understand how she could do that to a man who will never stop missing his daughter, so people will understand my hatred of her.”
During Bishop’s re-trial his defence again raised the slurs, pointing the finger at Mr Fellows. Prosecutors slammed the tactic, insisting: “There is not a shred of evidence against Barrie Fellows.”
Mr Fellows said: “I thought I had escaped the torment of their lies. But he was desperate to try and smear me again.
“It’s like he wanted to take me down with him. I felt physically sick. I wanted to jump into the witness box.”
Under the weight of evidence against him, Bishop refused to continue to participate in the case. Mr Fellows said: “I never doubted we’d get him in the end. The man’s a waste of space, and doesn’t deserve to live. I only wish he had the decency not to drag the rest of us down with him. He’s sick.”
Police have not ruled out perjury charges against Ms Johnson over her alleged lies to support Bishop in court. Mr Fellows and his halfbrother Nigel have also promised they could launch private prosecutions against the two women.
Mr Fellows claimed: “These women helped him take my family away, piece by piece, over the last 30 years. In some respects they’re just as bad as him. They are going to pay too, if we have our way.”
‘I did not doubt we would get him in the end’