HOW NARCISSIST NEARLY GOT AWAY WITH BABES IN WOOD MURDERS
It was a crime that shocked a city, especially when it appeared the killer had escaped justice. JON COATES talks to writer Peter James about his documentary looking at the Babes in the Wood murders
CRIME writer Peter James has turned detective to take a definitive look at how one of Britain’s most notorious child killers nearly got away with the “Babes in the Wood” murders.
Russell Bishop was acquitted by a jury of sexually assaulting and strangling nine-year-old girls Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway in Brighton, East Sussex, in October 1986, after a high-profile trial the following year.
It took 32 years, a change in the double jeopardy law and advances in DNA testing to correct the shocking miscarriage of justice.
After co-writing a book about the case that was published two years ago, Peter returned to his home city to speak to police officers involved in the original murder hunt and the first trial for a new documentary.
He says piecing together the events that saw Bishop walk free from Lewes Crown Court is the final chapter in a case that “stayed with me longer than any other crime I have encountered”.
Peter, now 73, was living in Brighton when the two best friends, Nicola and Karen, were abducted from their council estate.
Their bodies were discovered the next day in Wild Park and Bishop, who knew the girls, became the prime suspect. He had described to officers how they were lying in undergrowth, despite claiming not to have seen them. He also asked one of the victim’s mothers for her coat so his terrier dog could get the scent and find her.
But due to poor direction by the judge at his murder trial, the prosecution’s reliance on flawed timings and Bishop’s girlfriend Jenny Johnson perjuring herself on the stand, the killer was acquitted.
Bishop was convicted of the murders in December 2018 after the longestrunning inquiry in Sussex Police history.
Peter is the best-selling author of the Roy Grace detective novels, which have been adapted into ITV drama Grace, starring John
Simm. Peter said he can remember being disgusted by seeing Russell take a victory parade around the city, on the back of a flatbed truck with a banner down the side saying “Russell Bishop innocent” after his acquittal in 1987.
Peter said the case stayed with him for “a combination of reasons”.
“Firstly, the crime was just horrific. Two innocent nine-year-old girls were abducted by someone they knew and trusted, into woods literally just a few hundred yards from where they lived, and then sexually assaulted and strangled.
“And then the fact the police knew from pretty early on that Bishop was responsible from the way he behaved.
“The next morning he helped the police find the girls and pretty much gave himself away when he described the position they were lying in.
“One of the officers said ‘did you actually see them?’ And he said ‘no’. Somebody once said to me – and I think that
it’s true – that the majority of criminals are cunning but not actually very clever. I think that fits Bishop.”
During his investigation, Peter was shocked to learn Bishop came from a stable background with good parents. His mother was a respected dog breeder and a Crufts judge.
Peter said: “With psychopaths, you can look at their family background and often see the seeds of what they became.
“Ninety-nine per cent of people in British
prisons come from a broken home of some sort but there was none of that with Bishop.
“He had a history of petty crime, of car theft, but nothing to indicate the dark side.”
The author added: “The other key element was that within the council estate where the girls lived there was a lot of finger pointing after their deaths, which Bishop fostered.
“His acquittal caused massive ructions and divisions within the community, with people saying ‘if he didn’t do it then whoever did is still amongst us’.” He said there was anger at the police for not arresting the perpetrator but they could not arrest Bishop again because of the double jeopardy rule in place at the time.
Peter said: “What that caused was a fantastic air of suspicion, resentment and anger, not just within the Moulsecoomb estate but across the whole of Brighton and Hove.
“And that just festered and festered, like a dark cloud hanging over the city for years.” Peter first wrote about the city 10 years ago in a book called Death Comes Knocking: Policing Roy Grace’s Brighton. The joint project was with Graham Bartlett, a former divisional commander of Brighton and Hove police who helped him research several of his Roy Grace novels.
They looked at some of the high-profile crimes Graham had been involved in and from which Peter had drawn from in his thrillers. But a chapter on the Babes in the Wood murders had to be pulled a week before publication when Bishop was re-arrested 25 years after his acquittal.
So Peter and Graham decided to write a book just about this case, with Graham attending every day of the second trial to witness how it unfolded.
Peter has now agreed to revisit the case for the new documentary series, that also features fellow crime writers: Mark Billingham takes a fresh look at the Moors Murders on Monday next week, Denise Mina looks at the Peter Manuel murders the following Monday and Douglas Skelton delves into the Ice Cream murders a week later.
Peter said: “Bishop was a complete narcissist and a horrible piece of work. The police officers involved in the case agonised over it and determined to somehow bring him to justice.”
Bishop abducted a seven-year-old girl from another estate in Brighton three years after his acquittal. She was sexually assaulted, strangled and left for dead on moorland, but was found by two hill walkers and survived.
This time Bishop was jailed for life. Four years ago, he was sentenced to another 36 years behind bars for the Babes in the Wood murders. His partner at that time, Jenny Johnson, was found guilty of perjury and jailed for six years last May.
In a final twist, Bishop died in prison from cancer in January, which Peter said left him feeling he had “cheated justice just a little”.
Once Upon A True Crime: The Babes in the Wood murders, Crime+investigation channel, 9pm tomorrow. The second Grace drama is on ITV tonight, 8pm. The 18th Roy Grace thriller, Pictureyou Dead, is out in September.