Justice for my girl
Michelle has spent 32 years fighting to have her nine-year-old daughter’s killer convicted…
For more than 30 years, Michelle Hadaway has lived with the torment of the unsolved ‘Babes in the Woods’ murders.
On 9 October 1986, Michelle’s nine-year-old daughter, Karen, and her friend Nicola Fellows went out to play and never came home. The next day, their bodies were found in Wild Park, Brighton. Both had been strangled and sexually assaulted.
‘I was in the park when they were found and when the police tapes came out, I just knew,’ says Michelle. ‘I collapsed in a heap. It was like my whole body had exploded.’
Michelle, along with Nicola’s parents,
Barrie and Sue, feature in this documentary about their fight for justice.
In 1987, 20-year-old Russell Bishop stood trial for the murders but was acquitted due to unreliable forensic evidence.
But three years later, Bishop was sentenced to life for the kidnap, indecent assault and attempted murder of a seven-yearold girl in almost identical circumstances. It wasn’t until 2011, however, that the evidence linking Bishop to Nicola and Karen’s murders was re-examined.
Now, cameras follow the prosecution team and the families as a series of DNA breakthroughs are made and Bishop is finally found guilty in December 2018.
‘We’ve had to fight for 32 years,’ says Michelle. ‘We have lost out on so much – I shall always, always miss her smiling face.’