Paedophile Russell Bishop faces second trial for double child murder in 1986

A convicted paedophile has gone on trial for the second time accused of murdering two schoolgirls 32 years ago, almost to the day.

Russell Bishop, 52, denies murdering friends Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway, both aged nine, and dumping their bodies in woods near their home in Brighton, East Sussex, in 1986.

An Old Bailey jury was told Bishop was acquitted of the murders a year after the girls died, but the case was not closed and detective work continued.

Three years later, in 1990, Bishop was convicted of the kidnap, sexual assault and attempted murder of a seven-year-old girl, said prosecutor Brian Altman QC.

The girl survived and identified Bishop, who was jailed.

New forensic analysis – and other alleged evidence – in the first investigation continued for many years.

It eventually led to the Court of Appeal quashing Bishop’s acquittal and he was charged again with the murders of Nicola and Karen.

Mr Altman told the court: “The killings were entirely intentional and they were carried out in the woods by a man who sexually assaulted them for his own gratification. That man was this defendant Russell Bishop.”

He said: “We say that the similarities between the events of which he was convicted in 1990 and those in 1986 are such that together with all the other evidence in the case, they can lead you to the sure conclusion that the defendant was responsible also for the murders of Nicola and Karen but a few years earlier.”

Bishop, stocky and balding with a shaved head, sat in the dock wearing a polo shirt, tracksuit bottoms and trainers.

Mr Altman told jurors a key part of the new evidence against Bishop sprang from the new analysis of a sweatshirt found discarded near the park where the girls’ bodies were found.

He said: “That Pinto sweatshirt was a crucial finding because, after 30 or so years since 1986, it has now given up its secrets and those secrets not only provide scientific links between it and the defendant and his home environment, but also provides several scientific links to the girls, supporting the prosecution case that this man is guilty of their murders.”

The court was told that Bishop was 20 at the time of the murders and worked as a roofer. He knew both girls. He played football with Nicola’s father, Barrie.

On the day the girls disappeared he had called at the Fellows’ home, looking for a friend who was lodging with the family.

He arrived with his 16-year-old girlfriend, who Nicola allegedly called a “slag”.

Jurors heard Nicola and Karen went out after school and were later seen by witnesses in the park. The park keeper spoke to them and spoke to Bishop close-by around the same time.

The next day, when the alarm was raised and police, family and neighbours were looking for the missing girls, Bishop joined the search.

Mr Altman said: “It was all a pretence. His effort was cynical and a deliberate attempt to divert attention away from himself.

“Knowing full well that it was only a matter of time before the girls would be found dead in the very area he was helping to search, this was his way of deceiving others into thinking he was not responsible.”

The prosecutor also said Bishop suggested to police searching with him that the girls might be found dead.

Jurors are expected to visit the park near Brighton’s Moulescoomb estate on Thursday. The case is expected to last at least six weeks.

(c) Sky News 2018: Paedophile Russell Bishop faces second trial for double child murder in 1986