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Mother remembers girls murdered 40 years ago

Zac Sherratt,South Eastand
Piers Hopkirk,in Brighton
Press Association Black and white photos of Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows who were murdered 40 years agoPress Association

The mother of one of two nine-year-old girls murdered in Brighton 40 years ago says the pain of losing the children has never gone away.

Karen Hadaway and her friend Nicola Fellows disappeared while playing outside their homes on the Moulsecoomb estate on 9 October 1986.

Their bodies were found in Wild Park the following day.

At a memorial event marking the 40th anniversary of their murders, Karen's mother Michelle Hadaway-Johnson said: "They were just two little children out playing one day, and they never came home."

Piers Hopkirk/BBC A woman with red hair wearing a black and white jumper. She has glasses on her head and is looking into the camera while stood in a fieldPiers Hopkirk/BBC
Michelle Hadaway Johnson, Karen's mother, said 40 years on it was "just a different type of pain"

Nicola and Karen had been murdered by Russell Bishop but it was decades before he was convicted.

Hadaway-Johnson told the BBC: "They were just two little children out playing one day, and they never came home.

"The pain is still there, it's just a different type of pain. Coming here doesn't make me feel any better, but it makes me feel close to them. They're in my heart."

Piers Hopkirk/BBC A man with short grey hair and black glasses. He is sat on a bench, with his right arm over the back of it, looking into the cameraPiers Hopkirk/BBC
Nigel Heffron, Nicola's uncle, says the memorial event will help the girls' story to live on

The memorial event, led by Father James Harding of St Andrew's Church in Moulsecoomb, began at 17:15 BST.

Nicola's uncle Nigel Heffron said the time was chosen because it was when the girls were last seen alive by a park keeper in Wild Park.

"We've been coming back to the park every year since then to decorate the tree. The tree has been there since the beginning.

Press Association File photo dated 16/10/86 of a policeman standing guard next to a tree surrounded by floral tributes in Wild Park, Brighton, where the bodies of Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway were foundPress Association
An image from the scene in 1986, showing the tree and floral tributes Nigel mentions

"When we first approached to lay some flowers after their bodies were found, as close as [the police] would let us go is that tree, so that's always been known as the Nicky and Karen tree."

Heffron said throughout the night the tree will be lit up and decorated.

Doves will be released in Wild Park on Saturday before a final candle is extinguished at 16:21 BST, the time the girls' bodies were found.

Heffron said: "Come October, it hits you like a tonne of bricks.

"It's back again, what we had to go through, no family should have to go through what we went through for justice."

Piers Hopkirk/BBC Two red butterflies on poles in the ground next to a wooden and stone memorial. Yellow flowers are placed on the memorial. It is surrounded by grassPiers Hopkirk/BBC
Fresh flowers and a note at the memorial to the two girls

Bishop was first accused of the murders in 1987 but a four-week trial found him not guilty.

He went on to attack a seven-year-old girl in 1990, who he sexually assaulted and strangled before leaving her for dead on Devils Dyke, but she survived.

He was sentenced to life in prison for attempted murder, kidnap and indecent assault.

In the case of Nicole and Karen, new advances in DNA testing meant a blue sweatshirt was re-examined in 2014, which linked it to Bishop's home and the girls.

A previously un-examined sample taken from Karen's forearm uncovered a one-in-a-billion DNA match to Bishop.

In 2018, he was finally convicted of murdering Nicole and Karen. He died in prison in 2022, aged 55. It is understood he had cancer.

Murderer Russell Bishop shown as a young man.
After his acquittal in 1987, Bishop said he wanted the 'real' killer found

Speaking after Bishop's death, Peter Kyle, the Labour MP for Hove and Portslade, described Bishop as a "hateful man" whose "murders and deceit caused endless pain to so many people".

He added: "I hope his death behind bars starts a new chapter for his victims' families. They deserve it. These events have scarred Brighton and Hove forever."

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