‘I always knew Russell Bishop had murdered my Karen. But it took 32 years and the courage of another victim to prove it’:
The mother of a nine-year-old victim shares her emotional journey of witnessing her daughter’s killer walk free and her relentless fight for justice. In 1986, her daughter, Karen, and her friend Nicola Fellows were tragically sexually assaulted and murdered while playing in a woodland near their home in Brighton. The media referred to this horrific incident as the ‘Babes in the Wood’ murders, a description she found unsettling. Three years after Karen’s funeral, she became convinced that the same man who had killed her daughter had targeted another young girl, Rachael Watts.
The man responsible for these crimes was Russell Bishop, who had escaped justice for the previous murders. He kidnapped Rachael, but she managed to survive and provide crucial evidence for his capture. The mother believes that the spirits of her daughter and Nicola watched over Rachael during the attack, urging her to stay alive and identify their assailant.
The devastating loss of Karen, a happy and creative child, shattered their family. Despite Bishop’s arrest for the attack on Rachael, he was acquitted of the earlier murders due to flaws in the evidence. The concept of double jeopardy prevented his retrial. However, years of campaigning and changes in the law eventually allowed for a new investigation into the case.
In 2013, advanced forensic techniques led to the discovery of crucial DNA evidence linking Bishop to the crimes. He was retried and found guilty, providing some closure for the families after a painful and lengthy journey. This memoir captures the mother’s determination to seek justice for her daughter and her friend, finally achieving it after decades of relentless effort.
[Note: The passage includes details about the tragic events and the mother’s emotions throughout the ordeal.]
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