WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:11.320 In October nineteen eighty six, nine year old friends Nicola 2 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:15.039 Fellows and Karen had Away disappeared while playing near their 3 00:00:15.080 --> 00:00:16.839 homes in Brighton, England. 4 00:00:18.039 --> 00:00:21.120 They were just seen being little girls around the estate, 5 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:24.760 nothing extraordinary at all until that point when they disappeared 6 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:25.760 off the face of the earth. 7 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:29.960 The following day, the bodies of the two young girls 8 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:33.920 were discovered. The police had a prime suspect, twenty year 9 00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:37.600 old Russell Bishop, but at his trial a year later, 10 00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:40.799 the killer walked away scot free. 11 00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:44.880 Anyone with half a brain would have been careful never 12 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:47.479 to do it again, and yet he does it again. 13 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:51.880 After attempting to kill a third young girl in nineteen ninety. 14 00:00:52.200 --> 00:00:56.640 Bishop would eventually face justice in twenty eighteen, thirty two 15 00:00:56.759 --> 00:01:00.399 years after the murder of Nicola and Karen the abes 16 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:01.359 in the Wood. 17 00:01:02.439 --> 00:01:10.640 Evil, insignificant, arrogant, is a creature. He's horrible, absolutely horrible. 18 00:01:11.079 --> 00:01:14.560 Russell Bishop had finally been unmasked as one of the 19 00:01:14.599 --> 00:01:42.719 world's most evil killers. In December twenty eighteen, Russell Bishop 20 00:01:42.840 --> 00:01:46.920 was serving time in Franklin Maximum Security prison for the abduction, 21 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:50.760 sexual assault, and attempted murder of a seven year old 22 00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:55.079 girl in nineteen ninety, investigators were certain the fifty two 23 00:01:55.159 --> 00:01:58.719 year old was also responsible for the nineteen eighty six 24 00:01:58.840 --> 00:02:02.640 murders of nine year old friends Nicola Fellows and Karen 25 00:02:02.680 --> 00:02:06.359 had Away, but in nineteen eighty seven Bishop had been 26 00:02:06.359 --> 00:02:08.800 found not guilty of their murders. 27 00:02:09.319 --> 00:02:13.039 There was a huge shock within the police when Bishop 28 00:02:13.080 --> 00:02:17.639 was acquitted of killing Nicola and Karen. The investigation had 29 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:22.560 been carried out so professionally and so assiduously, so when 30 00:02:22.840 --> 00:02:27.120 the jury returned with not guilty verdicts, everyone was just stunned. 31 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:30.120 It just really rocked the whole police to the corps. 32 00:02:30.599 --> 00:02:32.759 We just thought, what could possibly have gone wrong? 33 00:02:33.560 --> 00:02:35.520 We knew that it was Bishop. Everybody knew that it 34 00:02:35.560 --> 00:02:36.840 was Bishop, yet he'd walked. 35 00:02:36.599 --> 00:02:41.599 Free since then. Graham Bartlett had studied Russell Bishop's career 36 00:02:41.800 --> 00:02:42.360 of crime. 37 00:02:43.159 --> 00:02:46.360 When I was a very young detective Brighton, I became 38 00:02:46.360 --> 00:02:50.639 involved in the second investigation into Russell Bishop. As a 39 00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:54.199 result of that, I became very aware of the case 40 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:56.639 that had gone on before, in the injustice that had 41 00:02:56.680 --> 00:03:01.879 been served through the acquittals. So I became fascinated with 42 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:04.960 the case, and as my career took off, I became 43 00:03:05.319 --> 00:03:08.840 constantly involved in terms of just being aware and also 44 00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:10.800 when I was the divisional commander of Brighton and how 45 00:03:10.879 --> 00:03:13.080 this cloud over the whole policing of the city that 46 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:15.240 we hadn't delivered justice for those two girls. 47 00:03:23.319 --> 00:03:27.000 This killer's story begins in Brighton, on the south coast 48 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:31.800 of England. Russell Bishop was born in February nineteen sixty six. 49 00:03:32.599 --> 00:03:37.360 One of five brothers. Bishop had a troublesome time growing up. 50 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:41.879 Bishop had difficulties at school in terms of his learning. 51 00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:44.560 He was dyslexic, so he was sent through a series 52 00:03:44.599 --> 00:03:47.280 of different special schools and he ran away a lot. 53 00:03:47.719 --> 00:03:50.520 So this says to me that from quite a young age, 54 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:52.759 this is somebody who thinks that the rules don't apply 55 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:55.319 to them. They simply don't want to follow them. 56 00:03:55.599 --> 00:03:59.319 As a teenager, Bishop struggled to stay on the straight 57 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:00.240 and narrow. 58 00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:03.800 The first brushes he has with the law offer mundane offenses, 59 00:04:04.319 --> 00:04:07.439 a driving offense in nineteen eighty three when he's seventeen, 60 00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:12.039 a burglary offense in nineteen eighty four when he's eighteen, 61 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:16.319 and then in nineteen eighty five he's convicted of more 62 00:04:16.360 --> 00:04:19.639 burglaries and is given one hundred and fifty hours of 63 00:04:19.639 --> 00:04:22.959 community service. He's bumping along at the bottom of the 64 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:24.639 law in a very minor way. 65 00:04:25.800 --> 00:04:30.120 He would smoke drugs, he would carry out theft, burglaries, 66 00:04:30.279 --> 00:04:33.519 low level burglaries, steal from cars, just. 67 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:36.920 Really the run of the mill, irritant on the estate. 68 00:04:38.360 --> 00:04:41.279 To try and fit in with his friends. Bishop would 69 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:43.839 embellish his criminal accomplishments. 70 00:04:44.199 --> 00:04:46.879 He has a bit of a ponchamp for bigging himself up. 71 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:50.240 I mean he likes to say, oh, oh, I'm a 72 00:04:50.279 --> 00:04:56.319 master criminal. Absolute nonsense. I mean he might have tried 73 00:04:56.319 --> 00:04:58.920 to steal the odd car, but on a scale of 74 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:03.240 one to ten, he's a zero. He's no master criminal 75 00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:03.680 at all. 76 00:05:05.160 --> 00:05:10.439 Bishop was a compulsive liar. He would lie about sexual conquests, 77 00:05:10.600 --> 00:05:12.879 how many women he'd slept with, the kind of criminal 78 00:05:12.920 --> 00:05:16.360 activity that he'd been involved in. So he's somebody who's 79 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:18.839 very concerned with what other people think of him and 80 00:05:19.160 --> 00:05:24.000 essentially giving a performance. So he will embellish, he will exaggerate, 81 00:05:24.199 --> 00:05:27.040 he will report what he wants to have happened rather 82 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:28.399 than what's actually happened. 83 00:05:29.839 --> 00:05:33.399 By nineteen eighty six, twenty year old Bishop was living 84 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:35.720 in Mullscombe, a suburb of Brighton. 85 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:39.800 At the time he was living with his common law wife. 86 00:05:39.839 --> 00:05:42.920 His girlfriend had a child by her, but also was 87 00:05:42.920 --> 00:05:45.160 seeing a sixteen year old girl and having a sexual 88 00:05:45.160 --> 00:05:49.000 relationship with her. In some ways he did show that 89 00:05:49.079 --> 00:05:53.439 he preferred younger girls, but nothing at all has come 90 00:05:53.480 --> 00:05:56.199 out then or now that would suggest that he was 91 00:05:56.199 --> 00:05:56.800 a pedophile. 92 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:05.920 On the afternoon of the ninth of October nineteen eighty six, 93 00:06:06.360 --> 00:06:09.600 nine year olds Nicola Fellows and Karen had Away had 94 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:12.439 come home from school and were playing on the green 95 00:06:12.519 --> 00:06:14.079 outside their homes in. 96 00:06:14.120 --> 00:06:17.560 Bullscom Everybody can pretty much see them through the window. 97 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:21.519 It's late afternoon and there are a group of girls, 98 00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:27.920 not just two. After an hour, maybe forty five minutes, 99 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:32.240 Nikola and Karen split off from the rest of the 100 00:06:32.279 --> 00:06:34.600 group and go in search of something else to do. 101 00:06:36.439 --> 00:06:41.199 At about six point fifteen, the girls are seen outside 102 00:06:41.319 --> 00:06:43.759 the fish and chip shop with a bag of chips 103 00:06:43.800 --> 00:06:48.519 each and walking. Nothing all that unusual in that except 104 00:06:48.600 --> 00:06:53.920 that by then both Nicholas and Karen's mother are becoming 105 00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:59.240 rather concerned. When Karen didn't come home for tea, which 106 00:06:59.279 --> 00:07:01.279 is something that she always do when had my master. 107 00:07:01.800 --> 00:07:04.519 Both parents started to get worried, started to have a 108 00:07:04.519 --> 00:07:07.480 look round, phone around friends and try and find where 109 00:07:07.480 --> 00:07:07.879 they are. 110 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:12.680 And they were drawing a blank in this sort of 111 00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:14.959 a state, in any sort of a state in you know, 112 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:18.120 certainly in my childhood too, it wasn't unusual for kids 113 00:07:18.199 --> 00:07:20.519 to go missing for you know, a couple of hours 114 00:07:20.600 --> 00:07:24.360 or so. The evenings were still light. But something about 115 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:27.720 them go missing and not being seen nobody knew where 116 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:31.680 they were. That really people's worries about what was it? 117 00:07:31.720 --> 00:07:33.519 What had happened to these two little girls. 118 00:07:34.360 --> 00:07:37.480 Throughout the evening. There had been various sightings of the 119 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:41.040 girls around the estate and in nearby Wild Park. 120 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:44.399 The last time the two girls are seen is heading 121 00:07:44.439 --> 00:07:47.839 towards Wild Park with their bags of chips and in 122 00:07:47.879 --> 00:07:52.120 the same vicinity had around the same time. There's also 123 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:55.439 a sighting there of Russell Bishop. 124 00:07:56.240 --> 00:07:59.639 Bishop knew both girls through his friends and neighbors in 125 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:00.000 the world. 126 00:08:00.839 --> 00:08:02.480 It's a very close knit community. 127 00:08:03.079 --> 00:08:06.600 Bishop used to play for Barry Fellows football team. He 128 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:10.279 was a goalkeeper in Barry Fellows football team, so knew 129 00:08:10.360 --> 00:08:11.519 the Fellows through. 130 00:08:11.399 --> 00:08:12.319 That that way. 131 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:15.480 Also his girlfriend at the time that knew the hadaways, 132 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:18.480 so he got to know them through that means. Really, 133 00:08:18.839 --> 00:08:22.800 but Moulscome is one of these places where people literally 134 00:08:22.839 --> 00:08:23.480 know everybody. 135 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:31.160 By eight point thirty pm, night had fallen and the 136 00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:35.720 girls still hadn't returned home. Their worried parents decided to 137 00:08:35.799 --> 00:08:36.840 call the police. 138 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:41.240 When the officers drove into Newitt Road to go and 139 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:45.240 see the parents, immediately they sent something was different. They 140 00:08:45.320 --> 00:08:48.240 both policed Mulscoom for a while, they'd been to these 141 00:08:48.320 --> 00:08:51.240 kind of calls before, but the number of people out 142 00:08:51.240 --> 00:08:55.399 on the street, the little huddles of concerned faces trying 143 00:08:55.440 --> 00:08:57.639 to work out what was going on. Immediately they picked 144 00:08:57.720 --> 00:08:58.919 up on that a. 145 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:02.480 Police search begin and for the two nine year old friends. 146 00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:06.840 It's difficult when you're either commanding or taking part in 147 00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:10.480 the search such as this, because your overriding emotion must 148 00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:13.519 be hope. You must hope that you're going to find 149 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:16.840 these girls alive, find Nichola and Karen, bring them back 150 00:09:16.840 --> 00:09:19.399 to their mum and dads. But in fact, the longer 151 00:09:19.399 --> 00:09:22.320 it went on, the less likely that was becoming. 152 00:09:23.799 --> 00:09:27.399 The girl's parents. The police and the whole community were 153 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:31.360 desperate to find Nicola and Karen alive. It was cold 154 00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:36.480 and dark, but the search continued until two am, when 155 00:09:36.519 --> 00:09:41.039 it resumed later that morning. Detective Constable John Morton was 156 00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:43.679 one of the huge number of police that had been 157 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:45.159 drafted in to help. 158 00:09:48.759 --> 00:09:52.039 The briefing started at nine o'clock and at that stage 159 00:09:52.120 --> 00:09:56.840 we had all available uniform personnel at Brighton engaged and 160 00:09:57.159 --> 00:10:00.840 the search had been ramped up considerably in an effort 161 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:02.039 to find the girls. 162 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:07.440 Police Constable Paul Smith had also reported for duty. He 163 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:11.320 was tasked with searching homes in the area near Wild Park. 164 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:14.639 We were doing every single house parallel to the park 165 00:10:14.759 --> 00:10:18.480 and beyond. This is a massive estate and I think 166 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:21.960 there was sort of thirty forty guys involved. You knock 167 00:10:21.960 --> 00:10:24.279 on the door, we say, look, we've got two little 168 00:10:24.360 --> 00:10:29.320 girls gone missing. Can I search your house? And every 169 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:32.759 single person they said, every one of them said you know, 170 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:34.320 please come in. 171 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:38.600 Hope was always there, but actually this dread that something 172 00:10:38.840 --> 00:10:41.440 awful had happened to them was starting to grow in 173 00:10:41.480 --> 00:10:42.679 people's minds. 174 00:10:43.399 --> 00:10:46.279 Members of the public also joined in the search for 175 00:10:46.360 --> 00:10:50.000 Nicola and Karen. One of the Mulescomb residents was twenty 176 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:51.600 year old Russell Bishop. 177 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:54.120 He was searching around with everybody else. 178 00:10:54.200 --> 00:10:56.000 He got in a car at one point and went 179 00:10:56.039 --> 00:10:59.759 to the back of the park, but was constantly putting 180 00:10:59.799 --> 00:11:03.080 him in or about the center of the search. Just 181 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:06.000 wanted to be kept coming back to our park, kept 182 00:11:06.279 --> 00:11:07.639 wanting to talk to officers. 183 00:11:08.039 --> 00:11:12.240 Bishop literally can't help himself, and as with many narcissists, 184 00:11:12.279 --> 00:11:14.720 he wants to be right in the middle of everything. 185 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:17.960 He can't step back from something, he can't be quiet, 186 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:21.279 and any kind of attention, whether that's positive or whether 187 00:11:21.320 --> 00:11:24.600 that's negative, is something that he will value. So he 188 00:11:24.679 --> 00:11:27.519 places himself right in the middle of this drama that 189 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:28.200 he's created. 190 00:11:29.159 --> 00:11:32.120 When Paul Smith continued with his search for the nine 191 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:36.000 year old girls in Wild Park, Russell Bishop was already 192 00:11:36.039 --> 00:11:37.600 on the scene with his dog. 193 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:41.000 We were sort of talking about searching, you know, looking 194 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:44.000 for the girls, and he was quite negative about that. 195 00:11:44.039 --> 00:11:47.240 He said, I've been searching all day. My dog knows him, 196 00:11:47.639 --> 00:11:50.879 he's a good tracker, and I've decided to give up. 197 00:11:50.919 --> 00:11:52.960 I've been doing it all day. And I said, well, 198 00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:54.840 we've got to keep looking, got to find him. You know, 199 00:11:54.919 --> 00:11:58.720 if we find him, rush him to hospital and have 200 00:11:58.840 --> 00:12:00.840 him checked over, and then they'll be back with the 201 00:12:00.919 --> 00:12:03.679 mums and dads sort of thing. And he said, oh, well, 202 00:12:03.720 --> 00:12:07.279 I'm not doing that. He said, because if I found 203 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:09.559 them and they're dead. I get arrested one out for 204 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:12.559 killing them. With my background and the fact I'm being 205 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:14.960 in trouble with the police, I'll get nicked. And I said, no, 206 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:17.519 you won't. You've just got to give a statement, you know. 207 00:12:19.159 --> 00:12:22.919 At around four pm, police officer Paul and local resident 208 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:26.399 Bishop were still searching for the girls, who'd now been 209 00:12:26.440 --> 00:12:28.799 missing for almost twenty four hours. 210 00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:32.320 We were sort of walking towards Wild Park by this 211 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:36.120 time into our part and there was a shout from 212 00:12:36.360 --> 00:12:38.399 a boy and he said, we found them. We found them. 213 00:12:39.159 --> 00:12:42.360 We went rushing off towards them, and I had wet 214 00:12:42.360 --> 00:12:45.679 weather trousers, ons had been raining, I had a long raincoat, 215 00:12:45.799 --> 00:12:47.759 I had boots, so I was a bit slower than 216 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:50.120 he was. And I said to Bishop, look, you run 217 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:53.080 on ahead, and if they're there, you keep them away 218 00:12:53.080 --> 00:12:55.240 from the girls. And you keep away from the girls. 219 00:12:56.720 --> 00:13:01.519 Paul Smith arrived just after Bishop. Nightmare that everyone was 220 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:03.919 dreading had become a reality. 221 00:13:05.320 --> 00:13:08.840 I kept them away. It was about twelve thirteen feet 222 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:11.360 away from where the girls were, and I could see 223 00:13:11.399 --> 00:13:14.559 that they were They looked dead. I went across to 224 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:21.159 them and I took the pulse and sorry I still 225 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:25.200 get to me, I took the pulse and there were 226 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:28.000 stone cold, dead like pieces of marble. 227 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:35.480 The two teens who'd found the girls told Detective Constable 228 00:13:35.559 --> 00:13:38.960 John Morton that no one apart from Paul Smith had 229 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:42.799 gone anywhere near the bodies. But Russell Bishop had a 230 00:13:42.879 --> 00:13:45.120 totally different story. 231 00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:47.120 He said to me that he had been searching with 232 00:13:47.159 --> 00:13:49.639 the other two along this path and they'd come to 233 00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:53.919 a fallen tree which they had to cross, and that 234 00:13:54.039 --> 00:13:57.320 he had crossed the tree, gone to the girls and 235 00:13:57.440 --> 00:14:01.519 sinned that they were both dead. And to verify that, 236 00:14:01.799 --> 00:14:04.360 he said he took a pulse from both girls at 237 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:07.960 the neck. Frankly, I was so staggered by what he 238 00:14:08.039 --> 00:14:11.080 said that I sat down immediately and wrote down what. 239 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:12.519 He told me in my notebook. 240 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:15.480 You know, it was nothing to him, you know, like 241 00:14:15.559 --> 00:14:17.879 you swat a fly and then you get rid of it. 242 00:14:17.879 --> 00:14:20.360 It was like that he was just not bothered. There 243 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:23.120 was no emotion. You know, I would have expected him, 244 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:25.120 because he knew him to be like, oh my god, 245 00:14:25.159 --> 00:14:29.080 you know, even if you're in shock. But nothing there 246 00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:32.039 at all, just not you know, it was if it 247 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:33.080 could have been a dead dog. 248 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:37.879 The police were suspicious of bishop from the beginning, because 249 00:14:37.879 --> 00:14:41.799 he was overly enthusiastic and some of the information that 250 00:14:41.879 --> 00:14:45.360 he was sharing really didn't stack up. So he claimed 251 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:48.080 to have checked the girl's pulses. He claimed to have 252 00:14:48.120 --> 00:14:50.519 seen blood coming from the mouth of one of the girls, 253 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:52.480 and he couldn't have been close enough to see that. 254 00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:56.279 So the police were quite concerned at this behavior. There 255 00:14:56.279 --> 00:14:58.399 were a lot of red flags here, so he was 256 00:14:58.399 --> 00:14:59.360 the prime suspect. 257 00:14:59.440 --> 00:14:59.759 Really. 258 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:08.759 Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway had been sexually assaulted and 259 00:15:08.919 --> 00:15:13.519 strangled to death. The news of the discovery quickly spread 260 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:18.360 amongst the residents of Bullscombe. The entire community was in shock. 261 00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:24.519 Any murder is big, Any murder is a tragedy, but 262 00:15:25.320 --> 00:15:28.960 the loss of two little girls in such brutal circumstances 263 00:15:29.879 --> 00:15:32.919 is probably the biggest thing that can happen in terms 264 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:33.600 of policing. 265 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:38.080 It's a dreadful scene and it's a dreadful crime. It 266 00:15:38.120 --> 00:15:42.159 has a monstrous effect on the community in Brighton. Originally 267 00:15:42.440 --> 00:15:46.519 the killings were known as the Wild Park murders, but 268 00:15:46.600 --> 00:15:49.639 they later became known as the Babes in the Wood 269 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:52.879 killings because the girls were so innocent and young. 270 00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:58.559 I've gone to school in Moscow for part my childhood, 271 00:15:59.120 --> 00:16:02.440 so it was a personal blow to me that somebody 272 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:07.279 would take two young girls from that estate and decided 273 00:16:07.320 --> 00:16:10.519 he was going to murder them. To me, you don't 274 00:16:10.519 --> 00:16:12.159 do that, not on my beat. 275 00:16:13.080 --> 00:16:16.000 The search for two missing girls had now become a 276 00:16:16.039 --> 00:16:21.519 double murder case. Evidence from the surrounding area were scrutinized. 277 00:16:21.120 --> 00:16:24.399 That a brief England next morning, her attention was drawn 278 00:16:24.639 --> 00:16:28.799 to a blue sweatshirt which had a logo across the 279 00:16:28.840 --> 00:16:33.399 front Pinto in white lettering. It had been handed into 280 00:16:33.480 --> 00:16:37.360 the police box by a railway engineer who was at 281 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:40.600 Muscoam station and found it hanging over the wire that 282 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:42.799 separated the station from the footpath. 283 00:16:43.879 --> 00:16:47.480 In nineteen eighty six. DNA was still in its infancy, 284 00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:50.399 but that didn't mean the words any clues to be 285 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:52.360 found on the sweatshirt. 286 00:16:52.600 --> 00:16:56.399 As time went on, the various forensic items were recovered 287 00:16:56.399 --> 00:17:00.720 from it, fibers from the girls, jumpers, ivy spores that 288 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:03.240 were peculiar to the area where. 289 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:05.400 The girls were killed and not where the sweatshirt was found. 290 00:17:06.039 --> 00:17:10.839 So it became very clear that whoever had murdered Nicola 291 00:17:10.920 --> 00:17:14.079 and Karen had been wearing this sweatshirt at the time. 292 00:17:14.119 --> 00:17:17.400 They did that because otherwise those fibers would not have 293 00:17:17.400 --> 00:17:21.039 retained on there. So it was really really significant this sweatshirt. 294 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:27.160 Russell Bishop had been acting suspiciously and he had been 295 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:30.160 spotted in the area at around the same time as 296 00:17:30.200 --> 00:17:34.200 the girls were last seen alive. Investigators were convinced that 297 00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:38.720 the Pinto sweatshirt belonged to Bishop. The evidence appeared to 298 00:17:38.759 --> 00:17:43.480 be pointing in one direction. In December nineteen eighty six, 299 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:47.160 Bishop was charged with the murders of Nicola and Karen. 300 00:17:47.799 --> 00:17:51.440 Almost a year later, in November nineteen eighty seven, his 301 00:17:51.559 --> 00:17:53.920 trial began at Lewis Crown Court. 302 00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:56.920 They never quite got to the point where they could 303 00:17:57.000 --> 00:18:01.279 say through science that that sweatshirt was worn by Bishop 304 00:18:01.640 --> 00:18:03.640 on that night. They knew that it had been worn 305 00:18:03.640 --> 00:18:06.519 by the killer, but they couldn't put it on Bishop's back. 306 00:18:06.839 --> 00:18:10.079 At that point, the prosecution put forward the case that 307 00:18:10.119 --> 00:18:14.279 Bishop had murdered Nicola and Karen had around six thirty pm, 308 00:18:14.359 --> 00:18:17.400 but one witness testified she'd waved hello to the two 309 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:20.759 girls at a court of the seventh fifteen minutes after 310 00:18:20.839 --> 00:18:23.240 the killings had supposedly taken place. 311 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:27.160 The judge asked the jury to go away and consider 312 00:18:27.319 --> 00:18:30.640 three propositions, and if one or more of them they 313 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:33.480 didn't agree with, then they had to acquit. So the 314 00:18:33.480 --> 00:18:35.559 first one was that the girls were dead by six 315 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:39.039 point thirty, The second was that Bishop had worn the 316 00:18:39.079 --> 00:18:42.480 Pinto sweatshirt, and the third was that the Pinto sweatshirt 317 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:44.079 had been worn by the murderer. 318 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:50.200 Absolutely stunned. The most stunning thing of all was that 319 00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:55.200 the jury came back within two hours were not guilty verdict. 320 00:18:55.480 --> 00:18:58.400 The case put forward was just not strong enough to 321 00:18:58.440 --> 00:19:01.599 convince the jury of Bishop guilt. It was a gut 322 00:19:01.640 --> 00:19:05.680 wrenching blow to the families of the two girls, the investigators, 323 00:19:05.960 --> 00:19:07.759 and the community as a whole. 324 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:12.079 Bishop knew when he heard those words not guilty, that 325 00:19:12.119 --> 00:19:13.319 he got away scot free. 326 00:19:13.720 --> 00:19:16.039 In his mind and in everybody else's mind. 327 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:19.039 There was no possibility of him being prosecuted again for that. 328 00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:21.759 The way that the law stirred at this time we 329 00:19:21.799 --> 00:19:25.079 had a principle called double jeopardy, which meant that somebody 330 00:19:25.079 --> 00:19:27.960 couldn't be tried for the same crime twice. Once they've 331 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:31.759 been acquitted, that was it. Prosecution couldn't just keep trying. 332 00:19:32.359 --> 00:19:36.480 So Bishop is acquitted and he feels absolutely invincible. At 333 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:37.039 this point in. 334 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:42.240 Time, Bishop leaves Lewis Crown Call with his arms in 335 00:19:42.279 --> 00:19:45.880 the air, shouting I am innocent, and rushes across the 336 00:19:45.960 --> 00:19:50.119 road to celebrate in the pub opposite. Now some brass neck, 337 00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:53.519 wouldn't you think? Some ego there? After all, he knows 338 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:56.720 perfectly well, these killed those two innocent young girls. 339 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:01.119 In the minds of the people who worked on the case, 340 00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:04.359 Russell Bishop had just got away with murder. 341 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:08.680 Ordinary blogs like me p season that was summed because 342 00:20:08.839 --> 00:20:11.839 you know, after we'd heard about the case and we 343 00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:13.799 knew what had got on, we were sure that he 344 00:20:13.960 --> 00:20:14.480 was the killer. 345 00:20:14.920 --> 00:20:18.799 It was absolutely devastating for everybody that they had a 346 00:20:18.880 --> 00:20:22.079 child killer, a double child killer, in their hands, and 347 00:20:22.119 --> 00:20:22.680 he got away. 348 00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:30.799 Investigators were certain Bishop was the perpetrator, but they couldn't 349 00:20:30.839 --> 00:20:33.720 prove it in a court of law, so he walked 350 00:20:33.720 --> 00:20:38.440 away a free man. By nineteen eighty nine, Bishop himself 351 00:20:38.759 --> 00:20:39.759 was seeking. 352 00:20:39.559 --> 00:20:42.799 Justice and as we've still got to get this cause open, 353 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:44.839 and that's all what's been on my mind is to 354 00:20:44.839 --> 00:20:45.960 get this causero opened. 355 00:20:47.400 --> 00:20:50.759 After he's acquitted, Bishop doesn't just go away and live 356 00:20:50.920 --> 00:20:54.640 a quiet life as a narcissist, He feels entitled to attention, 357 00:20:54.759 --> 00:20:57.200 and he quite likes the infamy that comes with being 358 00:20:57.240 --> 00:21:00.880 involved in this case. So in nine eighty nine, he 359 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:03.799 goes on a march with the family and the local 360 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:07.920 community to a local police station to basically raise awareness 361 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:11.440 about this case, which is apparently still unsolved. 362 00:21:12.279 --> 00:21:15.759 Some people might be surprised that you're now linking up 363 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:17.720 with the parents. 364 00:21:17.319 --> 00:21:20.839 Of the two murdered schoolgirls, having been accused yourself of 365 00:21:20.920 --> 00:21:21.480 their murder. 366 00:21:21.920 --> 00:21:25.079 People are very surprised that the kid master me. Why 367 00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:29.039 do I keep on and on and on. The fact 368 00:21:29.160 --> 00:21:30.759 is I want to say this case with open my 369 00:21:30.839 --> 00:21:33.200 name isn't cleared until someone else has brought the justice 370 00:21:33.240 --> 00:21:33.960 to real person. 371 00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:37.400 He really enjoys being at the center of that because 372 00:21:37.400 --> 00:21:40.559 it enables him to claim the victim status for himself. 373 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:43.440 He's saying, everybody, look at me, I am the victim 374 00:21:43.559 --> 00:21:46.119 of a miscarriage of justice. Feel sorry for me. 375 00:21:49.160 --> 00:21:53.119 By February nineteen ninety, Sussex police were still trying to 376 00:21:53.160 --> 00:21:55.599 move on from what they believed to be a grave 377 00:21:55.720 --> 00:21:59.440 miscarriage of justice when a similar attack took place in 378 00:21:59.480 --> 00:21:59.920 the county. 379 00:22:00.920 --> 00:22:04.039 I remember, in my first month as a detective at 380 00:22:04.039 --> 00:22:06.599 Brighton's the idea as a very junior DC bottom of 381 00:22:06.640 --> 00:22:10.240 the pile. Working one Sunday evening it happened to be 382 00:22:10.519 --> 00:22:15.039 the third anniversary of the girl's funerals, and then suddenly 383 00:22:15.559 --> 00:22:20.920 everything changed. The sergeant came in and told us that 384 00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:24.680 a little girl had gone missing from Whitehawk, which is 385 00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:27.279 a similar estate to Mulscom, a different part of Brighton, 386 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:31.759 and shortly after she'd been reported missing, a little girl 387 00:22:31.759 --> 00:22:37.000 had been found naked, scratched, crying on Devil's Dike, which 388 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:40.240 is a big wind swept part of what's now the 389 00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:41.680 Southdowns National Park. 390 00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:46.599 Detective Inspector Malcolm Bacon was in charge of the investigation. 391 00:22:47.319 --> 00:22:51.559 She comes to she's in the middle of nowhere, so 392 00:22:51.640 --> 00:22:55.160 she stumbles out and she's been seen by a couple 393 00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:58.079 who were on the main road deck. So she goes 394 00:22:58.119 --> 00:23:00.519 to the mess and the first thing she said, you're 395 00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:05.359 not kidnappers, are you? Bless her? But of course they weren't, 396 00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:08.680 wrapped her up in a pullover and a coat and 397 00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:10.359 took her to the Dyke Golf Club. 398 00:23:11.559 --> 00:23:15.119 The seven year old girl that survived a terrifying ordeal, 399 00:23:15.400 --> 00:23:19.160 which she bravely shared with Malcolm and his team. After 400 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:22.279 roller skating to the local shop to buy some sweets, 401 00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:24.359