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Russell Bishop trial: DNA 'can be explained,' jury told Russell Bishop trial: Murder police 'destroyed' accused
(about 2 hours later)
Questions over whether a convicted paedophile touched the bodies of two dead girls in 1986 may explain DNA evidence in the case, a jury heard. A man accused of murdering two girls in 1986 has told the Old Bailey how police bullied him into making a false account, "totally destroying" him.
Russell Bishop, formerly of Brighton, denies murdering Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway in a second trial. Russell Bishop told the court he signed an incorrect witness statement as "it was the only way I was going to get out of there", the jury heard.
Joel Bennathan QC, for the defence, said accounts differed over whether he took their pulses when they were found. Bishop denies murdering Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway, in October 1986.
Old Bailey jurors have heard an account Bishop, 52, took the girls' pulses and one that he never touched their bodies. The defendant also told the jury he was wrongfully arrested over the Grand Hotel bombing in Brighton in 1984.
Mr Bennathan said: "Did Russell Bishop touch the bodies of the girls when they were discovered on October 10 - because if he did take their pulses then there is an obvious simple explanation why he knew what they looked like and the DNA." The court has heard how the girls were found dead in Wild Park, near Brighton, on 10 October 1986, a day after they went missing.
Outlining the defence case, he said the prosecution tried to "batter" the jury with science "to the extent you forget other normal straightforward evidence". In 1990, Bishop - formerly of Brighton - went on to be jailed for life for the kidnap, sexual assault and attempted murder of a seven-year-old girl at Devil's Dyke on the South Downs.
The court has heard forensic evidence taken from a Pinto sweatshirt discarded along Bishop's route home was linked to the defendant and the girls. Two teenagers who initially discovered Nicola and Karen have told jurors Bishop never touched them.
But Mr Bennathan said the sweatshirt was not in a sealed bag at the police station after it was handed in along with clothes belonging to Bishop. But the court has also heard claims Bishop touched the bodies and checked for a pulse, which may explain the DNA evidence that has presented in the case, the second time he has been tried over their deaths.
At the time, police were unaware of the "dangers of DNA", Mr Bennathan said. 'Totally sickened'
He also said Bishop, in his first account to police, claimed he had taken the girls' pulses when they were found. Giving evidence, Bishop told jurors how he had joined the search for the girl but was warned by his father - who had himself previously been wrongly arrested for murder - not to get involved.
But the teenagers who initially discovered the girls' bodies have told the court he never touched them. He said when a man raised the alarm the girls had been found, he was told to go up the scene and and keep people away.
Jurors have heard Bishop was tried for the murders in 1987 but acquitted. "I went straight to the victims, felt for a pulse, neck on Nicola and Karen on the right arm," he said.
Three years later, he was convicted of the kidnap, sexual assault and attempted murder of a seven-year-old girl on the South Downs. Bishop told jurors he felt "shocked, totally sickened".
Mr Bennathan said Bishop spent 28 years behind bars for the 1990 attack. He went on to tell the court he was interviewed by police for 13 hours without a solicitor.
He added: "Russell Bishop admittedly committed awful, shameful offences in 1990. He's not on trial for them." He said: "I started getting all frustrated, confused, tied up in knots."
The defence barrister is calling Bishop to give evidence. He claimed officers showed him pictures of the dead girls and the area where they were found.
Defending, Joel Bennathan QC said: "By the end of this process, you signed a witness statement that said you did not take the pulse of the two girls."
Bishop said: "I was just telling them what they wanted to hear. It was obvious they were not going to believe me over what those two boys were saying.
"I was being called a liar. They had been downright nasty. I was being kept a prisoner.
"I was having two police officers bullying and totally destroying me in that room.
"I'm dyslexic and I could not read or write. I had poor problem-solving skills."
Mr Bennathan earlier told the court that if Bishop touched the bodies there is an explanation for DNA evidence on a Pinto sweatshirt linking Bishop with the girls.
The barrister said: "Did Russell Bishop touch the bodies of the girls when they were discovered on October 10 - because if he did take their pulses then there is an obvious simple explanation why he knew what they looked like and the DNA."
Bishop was tried for the murders in 1987, but acquitted. He now faces a second trial.
Over the attack on the girl he was jailed for, he told the jury he was "deeply ashamed" of what he had done.
The trial continues.The trial continues.