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| Russell Bishop: Paedophile guilty of 1986 Babes in Wood murders | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A convicted paedophile has been found guilty of murdering two schoolgirls who were found strangled and sexually assaulted near Brighton 32 years ago. | A convicted paedophile has been found guilty of murdering two schoolgirls who were found strangled and sexually assaulted near Brighton 32 years ago. |
| Russell Bishop, 52, had protested his innocence since the bodies of Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway were found. | Russell Bishop, 52, had protested his innocence since the bodies of Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway were found. |
| Cleared of their murders in 1987, Bishop went on to attack a seven-year-old girl within three years, leaving her for dead in 1990, but she survived. | Cleared of their murders in 1987, Bishop went on to attack a seven-year-old girl within three years, leaving her for dead in 1990, but she survived. |
| He was convicted of the double murder in a second trial at the Old Bailey. | He was convicted of the double murder in a second trial at the Old Bailey. |
| After the girls were found dead, the case became known as the Babes in the Wood. | |
| The guilty verdicts came exactly 31 years to the day of Bishop's original acquittal in 1987. | |
| Families of the girls wept in court as the jury delivered its verdicts after two-and-a-half hours. | |
| The two girls, aged nine, who were scared of the dark, went missing from their homes after they had gone out to play on 9 October 1986. | The two girls, aged nine, who were scared of the dark, went missing from their homes after they had gone out to play on 9 October 1986. |
| They were found in Wild Park the next day, lying together in a woodland den as if they were sleeping, but they had been killed by former roofer Bishop. | They were found in Wild Park the next day, lying together in a woodland den as if they were sleeping, but they had been killed by former roofer Bishop. |
| Had the girls lived, Nicola would now have been 41, while Karen would have been 42 this year. | |
| Mr Justice Sweeney said Bishop will be sentenced on Tuesday, and must be present at the hearing. | |
| Bishop had chosen to give evidence, but not to return during cross-examination, and then did not attend for the rest of the trial. | |
| After he was convicted, Nigel Pilkington, from the Crown Prosecution Service, described it as a landmark case. | |
| He said the verdicts marked the end of a long fight for justice by the families, adding: "Our thoughts today are with Karen and Nicola's families, who have shown remarkable resilience throughout this ordeal over the last 32 years." | |
| Det Supt Jeff Riley said Bishop was a "wicked" paedophile and Sussex Police had "never given up on this investigation". | |
| He added: "I still feel it's a shadow over Brighton to this day." |