Show Notes
In February 1990, seven-year-old Rachel Watts went out on her roller skates to buy sweets near her home in Brighton. On her way back, she encountered Russell Bishop — the man acquitted three years earlier of murdering Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows. Bishop abducted Rachel, drove her to Devil's Dyke, sexually assaulted and strangled her, and left her for dead.
Miraculously, Rachel survived. Her extraordinary courage and detailed evidence helped put Bishop behind bars. But for Karen and Nicola's families, the fight for justice was far from over.
In Part 2 of this two-part True Criminals special, Martin Brunt and Helen Fospero are joined once again by journalist and author Jean Ritchie, co-author of My Girl: The Babes in the Woods Murders — A Mother's Fight for Justice with Karen's mother, Michelle Hadaway.
We examine Rachel Watts' remarkable survival, the conviction that followed, and the decades-long campaign to overturn the legal barriers preventing Bishop from being tried again. We explore the historic changes to the double jeopardy law, the breakthrough DNA evidence recovered from exhibits preserved since 1986, and the crucial role of the blue Pinto sweatshirt in securing Bishop's conviction at the Old Bailey in 2018 — exactly 31 years after his original acquittal.
Jean reveals the deeply personal story behind the families' fight for justice: Michelle's determination never to give up, the emotional ordeal of the second trial, the devastating impact on Barry Fellows, and the extraordinary moment when the guilty verdict was finally delivered. We also investigate the subsequent perjury conviction of Bishop's former girlfriend Jennifer Johnson, Bishop's death in 2022, and the unresolved controversy surrounding Karen's missing clothes, handed to BBC journalist Martin Bashir in 1991 and never returned.
After more than three decades, the families of Karen and Nicola finally had the justice they had fought so hard to achieve.
This is the story of a remarkable survivor, a mother's relentless determination, and the forensic breakthroughs that finally brought one of Britain's most notorious child killers to justice.
SPECIAL GUEST: JEAN RITCHIE
READ THE BOOK
My Girl: The Babes in the Woods Murders — A Mother's Fight for Justice by Michelle Hadaway with Jean Ritchie.
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/454786/my-girl-by-hadaway-michelle/9781804943526
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