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“He can’t know I’m alive” | The case of Rachael, Karen & Nicola — Transcript

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0:10- This is 7-year-old Rachael Watts,
0:12just hours before this footage was recorded,
0:15Rachael was found wandering alone by the side of the road
0:17with her clothes missing and covered in bruises.
0:21The woman on the right is Rachael's mom.
0:23She was told by police not to show any emotion
0:25because it could cause Rachael to shut down
0:28and they need her to talk.
0:57- Notice how for the first time,
0:58Rachael's looking down, dangling her legs nervously.
1:02That's because she's hiding something,
1:04something she doesn't want anyone to know.
1:22- For the first time, Rachael's mom is hearing the details
1:24of what happened to her daughter,
1:26which makes keeping calm incredibly difficult.
1:30Rachael, however, is too terrified to talk
1:33and what she says next is not the full story.
2:24- Rachael is afraid that the man
2:26who tried to kill her will come back for her.
2:29The problem is, she will have to face him again.
2:32February 7th, three days after the attack,
2:35Rachael is standing behind a one-way mirror
2:37just a few feet away from a line of suspects.
2:48- But Rachael has no idea
2:50that someone in this lineup
2:52has already killed two other girls
2:54and if she can't point him out, he will strike again.
3:00The year is 1990,
3:02in a suburb of Brighton called Whitehawk
3:04on the southern coast of England,
3:067-year-old Rachael is living a happy life
3:08with her loving parents, Jenny and Peter.
3:11On that particular day,
3:12Rachael is out roller skating
3:14while her dad is working in the front garden.
3:17She asks him for money
3:18to go buy a chocolate bar at the local candy store.
3:21It's around 4:00 PM when Rachael rolls away
3:23in her white roller skates.
3:26Just a little over an hour later,
3:27Rachael's parents are beginning to worry
3:29that she hasn't come home yet
3:31when suddenly there's a knock at the door,
3:33it's the police.
3:35Rachael is in the hospital.
3:37- Before we continue,
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4:34And now back to the case of Rachael Watts.
4:37She was found by a couple on Devil's Dyke Road
4:40over seven miles from her home.
4:43- I saw her come out from behind this bush.
4:46She was completely naked,
4:49kind of hands like this and crying.
4:53Her hair was all disheveled.
4:56There was blood in delicate places
4:59that I couldn't care to mention.
5:02I jumped outta the car and ran towards her
5:05and she said to me,
5:08"Are you gonna kidnap me?"
5:11And I said to her,
5:13"No, we are here to help you.
5:15You're gonna be okay."
5:16- It's clear to the couple what happened to her
5:19and they're horrified.
5:21They rush Rachael over to the closest house
5:23and call the police.
5:25- When the police officer came,
5:27she just said, am I “Mum?”
5:28I said, “Yes.”
5:30That was when she said Rachael was in the hospital.
5:38Sorry, it's still raw now, even after all these years.
5:46- Rachael's mother, Jenny, rushes over to the hospital in Brighton
5:50where she's met by police officer Debra Wood,
5:53before she's allowed to go see her daughter,
5:55Jenny is asked to do the impossible.
5:57She's told she cannot show her daughter she's upset
6:00or it may cause her to shut down
6:02and for now, police still need to interrogate her.
6:05- Debbie said to “Try and be strong.
6:09Try not to show any emotions.”
6:18She was sitting in bed with a coloring book
6:26and I just sat there with her while she colored.
6:40- Three days later, Rachael is asked
6:42to identify her attacker.
6:44Police have arranged a lineup
6:45consisting of one suspect and nine lookalikes.
6:48One of them is a man named Russell Bishop,
6:51someone police have accused of murder before.
6:53But in 1987,
6:55after being acquitted of all charges against him,
6:58Russell Bishop walked free.
7:00It all starts on October 9th 1986.
7:02The day Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows go missing.
7:23- Over 150 police officers
7:25and neighbors of the families have been searching
7:27the large wooded area near the girls' homes.
7:30But after nearly 24 hours with no sign of them,
7:33people are beginning to lose hope they'll be found alive.
7:36The story gains national attention,
7:38and Karen and Nicola's parents go on television
7:40to ask the public for help.
7:42- Has she ever run away from home before?
7:44- No she hasn't.
7:45- So you don't think that they'd just run away for fun?
7:48- No, the thought that they’re up to some mischief
7:50but what, I can't think.
7:53- She's just gone...
7:54and Nicky, them both.
7:57The only way they've gone is if someone's picked them up.
8:01- Come home darling, please.
8:03Daddy's not gonna tell you off.
8:05Just come home, please, now.
8:09- It's 4:00 PM, October 10th, police officer Paul Smith
8:12is walking towards Wild Park, just a few streets down
8:15from where the two girls live
8:17when he has the strangest encounter.
8:19- I was doing house to house inquiries
8:21and as a result of a radio message,
8:23I went across to the other side of the road,
8:25which is Wild Park.
8:27This voice behind sort of shouted,
8:29“Oi, what are you doing?”
8:31- The voice is that of Russell Bishop,
8:33Russell lives in Moulsecoomb
8:35and is close to the families of the two girls.
8:37He's part of the search efforts
8:39and has been walking around with his dog.
8:41- And he said to me, “We've been tracking all day
8:44but it's getting late now and we're gonna give up.”
8:46So I said to him, “No, no, we've gotta keep looking.”
8:49And he said, “Well, if I find them
8:51and they're dead, I'll get nicked won't I?”
8:54And it was quite strange.
8:56I mean why did he say that?
8:58What made him say that?
9:00- Bishop is known by the police
9:01for his petty criminal history.
9:03Car theft, shoplifting.
9:05Everyone around the estate
9:06considers him to be a bit of a joke,
9:08but his comment doesn't go unnoticed.
9:11As the men are walking back into Wild Park,
9:13they hear two boys screaming the words,
9:15“We found them, we found them!”
9:18Russell Bishop runs off toward the voice,
9:20faster than Officer Paul Smith can catch up.
9:23- I said to Bishop,
9:24“Look, you keep them away from the girls
9:26and you keep away from the girls.”
9:28I was right behind him
9:30and then I got there
9:32and stepped between him and the two girls
9:35and they were there as if they were sunbathing.
9:39Nicola Fellows was on her back with one knee up
9:43and Karen Hadaway was laying on her stomach
9:45with her arm around as if she was asleep.
9:48They were arranged like that.
9:50I went across to them
9:52and I took their pulse,
9:56Um... sorry, it still gets me.
10:01I took their pulse and they were stone cold dead,
10:03like pieces of marble.
10:08- One of the police officers come and tell me that,
10:12“Yeah, she's been found.”
10:14And I said, “Oh great, great,” you know.
10:15And I said, “Has anything happened to her?”
10:21Saddest day of my life
10:25that I lost my daughter.
10:28- I was actually in the park
10:30when they were found
10:32and when I see the tapes come out,
10:34I just knew that’s something bad, you know...
10:37I just collapsed in a heap on the floor.
10:40- The worst thing I ever had to do
10:43in my life was go down and identify her.
11:01- The crime has a devastating effect on the community.
11:04Everyone is terrified for their own children.
11:07Detectives interview over 10,000 people
11:10in what will become the largest murder hunt in Sussex.
11:14One name keeps coming up.
11:15- Russell Bishop was always a person of interest.
11:19Everybody was saying, “Why is he doing this?
11:21Why has he done that?”
11:23- Bishop is known to both families,
11:25so the girls knew him very well,
11:27which means it wouldn't have been hard for Bishop
11:29to convince them to follow him into the woods.
11:32There were multiple sightings of Russell Bishop
11:34in and around the area
11:36at the time the girls went missing.
11:37What's more, one witness says they saw Bishop
11:40wearing a blue sweatshirt that night.
11:42The description matches that of a blue sweatshirt
11:45which was found discarded on a trail
11:47close to where the bodies were found
11:49and that trail leads to Russell Bishop's house.
11:52- On the blue sweatshirt there were ivy spores
11:55that were consistent with where the girls had been found
11:58but inconsistent with where it had been dumped.
12:01There were traces of fibers
12:02from the girls' clothing on the sweatshirt.
12:05It became very clear
12:07that whoever had murdered Nicola and Karen
12:11had been wearing the sweatshirt
12:12at the time they did that.
12:14- In order to confirm they have the right suspect,
12:16detectives have to connect
12:18Russell Bishop to that sweatshirt.
12:20But in 1986, DNA science is still in its infancy.
12:24However, forensic analysis reveals the red stains
12:27on the sweatshirt are not blood,
12:29but a very specific type of paint.
12:31The same red paint Bishop was seen using
12:33on two of his friend's cars.
12:35This could indicate it was in fact
12:37Russell Bishop's sweatshirt.
12:39But they need to be sure,
12:40as Russell Bishop is being interrogated
12:42by police at the station,
12:44officers take the blue sweatshirt
12:45to his house where they're greeted
12:47by Russell's girlfriend Jenny Johnson.
12:50The first thing she says when she opens the door is,
12:52“Oh, you've brought Russell's sweatshirt back.”
12:56Jenny has no idea
12:57that she has just incriminated her boyfriend.
12:59The two officers take a sworn statement from her,
13:02which she signs without hesitation,
13:05proving that Russell Bishop
13:06owned the sweatshirt that was worn by the girls’ killer.
13:09- And we thought, “This is it,
13:11he is guilty of having killed these two children.”
13:13We thought that there was
13:14sufficient evidence to convict.
13:16- Bishop was the murderer,
13:18no doubt whatsoever.
13:19- On December 4th, Russell Bishop was charged
13:22with the murder of the two girls.
13:23Since that time, he's continued to deny both killings.
13:27- I thought, “It can't be him.
13:29Why would it be him?
13:31He comes to the house all the time,
13:33I played football with him on Sundays.”
13:36- Never think somebody
13:37who you knew would actually come along
13:39and do such a terrible thing.
13:42- November 1987,
13:44more than a year after the murders,
13:46Russell Bishop's trial begins.
13:48The entire country is watching.
13:50Everyone wants to see justice
13:51for the girls they call
13:53“The Babes in the Wood,”
13:54and the prosecution is convinced
13:56they have a strong case,
13:58but there's one thing they couldn't have accounted for.
14:00When Jenny Johnson, Russell Bishop's girlfriend
14:03takes the stand, she changes her entire story.
14:06- Jenny Johnson made a statement
14:08to the police that that sweatshirt
14:10was owned by Russell Bishop
14:13and then in court turned around and said,
14:14“Russell Bishop never owned that sweatshirt.”
14:16She said to the court
14:18that she was forced to sign this statement.
14:20The police forced her to sign it.
14:22- The prosecution knows
14:23Jenny Johnson is lying under oath
14:26to protect her boyfriend,
14:27but they have no way of proving it.
14:29Because the blue sweatshirt
14:31can no longer be linked to Bishop,
14:32the defense argues that almost anyone
14:34could have killed the two girls.
14:36The case falls apart.
14:38After four weeks of trial,
14:40the jury is asked to deliberate.
14:43- The man who had been accused
14:45of murdering two schoolgirls from Brighton
14:47has been found not guilty.
14:49- Not guilty, lads!
14:50- Yay!
14:54- Everyone was just stunned.
14:55What could possibly have gone wrong?
14:57We knew that it was Bishop.
14:59Everybody knew that it was Bishop,
15:00yet he'd walked free.
15:01- In 1987, there's a law called double jeopardy
15:05which states that a person
15:06cannot be tried twice for the same crime.
15:09Once acquitted, Russell Bishop can never be tried again
15:11for the murders of those two little girls,
15:14even if police could find irrefutable proof
15:16that he is the killer.
15:18As Bishop leaves the courtroom,
15:20he puts his hands in the air and shouts, “I'm innocent!”
15:24He then rushes through the line of reporters
15:26to go celebrate at the pub across from the courthouse
15:29with his brothers and his girlfriend.
15:32The Hadaway and the Fellows families are devastated.
15:35They know they will never see justice
15:37for Karen and Nicola.
15:39- You feel like everyone's laughing at you.
15:42You know, you feel like they're looking at you
15:45and thinking that those little girls' lives were worthless.
15:50- I was so angry, I thought,
15:54“Well then, who the hell could have done it then?”
15:57- It's less than four months since Russell Bishop
15:59was cleared of murdering
16:00Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows.
16:03Since the trial, Russell Bishop
16:04has been trying to readjust to family life.
16:07- As months pass,
16:08a wrongfully accused Russell Bishop
16:10takes the spotlight, while the country forgets
16:12about the real victims.
16:14The Sussex Police are convinced
16:15that Russell Bishop is guilty
16:17and that they had the right man,
16:19but with the double jeopardy law,
16:21there's no use in them continuing the investigation.
16:24This angers the public and everyone is demanding answers.
16:27- The parents of Nicola and Karen
16:29are determined that the case shouldn't be dropped.
16:31- There's two little girls in a cemetery up in Brighton
16:33and if only for them,
16:35we've got to get to the bottom of it.
16:37- 50 people set off in a march from Brighton's Wild Park.
16:41As part of the protest, a petition was handed
16:43to the police calling for the case to be reopened.
16:46- I'm adamant that my daughter's killer should be found.
16:49I won't rest till this man
16:51or people are brought to justice.
16:53- August 19th 1989, the parents organize a march
16:56to force Sussex Police to reopen the case.
17:00Among those who participate in the protest
17:02is Russell Bishop.
17:04- I suppose some people might be surprised
17:06that you're now linking up with the parents
17:09of the two murdered schoolgirls,
17:11having been accused yourself of their murder.
17:28- Everybody that knew anything about the case
17:31was sickened by seeing him behave like that,
17:33if he had any sense of decency,
17:35he would've shut himself away.
17:37But he had to put himself front and center.
17:39- Everyone can see that Russell Bishop
17:41is using the protest
17:42organized by the families of the victims
17:45as a platform to improve his public image.
17:47- Seeing the smirking Russell Bishop,
17:52seeing the parents of the kids
17:56who had been murdered
17:58and knew that Bishop had done it,
18:01it was horrific.
18:03- After his acquittal,
18:05Bishop received £15,000 from the tabloid
18:08News of the World to publish his version of the story
18:12as a victim of this miscarriage of justice.
18:15In the article, the Bishop family
18:16explicitly frames Barrie Fellows, Nicola's father,
18:20as being a better suspect.
18:21- He said that during the police inquiry,
18:23nine people appeared to be suspects
18:25and Barrie Fellows was one of them.
18:27He said it was not unknown for a father
18:29to kill his daughter.
18:30- Has it been more hard to stomach
18:32in the sense that you've been accused
18:36of possibly being involved in the whole affair?
18:38- Do you think that anyone could think
18:40that I killed my little girl?
18:41No way, no way, no way at all.
18:46I deny it emphatically, I love that girl.
18:49- However, after a full investigation by Sussex Police,
18:53they find the accusations to be baseless.
18:55Barrie Fellows is completely innocent
18:57and cleared of all charges,
18:59but the damage is already done.
19:01- The house, it was covered in graffiti,
19:05“Murderer.”
19:06“We don't want you here.”
19:08“Get away.”
19:10Despicable people.
19:12- Nicola Fellows' father Barrie
19:14felt moved to make a statement
19:15as to rumors and suspicion about him.
19:18- There are various people out there
19:20who have accused me of various crimes.
19:22This not only hurts me personally,
19:24but hurts my wife and son even more.
19:26- Russell Bishop got what he wanted.
19:29He's no longer the villain of his community.
19:31And on February 2nd 1990,
19:33the Sussex Police send Bishop a letter
19:36confirming that the case of the Babes in the Wood
19:38is officially closed,
19:39which means someone has gotten away with murder.
19:43February 4th 1990, two days after Bishop
19:46receives that letter
19:47is the day 7-year-old Rachael is kidnapped.
20:04- At around 4:00 PM, Rachael is out roller skating
20:07while her dad is working in the garden.
20:09- It was really sunny, it was really warm.
20:13My dad gave me £1 to go to the local sweet shop
20:18but because we'd been
20:19living there not very long,
20:22I got lost.
20:39- I saw a man and he was fixing his car
20:44and my dad's a mechanic
20:47so because he was a mechanic
20:50just like my dad,
20:52I asked him for directions.
20:56- Rachael has no time to react.
20:58Without a word, the man snatches her off the street
21:01and throws her in the trunk of his car.
21:04Then the car speeds off.
21:06Rachael is terrified but her mind remains sharp.
21:09She looks around the trunk illuminated by the brake lights
21:12and finds a can of WD-40 and a hammer.
21:15She starts hammering on the lid of the trunk
21:17as loud as she can,
21:19screaming at the top of her lungs.
21:22- I screamed that I would give him money
21:26because I had the £1 that my dad gave me
21:32and his only response was,
21:35“Shut up or I'll kill you.”
21:38- She then starts to untie her roller skates
21:40and takes them off because she knows
21:42that without them, she stands a better chance
21:44of running away once the man opens the trunk.
22:38- With her mom sitting next to her
22:39in the interrogation room,
22:41Rachael omits parts of the story,
22:43she says nothing about what happened
22:45in the backseat of the car,
22:47and to investigators,
22:48it means she doesn't remember.
22:50- I have a big secret.
22:54It's been in my head for the last 30 odd years.
22:58Everybody believed
23:01that he strangled me
23:04before he sexually assaulted me.
23:08I don't know whether I knew at the time,
23:12I do know the reason why I didn't talk to my parents
23:15and tell them about it earlier
23:18was because I was ashamed.
23:21When we got to Devil's Dyke,
23:24he took me out and threw me on the backseat.
23:31He told me to take off all my clothes
23:35and I just complied.
23:38I was conscious when he sexually assaulted me.
23:43- The man then puts his hands around her throat.
23:46Rachael can't breathe
23:47but before she can say anything,
23:49she blacks out.
23:50He then carries Rachael into the woods
23:52and abandons her,
23:53convinced that she's dead.
23:56When she comes to,
23:57Rachael is alone and unable to stand.
23:59She fumbles her way out of the bushes
24:01but she's dizzy and keeps falling over.
24:04- I just remember it being really cold
24:07and knowing that I had to find help.
24:13I saw some headlights.
24:16My first thought was that it was him again
24:20and that he was here to finish me off.
24:24- But she quickly realizes
24:25that if she doesn't approach those headlights,
24:27she's going to freeze to death.
24:29When she finally sees a shape in the dark,
24:32it's a young couple offering a blanket and their help.
24:35After being admitted to the hospital,
24:37Rachael is reunited with her mom.
24:40- I was worried that she'd be cross
24:42because I'd lost my brand new jumper.
24:46That's what I was afraid of.
24:48- Rachael just didn't want to go to bed
24:50when she came home.
24:52And I remember Rachael was sitting on the sofa,
24:56picking the thorns out of her feet.
25:00It just doesn't bear thinking about.
25:04- As a father you think that you can protect your family,
25:08your children, but you can't.
25:12You can't blame anybody except yourself
25:14because that's what you're there for
25:16as a parent, isn’t it?
25:17You bring them up, you protect them,
25:21and you’ve failed.
25:23And that'll go with me to the end.
25:28- At first light, over 100 officers
25:30began the most intensive search
25:31undertaken by Sussex Police
25:33since the Wild Park murder inquiry.
25:35- With the details given by Rachael,
25:37police are quickly able to start the investigation.
25:40They're looking for a white male
25:41with a mustache driving a red car.
25:44As the information is shared with the unit,
25:46detectives are informed
25:47that someone they know all too well
25:49was seen driving a red car
25:51that same night,
25:53Russell Bishop.
25:54- A couple of officers drove up to his house
25:56and saw him scrubbing
25:59as if his life depended on it, his car.
26:02- When we opened up the boot lid,
26:05we saw the WD-40,
26:07we saw the hammer,
26:08we saw the chip marks in the lid to the boot.
26:12There was clothing fibers
26:14which later matched up
26:15to the ones that the little girl was wearing.
26:18There was blood and there was semen,
26:20immediately linking the little girl to Bishop.
26:24- Bishop is immediately put under arrest.
26:26In an effort to make sure Bishop doesn't escape justice,
26:30Rachael is asked to face her attacker once more.
26:34- I remember the lineup.
26:36I did ask, “Would he be able to see me?”
27:02- I don't think I let go of my mom's hand.
27:11- The man Rachael points out
27:13is in fact Russell Bishop.
27:16On December 13th 1990,
27:19Russell Bishop is found guilty of kidnapping,
27:21indecent assault, and attempted murder.
27:24- Here, a man who was acquitted
27:25of murdering two girls in Brighton three years ago
27:29has been jailed for trying to murder a girl of seven.
27:32- A judge sentenced Bishop to life imprisonment
27:34for attempted murder,
27:3610 years imprisonment for kidnapping
27:38and 10 years imprisonment for sexual assault.
27:41- And while everyone is relieved
27:42that he finally got what he deserved,
27:44there is no celebration in the courtroom,
27:47no cheers,
27:48because everyone in Brighton
27:49is convinced Bishop killed Karen and Nicola in 1986
27:53and that he should never have been allowed to walk free.
27:56- The parents of the two Brighton schoolgirls
27:58who Bishop had been cleared of murdering
27:59three years ago were among those in court.
28:02- It's no less than what he deserves.
28:04And it don't stop there.
28:05I'll tell you that now,
28:06my fight for justice
28:07for my daughter don't stop there.
28:09- Justice prevailed for that little girl.
28:12But the unfortunate thing is,
28:13it wasn't justice for Karen and Nicola.
28:17- They say life goes on but it don't.
28:20It's still there.
28:21It hasn't gone away for me.
28:24Do you know what I still do?
28:27I still go in shops
28:29and look for clothes for her
28:31thinking, “Oh, that'll look nice on her.”
28:34- And while the families of Karen Hadaway
28:36and Nicola Fellows continue to fight
28:38in their daughter's names,
28:40Rachael returns to her family life.
28:42She's granted anonymity by the court
28:45and is hoping everything will go back to the way it was.
28:48And for more than a decade,
28:49she has managed to live a normal life,
28:52until one day the phone rings,
28:54Russell Bishop is up for parole.
28:57- I thought a life sentence is a life sentence.
29:00Then I found out that “life”
29:02in Russell Bishop's case meant only 14 years
29:08just because he didn't actually kill me.
29:11- It's 2004, Rachael is now 22 years old
29:14and the news is terrifying.
29:16Bishop, who has been in jail for the last 14 years
29:20is due to be released at any moment.
29:22She's convinced Bishop will come back for her.
29:26It's 2005, and finally there's hope for Rachael
29:29and for the Fellows in Hadaways,
29:31the double jeopardy law,
29:32an 800-year-old law preventing anyone
29:35from being tried twice for the same crime is repealed.
29:39This means with new evidence, Bishop could be retried
29:42for the 1986 murders of Karen and Nicola,
29:45but they need to act fast before he gets out on parole.
29:49- The key thing that they need
29:51is new and compelling evidence
29:54and they only get one chance to present that evidence.
29:58- A new investigation is opened on the 1986 murder case,
30:02but gathering new and compelling evidence
30:04proves to be harder than expected.
30:06- I used to have nightmares
30:09that he would climb up a ladder
30:12and get through my bedroom window
30:16and come and finish me.
30:19- Ever since that phone call,
30:20Rachael has been terrified of Bishop being released.
30:23She's developed a condition called agoraphobia,
30:26which prevents her from ever leaving the house.
30:28As years pass, Bishop's parole continues to be denied,
30:32but until he's put away for good,
30:34Rachael will never feel at ease.
30:36Finally, in 2013 there's a break in the case.
30:39- The sweatshirt was still central to this investigation.
30:43Bishop had always denied any knowledge of the shirt at all
30:47and Roy Green decided that he would
30:49test the inside of a tear
30:51on the cuff of the sweatshirt
30:53and it came back with Bishop's DNA.
30:56- The discovery is huge, but there's just one problem.
31:00Scientists can't say for sure
31:02that the sweatshirt was not contaminated back in 1986.
31:06This means that any new DNA
31:07found on the sweatshirt is inadmissible.
31:10However, when the bodies were found,
31:12forensic pathologists had taken tapings
31:14from the girls’ arms and kept them under seal.
31:17Back then, they didn't have the science
31:19to examine them for DNA.
31:21- When we examined those tapings
31:22we recovered mixed profile of DNA
31:25of Russell Bishop and Karen Hadaway,
31:28this was massive for us.
31:29This was Russell Bishop's DNA
31:31on Karen Hadaway's arm.
31:33- This could be the new compelling evidence
31:35investigators need to win this case.
31:38In May, 2016, Russell Bishop
31:40is taken out of his prison cell.
31:43He's convinced his parole has finally come.
32:16- After his interrogation,
32:18Bishop is arrested
32:19and sent back to his cell to wait for his third trial.
32:23With his DNA on the girls’ arms,
32:25the prosecution is convinced they have a strong case,
32:29but they have no idea
32:30that Bishop has a plausible explanation for that
32:33and it could destroy the case once more.
32:35- Russell Bishop arrived in a prison van
32:37for the start of the second trial
32:39he's faced accused
32:40of murdering two schoolgirls 32 years ago.
32:43Their families were in court for the start of the trial.
32:46- It's been a long time coming,
32:48but I am smiling.
32:51We're grateful for the first time
32:54that someone's actually not
32:57slammed a door in our face.
33:00- 32 years , ain’t it?
33:01- But then we did say
33:02that we'd come to this park every year
33:05until we got Justice.
33:06- That's right, justice.
33:09- October 16th 2018,
33:11Russell Bishop's retrial
33:13for the murders of Karen Hadaway
33:14and Nicola Fellows begins.
33:16When the prosecution shows the evidence to the court,
33:19the defense insists the sweatshirt was not Bishop's
33:22and they explain why his DNA
33:24was found on Karen's arm.
33:26According to Bishop, he claims
33:28that when the bodies were found,
33:29he went to check their pulse.
33:31Something apparently he had told
33:33Detective John Moreton back in 1986.
33:36- I got a call asking me to come to the park
33:40where some local lads
33:43had found the bodies of the two girls.
33:46They had their heads down
33:47and were absolutely deflated.
33:50I was totally amazed when I saw the other guy
33:53who turned out to be Russell Bishop.
33:55It was strange because he was standing there
33:57shuffling his feet and whistling out loud.
34:00So I asked him what happened
34:01and he said to me, “I jumped over the tree
34:04and went to the girls
34:05and I felt both of their necks for a pulse.”
34:08I thought, well that's really strange
34:10because from what the other two had said,
34:13I knew Russell Bishop had not gone to within 15 feet
34:17of those girls on that afternoon.
34:20- Russell Bishop's argument cracks
34:22in front of the courtroom.
34:23The truth is far more disturbing.
34:26After he strangled the two girls
34:28to death on October 9th 1986,
34:30Russell Bishop participated in the search the next morning.
34:33He wanted to be the first on the scene to check their pulse
34:37so he could explain why his DNA was on the girls.
34:40The problem is
34:41he never got the chance to get close enough.
34:44Bishop is furious, he knows he's about to lose.
34:47This is when the prosecution reveals
34:49one last bit of evidence against Bishop,
34:52letters written by Bishop while he was on trial in 1987
34:56sent to a 13-year-old,
34:58the letters are read out loud to the court.
35:00- And they were incredibly sexually suggestive
35:05and clearly he didn't want those letters
35:07to be read out at court.
35:08And he started shouting from the dock
35:10that he wanted a retrial.
35:12But in fact, those letters were read out.
35:15- On December 10th at 12:30 PM,
35:18the jury is sent out to deliberate.
35:20In less than two hours
35:21they come back with a verdict.
35:24- A convicted pedophile has been found guilty
35:26of murdering two schoolgirls found strangled
35:28and sexually assaulted near Brighton 32 years ago.
35:32- Russell Bishop is finally convicted
35:34for the murders he committed in 1986
35:37and for which he escaped justice for 32 years.
35:41He's sentenced to an additional 36 years.
35:43- This is a moment to remember the two girls.
35:46We should also acknowledge the courage, persistence,
35:49and dignity of Karen and Nicola’s families,
35:51and I sincerely hope the families can now find some peace
35:55and move forward with the next chapter in their lives.
35:58- I said that I'd never stop fighting for justice
36:02and now them little girls can rest in peace.
36:06- I used to go into the bedroom
36:08where her stuff was in the chest,
36:11when I opened the chest
36:12and all her stuff was there and I can just smell her.
36:15When the court case finished
36:17and we got the verdict, I said,
36:19“Well, now she can
36:21go to her angel bed and go to sleep.
36:25She hasn't gotta worry about anything now.”
36:29And I know she's around.
36:33You can't see her and you can't feel her,
36:36but she's there in spirit.
36:40- “If I could have a wish come true,
36:41a dream that come to pass,
36:44I'd ask to spend a day with you
36:46and pray that it would last.
36:49I'd run to you and hold you close,
36:51We'd laugh and smile again.
36:53We would talk about the old times
36:56and see how we've both been.
36:59My wish go ungranted,
37:01but it always will be true.
37:03I'd trade many of my tomorrows
37:05for one yesterday with you.”
37:07- Since the trial, Rachael has been on a journey
37:10to get back control of her life.
37:12She has built a beautiful family with her loving husband.
37:16- The reason I fell in love with Jay,
37:18he made me realize what it was to actually be loved
37:25and he made sure that I felt it.
37:30I had my first daughter when I had just turned 22.
37:36She's turned out to be absolutely beautiful,
37:39all my children have.
37:42I'm very proud of each of them.
37:46I'm hoping by telling my story,
37:50I will be able to put myself back in the now.
37:54I don't wanna stay a prisoner of my past
37:58and I'm hoping that I can stop hiding.
38:06I want to be able to go out
38:08and spend time with my family
38:11and have dates with my husband
38:13and go to a pub
38:15and sit in a beer garden in the sunshine.
38:19I'm willing to do whatever it takes.
38:24I'm still here
38:27and I've still got a fighting chance.

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