GUILTY UK - Nicola Fellows, 10, Karen Hadaway, 9, Moulsecoomb, Brighton, 9 Oct 1986

[Alyce]

Helena Lee‏Verified account @BBCHelenaLee 2 minutes ago


Russell Bishop tells jury he went over to where they were and felt for a pulse. Defence barrister: Did you realise they were dead? Russell Bishop: I did indeed ... I felt shocked and totally sickened and numb.

 

[Legally Bland]

Mr Bennathan calls the defendant Russell Bishop to give evidence in the witness box. While arrangements are made for this, the jury is asked to leave the court.


For legal reasons I’m unable to describe the process by which Mr Bishop leaves the dock and enters the witness box.

@SkyFixerJim

BIB. I've got images of him strapped to a sack trolley ala Hanibal Lector.

 

[Alyce]

Bishop gave a statement to police later that day. In the statement he mentioned trying to take a pulse from the necks of both girls. No mention of taking one from an arm.
He also mentioned seeing a “blood-specked foam” on Nicola’s lips.
On the 15th Oct Bishop was taken to a police station to make a new statement.
He was questioned he thinks for 13 hours. He hadn’t been arrested but the police’s attitude towards him had changed.
Bishop says he started getting “frustrated and tied up in knots.” The officers told him the young men who’d found the girls hadn’t seen him feel for a pulse.

@SkyFixerJim

 

[Alyce]

@SkyFixerJim

Bishop: “I was just telling them what they wanted to hear at the end of the day... I was being called a liar, they was being totally nasty.”
He says he was being bullied. He was young, dyslexic and had poor problem solving skills

Bishop says he lied and told them he hadn’t taken the girls’ pulses, just to get out of there. He signed a statement. He says it was the only way they’d let him leave.

 

[Alyce]

Interesting to see the different reporting information from the two journos




Helena Lee‏Verified account @BBCHelenaLee 1m1 minute ago

Russell Bishop tells jury he was “being kept prisoner” by police until he signed a statement on the 15th October. “I had two police officers bully me and basically destroy me. I could not read or write, I had poor problem solving skills” he says.

 

[Alyce]

Mr Bennathan tells Bishop that the insurance salesman was tracked down and he denied he knocked on Bishop’s door on the night of the 9th October, while he was in the bath. Bishop is adamant that he did.

@SkyFixerJim

 

[Alyce]

@SkyFixerJim 5m


Court breaks for lunch and Mr Bishop’s evidence will resume at 1400.

 

[Legally Bland]

Thanks for the updates Alyce.

 

[Alyce]

Waves to Legally - just you and me today it seems

RB comes across as a bit petulant / awkward I think - telling the court they have to turn up the mic if they can't hear him ...and when his counsel asks the Jury if they can hear what RB is saying - he replies and says he can hear himself !

 

[jessie]

Waves to Alyce and Legally - I'm here too, quietly in the background. Thanks for the updates, x

 

[Legally Bland]

He says he grabbed his 1990 victim while in a violent temper having hurt his hand while working on his car.

Waves!

RSBM. This has been bugging me. What sort of excuse is that?

 

[Alyce]

[URL='https://twitter.com/#!/SkyFixerJim']@SkyFixerJim 16m[/URL]


Russell Bishop resumes giving evidence in his trial. He denies the 1986 murders of Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows.
He’s telling the court again about another interaction with police. Once in the station he was arrested. This was the 31st October.

Bishop says he was shown the blue Pinto sweatshirt that has been a major feature of this trial. It was not his, he says. He’d never seen it or worn it.

Mr Bishop was bailed a few days later. Police advised him to leave Brighton. He spent some time in Nottingham and Wales but got fed up and returned to Brighton. There was gossip circulating when he returned. He went to Barry Fellows’ house and told him he was innocent.

Joel Bennathan QC asks Mr Bishop how he felt when he was charged with the girls’ murders. Bishop sobs and then says “devastated.” He describes being on remand for the best part of a year.

Bishop is asked about letters he wrote to a young woman called Nikki while on remand. He is asked how old he thought she was. He says 15.

Bishop was cleared at a trial in Lewes in 1987. Bishop says he hoped things would calm down but police said they weren’t looking for anyone else. He went home to Brighton. Soon bricks were coming through his window, so many he lost count. His car was damaged and torched.

Bishop says “people were basically trying to kill me and my children.” Talks about petrol poured through letter box and house firebombed. He used to ask other people to take his son to school.

 

[Alyce]

Just adding in Helena's tweets, as she sometimes gives additional info

Helena Lee‏Verified account @BBCHelenaLee 22m22 minutes ago
Court resumes. Russell Bishop is in the witness box. His barrister is asking him questions. Families of the girls are in court listening.
Defence barrister: 31st October 1986 police came to your house? They say they want to go with them to go over new statements. Happy to do that? Russell Bishop: not in any shape or form.

 

[Alyce]

Helena Lee‏Verified account @BBCHelenaLee 12m12 minutes ago



Russell Bishop is now being asked how he felt when he was charged with the murders.
He breaks down in tears in the witness box and says “devastated”

Defence barrister: Which prison did you go to?
Russell Bishop: Brixton
Defence barrister: The cell?
Russell Bishop: I was a Cat A prisoner ... slept with a red light on.

Defence barrister now asking Russell Bishop about when he stood trial in 1987 at Lewes Crown Court.
Russell Bishop found not guilty at the end of the trial.
Defence barrister: Did you hope things would calm down?
Russell Bishop: I did, but they didn’t.

Defence barrister again tells Russell Bishop to speak up: “Now you’re muttering again” he says.

Russell Bishop tells the jury when he got back home bricks were thrown through his window. He says his home was firebombed on several occasions and petrol was poured through his letterbox. “It was people trying to kill me and my children” he says.

Russell Bishop talks about an incident that was “disturbing” to him. He is crying again as he describes a firebomb attack through his children’s window.

Russell Bishop says in January 1990 he drove to Beachy Head with his children.
Defence barrister: What were you thinking of doing?
Russell Bishop: Ending my life and my children’s life.

Defence barrister: What state were you in by 1990?
Russell Bishop: Hard to put into words - I certainly suffered from mental illness at that time.

Defence barrister to Russell Bishop: 1990 you were given a discretionary life sentence in prison as a category A prisoner

 

[Alyce]

@SkyFixerJim 9m
Bishop was cleared at a trial in Lewes in 1987. Bishop says he hoped things would calm down but police said they weren’t looking for anyone else. He went home to Brighton. Soon bricks were coming through his window, so many he lost count. His car was damaged and torched.

5m
In Jan 1990 Bishop drove with his children to Beachy Head. He cries as he tells the court his idea was to end their lives. But his son said something that made him turn around and go home.

4m
Bishop tells the court that he believes he was suffering from mental illness when he carried out the 1990 attack on a young girl for which he received a mandatory life sentence.

 

[Alyce]

Russell Bishop says in January 1990 he drove to Beachy Head with his children.
Defence barrister: What were you thinking of doing?
Russell Bishop: Ending my life and my children’s life.

This angers me - another one happy to kill his children just because life is too much for him to handle

 

[Alyce]

Helena Lee‏Verified account @BBCHelenaLee 32s32 seconds ago

Defence barrister: Did you have anything to do with the murder of Karen Hadaway?
Russell Bishop: No
Defence barrister: Did you have anything to do with the murder of Nicola Fellows?
Russell Bishop: No.

 

[Alyce]

@SkyFixerJim 59s
Mr Bennathan ends as he began by asking Mr Bishop if he had anything to do with the girls’ murders.
No, he says.


@IanWoodsSky 59s
Russell Bishop’s QC concludes his questions. There is no time for cross examination to start today, so prosecution will question him next week.

 

[Alyce]

SkyFixerJim


That’s all from this trial until 1030 Monday.

 

[Alyce]

Helena Lee‏Verified account @BBCHelenaLee 1 minute ago



Jury sent home for the day. They are told the judge has other matters to deal with this afternoon. The jury are told Russell Bishop will be cross examined by the prosecution next week. Back 10.30am Monday.