Babes in the Woods killer Russell Bishop dies in hospital

Babes in the Wood killer Russell Bishop – who murdered two schoolgirls in the 1980s – has died in hospital, the Prison Service said.

The 55-year-old was jailed for a minimum of 36 years in 2018 after being found guilty of killing nine-year-olds Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway.

Bishop was 20 years old when he sexually assaulted and strangled the girls in a woodland den in Brighton, East Sussex, in October 1986.

He was cleared of their murders on December 10 1987 but within three years went on to kidnap, molest and throttle a seven-year-old girl, leaving her for dead at Devils Dyke.

While serving life for attempted murder, Bishop was ordered to face a fresh trial under the double jeopardy law, in light of a DNA breakthrough.

A Prison Service spokesman said: “HMP Frankland prisoner Russell Bishop died in hospital on January 20. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has been informed.”