Martin Bashir 'may have lost' clothing of Babes in the Wood victim

The grieving mother of Karen, who was murdered in Brighton aged nine, said the BBC reporter took away her clothing for DNA testing but never returned it.

Michelle Hadaway said a note signed by Mr Bashir in 1991 shows he was taking the DNA-laden clothes belonging to her daughter, Karen.

Evening Argus October 10, 1986

Mother Michelle previously branded the journalist a "despicable rat" and claimed the loss of the clothing could have "seriously affected the hunt" for her child's killer.

Mr Bashir has responded to the allegation that he lost the potentially crucial evidence in an interview with The Times.

"I may have lost it but I don't remember," he said.

Miss Hadaway believes the BBC inquiry into the Princess Diana scandal should have been widened to include parts of Mr Bashir’s other work.

Karen Hadaway (left) and Nicola Fellows

Karen and her friend Nicola Fellows, also nine, were murdered in Brighton in 1986.

The Daily Mail reported in 2006 how Bashir offered to arrange a DNA test on Karen's clothing as part of a 1991 BBC investigation.

It was reported that in 2004, when Sussex Police agreed to re-examine the evidence, Bashir said he could not remember meeting Miss Hadaway.

It was reported that the BBC journalist claimed he could not remember planning the program.

Paedophile Russell Bishop was found guilty of the murders in 2018, ending a 32-year fight for justice for the families of his victims.

Bishop was 20 years old when he sexually assaulted and strangled the nine-year-olds in a woodland den in Brighton.

He was originally cleared of their murders, but within three years went on to kidnap, molest and throttle a seven-year-old girl.

He left her for dead at Devils Dyke, though she survived.

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.

His girlfriend at the time of the murders, Jennifer Johnson, lied in court to protect him and was jailed for six years last week.

READ MORE >> Babes in the Wood: Jennifer Johnson is jailed

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has accused the BBC of adopting a “we know best” attitude in the scandal surrounding its Martin Bashir Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.

In his first detailed response since the report from Lord Dyson, Mr Dowden said the affair had exposed “failures that strike at the heart of our national broadcaster’s values and culture”.

Director-general Tim Davie has written to staff at the BBC and said lessons must be learnt following the publication of Lord Dyson’s blistering report into the circumstances surrounding Diana, Princess of Wales’ 1995 Panorama interview.

In an internal email, Mr Davie said people across the BBC felt “deeply let down” by the contents of the 127-page document, which found the corporation covered up “deceitful behaviour” used by journalist Mr Bashir to secure the explosive interview.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: "Although we have been aware of this matter, it had no material impact whatsoever on the investigation then or later, or on the 2018 prosecution, and caused no delay.

"All forensic evidence needed had been already obtained from the clothing in 1986 and stored separately, including the DNA evidence which only became accessible many years later due to advances in forensic technology and which was crucial in securing Bishop’s eventual conviction.

"We have previously explained it to Karen's family and have nothing to add now."