THE uncle of one of the Babes in the Wood victims has said "not a day goes by" that the families do not miss the girls on the anniversary of their deaths.
On this day 35 years ago two schoolgirls were killed in the infamous Babes in the Wood murders.
On October 9 1986 Russell Bishop lured Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows, aged 9, to a park in Brighton before sexually assaulting and strangling them to death.
Nicola's uncle Ian Heffron said "I'm not a young man, I was 31 when the girls were murdered and that's a long long time for it to take over our lives. Not a day goes by that we don't miss those girls."
Because of their location in Brighton's Wild Park, the murders later became known as the Babes in the Wood murders after the children's tale.
Bishop, who was 20 at the time, escaped justice for 32 years before he was finally convicted of the horrific crimes in 2018.
It has now been over three decades since the girls' murders and the pain for their families is still as raw as ever.
Nicola Fellows' uncle Ian Heffron told The Argus: "We fought for over three decades with a true resolution to find justice for two lovely little girls who were cruelly taken from us by a person who is nothing less than a predatory paedophile.
"On this terrible journey we have lost family members who never saw the success we achieved in locking up Russell Bishop."
Mr Heffron, 66, said that over the past 35 years both families have lost multiple members. His younger brother and sister, Kevin and Sharon, both died of cancer before they saw justice for their niece.
Nicola's brother John "loved and missed his sister so much" but also died just weeks before Bishop was found guilty.
Mr Heffron said that Karen's father Lee died of a broken heart.
He said: "Both fathers lost the chance to walk their girls down the aisle, two mums had their hearts ripped out by a vicious and nasty person.
"Nothing will ever replace our little girls, we just want our girls back but we can't have that."
Bishop was initially arrested and charged for the murders of Karen and Nicola in 1987 but was never convicted due to failings by the prosecution, police and forensic experts.
In 1990 he was convicted of the kidnapping, indecent assault, and attempted murder of another young girl, aged seven. He left her at Devil's Dyke to die, but she survived.
Mr Heffron said he cannot contemplate why he would go on to commit the same crime again after he had been acquitted of the Babes in the Wood murders.
He said: "He was acquitted, he won life's lottery, why didn't he just get on with his life? But he couldn't help himself, he had to go and do it to a 7-year-old girl. God only knows why."
The Fellows and Hadaway families campaigned every two years when Bishop was up for parole for the attempted murder, urging for him to not be released.
The case of Nicola and Karen was then reviewed in 2011 following new DNA advances linking him to a sweatshirt that had been found. Still in jail for the Devil's Dyke attack, Bishop was found guilty and given another 36 years for the Babes in the Wood murders in 2018.
The investigation into the two girls' murders is the largest and longest-running inquiry ever conducted by Sussex Police.
"No family should go through what we've gone through. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. I can't believe it's been 35 years. And it took 32 to get him locked up," said Mr Heffron.
The Argus recently reported that Bishop has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and could have just weeks to live.
Mr Heffron said of the killer's diagnosis: "When he dies there will be a closure. We won't have to worry that he might get out on parole. I would have been 99 years old but the family would have kept fighting. Fate's kicked in and has offered the final blow on our behalf.
"I'm not a young man, I was 31 when the girls were murdered and that's a long long time for it to take over our lives. Not a day goes by that we don't miss those girls. He ripped the soul out of two families, three with the other girl as well."
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