Survivor of Russell Bishop speaks out after 32 years

In February 1990 Rachael Watts, now 40, was bundled into a car by Bishop, who had been cleared of the Babes in the Wood murders three years earlier.

She was out roller skating as a seven-year-old in Whitehawk when he forced her into his red Ford Cortina.

Bishop then drove 14 miles to Devil’s Dyke and strangled her in the back seat of his car. She was stripped naked and sexually assaulted.

He took Rachael’s unconscious body from the car and dumped her in bramble bushes in the woods, where he left her for dead.

Bishop threw Rachael's roller blades into the woods. Credit: The Argus (Image: The Argus)

Bishop threw her roller skates into the woods before driving away from the scene.

Miraculously, Rachael recovered consciousness and crawled out of the bushes, naked and bleeding, and found help. 

Her bravery in identifying Bishop as her attacker led to him being convicted.

While she survived the ordeal, she has struggled ever since. She began to rebuild her life, marrying and having children, but when Bishop was retried for the murders of Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows, it brought it all back.

In 2018, only four years ago, he was finally convicted of the Babes in the Wood murders, after the prosecution said the similarities in both Rachael’s abduction and the murders were clear.

Bishop's red Ford Cortina. Credit: The Argus (Image: The Argus)

Following Bishop’s death from cancer whilst in prison in January this year, Rachael has chosen to speak out to help her heal and recover. 

A fundraiser has been set up to help Rachael raise money to rebuild her life. 

It says: “Rachael is a proud, stoical person and has found it hard to obtain the help she needs and deserves. 

“Now 40, she has developed agoraphobia – a profound terror of the outdoors – and been diagnosed with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, acute anxiety and agonising Fibromyalgia (sometimes linked to stress). 

“But she has been turned down for disability benefits and received little therapeutic support.”

Police on the scene in Devil's Dyke in 1990. Credit: The Argus (Image: The Argus)

The page states that Rachael hopes to use any money raised to make her garden “beautiful” as she finds gardening therapeutic. 

It says: “The therapeutic power of gardening is well known and, given she still cannot venture far from her home, she longs to build a summer house and make her outdoor space - currently just a concrete-paved yard - beautiful. 

“She’d also love a mini outdoor gym, to help rebuild her physical health, and provide fun for the children whom she cannot currently take to the park.”

Any funds raised by the Go Fund Me will be sent to Rachael directly so she can achieve “her garden dream”. 

The fundraiser adds: "She has been unable since to work. Now, she sees speaking out as part of her healing...and gardening. 

"She now has a sympathetic new doctor who is helping her access therapy and possibly benefits. But, as these are very basic, help for her garden dream would be hugely appreciated."

To donate to Rachael's fundraiser visit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/rachael-russell-bishop-survivor

Front page of The Argus in 1990 following Bishop conviction. Credit: The Argus (Image: The Argus)

Babes in the Wood murders

Bishop murdered Nicola Fellows and her best friend Karen Hadaway, both aged nine, in 1986 in Brighton's Wild Park.

He strangled the girls after luring them into a park before sexually assaulting them in what became known as the Babes In The Wood murders.

Babes in the Wood victims Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway. Credit: The Argus (Image: The Argus)

Bishop, who lived in Hollingdean, had joined the search to find the girls after Karen’s mother called the police when they had not returned home from playing nearby.

Argus front pages following Babes in the Wood murders. Credit: The Argus (Image: The Argus)

Bishop, 20 at the time, fell under suspicion due to his close involvement in the search, and was arrested shortly after the girls' bodies were found.

Ultimately, he was acquitted on both rape and murder charges at his trial in December 1987 at Lewes Crown Court after two hours deliberation by the jury. He later sold his story as a wrongfully accused person to The News of the World for £15,000.

He escaped justice for the murders for 32 years following various errors by police, forensic experts and prosecutors.

A court artist's impression of Bishop in the dock at The Old Bailey in 2018. Credit: The Argus (Image: The Argus)

The case of Nicola and Karen was then reviewed in 2011 following new DNA advances linking Bishop to a Pinto sweatshirt that had been found. 

Still in prison for the Devil's Dyke attack, Bishop was found guilty and given another 36 years for the Babes in the Wood murders in December 2018.

Cancer diagnosis and death

In 2020, it was reported Bishop had been diagnosed with bowel cancer, but this later spread to his brain.

He underwent surgery to try to stop the growth of the disease, but it was unsuccessful.

The killer, who was said to be “devastated” by the diagnosis, was given palliative care at HMP Frankland, County Durham, where he was being held.

In January, Bishop, 55, died in hospital with only a pair of prison guards for company and was cremated with no family present.

Russell Bishop (Image: The Argus)

Ian Heffron, uncle of Nicola Fellows, spoke out after it was revealed that Bishop had died.

He said: "We have got a form of closure, it won't bring the girls back but we can at least know that he will never ever attack another child.

"We're, in a way, angry that fate has not allowed him to serve the right sentence, he was only sentenced for 36 years back in 2018, so he has only done really three years of that.

"He was punished for what he did to the other girl, quite rightly, but fate has given him a release and I just wish he'd spent more time dwelling on what he did."

It was reported this week that nearly £3,000 of public money was spent on funeral arrangements following his death.