RESIDENTS of the road where Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows lived said they always knew Russell Bishop was guilty, it was just a case of proving it.

Following Monday’s verdict, Argus reporters spoke to people in Newick Road, Moulsecoomb, Brighton, and heard their reactions.

Cindy Hensby, 42, was a close friend of Karen Hadaway.

She said: “I was very close to Karen, she stayed at my house for a sleepover a few months before it happened.”

“I always remember that when she came around, we had to leave the door slightly open and the landing light on because she was scared of the dark, she was quite timid.”

Cindy recalled where she was when she found out about the incident very clearly.

She said: ““I can remember the day it happened as if it was yesterday.

“I was at my friend’s house and my auntie came and got me and she shouted at me because I didn’t tell my mum where I was going.

“I found out that two girls were missing, and then I found out who it was.

“You don’t expect it to happen on your doorstep, and to someone you know.

“Karen’s mum and dad were devastated.”

She said that the recent court case has reminded her of how she felt at the time.

Cindy said: “It’s not been nice watching it.

“It all comes back to you and in my head I go back to being a nine-year-old kid again, at a time when I just felt sick and scared.

“A lot of parents stopped letting their kids out after it happened, my mum and dad wouldn’t let me go out without them.”

She expressed relief the guilty verdict had finally come through.

Cindy said: “When I heard it I went cold and got goosebumps, I was so glad that it had been proven, I just wanted justice done, an eye for an eye. But I don’t think the cloud over Moulsecoomb will ever lift, it’s something you can never forget.

“I know the Bishop family, and they are a nice family, but there’s always one bad egg.”

Cindy’s father, Dave Hensby, 63, also lives in Newick Road.

He said: “We always knew he was guilty, it was just a matter of proving it. He was just a normal kid, but he was always a bit strange.

“I’m just glad it’s all over. I knew Lee Hadaway and that’s what killed him, the stress. I’m just sad he never got to see justice done.

“It’s a relief because Bishop is a dangerous man, he’s obviously capable of doing it again.”

Dave Dawson, 55, has lived in Newick Road for more than 40 years and was working with Bishop’s brother at the time of the incident.

He said: “He deserves everything he gets. He was not the brightest of people, but he was the kind of guy where, whatever you did, he had to do one better.

“If you carried one ladder, he would carry two, if you ate breakfast, he would have to eat more than you.”

Dave also knew the men who discovered the bodies of the two girls.

He said: “I know the two guys who found the bodies, I was at the pub with one of them the other day.

“He has tried everything to get rid of the memories, but now he has had to go back for this court case it has all come back to him.”

He also emphasised the impact the murders had on the parents of the girls, in particular Karen’s father Lee.

Dave said: “My sister used to own a pub in Moulsecoomb where Lee Hadaway would go, and she said he became a broken man, he never got any closure before he died.

“I don’t think Lee ever got over it, it’s horrible that he didn’t get to see the verdict. It’s funny that Bishop didn’t want to attend the verdict, he must have known they had him.”

Dave said the community was hit hard by the events but felt safer now Bishop had been found guilty.

He said: “At the time you couldn’t go out. My granddaughter is 11 and a few years ago I would not have let her walk to school on her own, but after seeing Bishop in court and getting what he deserves I feel that I can now, and that she will be safe.”

Colin Everett, 47, was just a few years older than Karen and Nicola, and said he would see them around Moulsecoomb, where his family has lived for three generations.

He said: “The night when it took place me and my family were walking home through the gardens. A few hours later police came to the house to ask questions.”

“As a kid, it was quite shocking. You think everything is safe, I had lived there for years and these were the gardens I would play in, so when something like that happens on your doorstep you just can’t believe it.

“Someone I knew had him as their babysitter a couple of times, it’s horrible to think he was once trusted to do that.

“Now, the guilty verdict is giving the girl’s families and the estate as a whole some closure.

“It’s like purging a bad memory for Moulsecoomb, it puts it to bed, but it left a stain on the estate.”