Jennifer Johnson video shows her shout at police over murders

Jennifer Johnson was found guilty of perverting the course of justice and perjury over Russell Bishop in the 1980s.

The 55-year-old lied about a key piece of evidence, a blue Pinto sweatshirt, which linked Bishop to the crime scene in Wild Park, Brighton, by DNA and scientific evidence.

Nine-year-olds Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway, of Newick Road in Moulsecoomb, were murdered by Bishop in the park in October 1986.

The blue Pinto sweatshirt was found dumped near Moulsecoomb railway station and clothing fibres showed it had crossed paths with clothes the girls were wearing when they were found dead.

Later DNA tests showed how the sweater was Bishop’s and he had also left traces of his DNA on Nicola's body.

Johnson at first told police it was Bishop’s sweater, but later lied and changed her story over the vital clue, allowing him to walk free.

Russell Bishop's blue Pinto sweatshirt was perhaps the most vital clue to establish his guilt. Clothing fibres showed the jumper had come into contact with the clothing fibres of Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway, it matched the ivy spores in the air

At her trial at Lewes Crown Court she claimed she was intimidated by the Bishop family, including Bishop's mother Sylvia, to change her story.

But footage shows her joining a protest in Brighton after Bishop was controversially acquitted by a jury at Lewes Crown Court after his first trial in 1987.

Jennifer Johnson haranguing police over Russell Bishop in 1987

Johnson shouted at the police: “You arrested the wrong bloke so why don’t you admit it? You arrested the wrong man.”

At Lewes Crown Court, Alison Morgan QC, prosecuting said nobody held a gun to her head to lie for Bishop, who escaped justice for the heinous murders for 33 years until he was convicted at the Old Bailey in 2018.

Following Bishop’s conviction, police launched an inquiry into Johnson’s lies, and Ms Morgan said at no stage had she come forward to correct the record.

“She knew all along,” Ms Morgan said. “For 35 years she knew the truth about that garment.

“She has said she is sorry but never once in all those years did she come forward.

“Never once did she tell the truth.”

Bishop then went on to attack a seven-year-old girl from Whitehawk in February 1990, grabbing her and bundling her into the boot of his car before leaving her for dead in bushes at Devil’s Dyke.

But miraculously she survived and identified Bishop as her attacker.

Russell Bishop picture in the 1980s. PA

He was jailed for life for attempted murder, kidnap and indecent assault in 1990.

Ms Morgan said Johnson was on “Team Bishop”, and footage showed how she joined the protest from Moulsecoomb to Brighton Police Station in John Street in 1987.

Johnson was also interviewed by The Argus before Bishop went on trial and was pictured in a front page story.

“It is just one big nightmare,” she said then. “I can only hope it will be over soon.”

She said she was happy to make long visits with her young children, fathered by Bishop, to see him on remand in prison.

“He always asks how I am and how the kids are but we don’t get long enough to have a real conversation,” she said. “It is a long way to go for a short time, but he is worth it.”

Jennifer Johnson on the front page of the Evening Argus in January 1987

Bishop was found not guilty in December 1987 and it caused uproar. He thought he had got away with the murders, but his family were defiant, celebrating outside Lewes Crown Court.

But a change in the law meant that the old double jeopardy rule was amended. The rule had stated that someone could not be tried for a crime such as murder twice.

Uproar as Russell Bishop was acquitted of the Babes in the Wood murders in 1987

If new and compelling evidence came to light, then a defendant could be tried on the same charge for a second time.

The blue Pinto sweatshirt and other DNA linked Bishop even more strongly to the scene. He was the last person to be in contact with Nicola and Karen. He was the last person to see them alive.

Previously, The Argus spoke with author and former Brighton Police Commander Graham Bartlett, who wrote Babes In The Wood, a book documenting how justice was finally served on Bishop.

He said police at the time were clear that Bishop was their man, and said the blue Pinto sweatshirt itself was compelling evidence, even in 1987.

Had Johnson told the truth in 1987, it may have meant Bishop was not able to go on to attack another girl in 1990.

Now Johnson, of Saunders Park View, Brighton, faces prison.