Vigil for murdered girls

Fifteen years ago this week two little girls went out to play and never came home.

Schoolfriends Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway were found strangled in Wild Park, Brighton, in October 1986, not far from their Moulsecoomb homes. They had been sexually assaulted.

The case became known as the 'Babes In the Wood' murders.

For the girls' families the pain remains as fresh as eve.

Tonight relatives and friends will hold their annual vigil as a mark of respect to the girls, who would now be 24.

No one has ever been convicted for the crimes but Karen's mother, Michelle Johnson, is hoping the anniversary and passage of time may prompt someone to come forward with new evidence.

She said: "There are quite a few people on the estate who were only children then but now they're adults. Maybe this will encourage them to come forward with something which they didn't mention then.

"I haven't lost hope that we will get justice for the girls even after all this time. To me, it's as if it was yesterday. My heart is still very raw. Time has not even made it bearable - the pain's still there.

"The only way to cope is to talk about it, although you never ever come to terms with what has happened.

"What happened to the girls shouldn't just be locked away in some file somewhere. I'm still hoping one day the person can be brought to justice.

"My younger children and my granddaughter never knew Karen and they are always asking me questions. But I just don't have any answers."

The family left Brighton and their home in Newick Road shortly after Karen's death.

Michelle and children Lyndsey, 20, Kimberley, 14, Rikki, 13, and granddaughter Chelsea, four, now live in Surrey, although eldest son Darren, 27, still lives in Brighton. Karen's father Lee died three years ago.

Labourer Russell Bishop was charged with the killings but cleared in 1987.

He is now serving life for the kidnap and attempted murder of a seven-year-old Whitehawk girl.