Who is Russell Bishop and what is his cause of death?

The murder of Babes in the Wood shocked the country after the bodies of two young girls were found in the woods near Brighton in 1986.

Russell Bishop was eventually charged with murder in 2018 – 32 years later – and died in prison in January 2022.

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Who is Russell Bishop?

Russell Bishop is in 2018 was convicted of the brutal murder of two schoolgirls in 1986.

He was dubbed the killer Babes in the Wood after the bodies of Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway were found gathered together in Wildlife Park near Brighton.

Bishop was sentenced to life in prison in December 2018 after he was found guilty of killing two nine-year-old girls 32 years earlier.

He was 20 years old at the time of the murder and was working as a roofer in the Hollingdean area of ​​Brighton.

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He lives with his partner, Jennie Johnson, but also has a 16-year-old girlfriend.

Bishop joined the search for the two schoolgirls just hours after brutally killing them.

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What did Russell Bishop do?

Russell Bishop sexually abused and strangled two schoolgirls to death in 1986 but was cleared of murder a year later.

Just three years after Bishop was freed, he was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapped, sexually assaulted and attempted murder of a seven-year-old girl at Devil’s Dyke on the South Downs.

The girl survived the attack and identified Bishop as her attacker.

In October 2018, he went on trial again for the murders of Nicola and Karen after the Court of Appeal granted Crown Prosecution Authority the authority to overturn the acquittals.

He’s on trial for a second time on double-dangerous murder charges after a DNA breakthrough.

The court heard that samples taken from the left forearm of one of the girls in 1986 were re-examined in 2014 and matched the key blue sweater that linked it to Bishop and the girls’ home.

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The jury was told how Bishop sexually assaulted and strangled the girls, with the court describing him as a “violent” and “carnivorous pedophile”.

The two girls went shopping for chips before playing together in the Wilderness Park – half a mile from their home – until dusk.

Their bodies were discovered the next day in a forest cave with autopsies showing that both girls had been strangled to death.

Their underwear had been removed or changed and there was evidence that both had been sexually assaulted.

The jury heard that Karen would pass out but death would not be immediate.

Nicola appears to have been “punched or beaten” on the cheek and there is evidence that she was sexually assaulted both alive and after her death.

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What was the cause of death of Russell Bishop?

After four years in a cage, the monster, 55, died in hospital on January 20 just hours after being brought there from HMP Frankland, Co Durham’s top security force.

His final moments are spent alone, watched over by a pair of guards as his life slowly comes to an end.

A source said: ‘Bishop has spent his final weeks in relative peace – a world away from the torment he has caused the girls’ families.

“There will be very few tears shed for his departure.”

Bishop was taken to hospital yesterday after his health deteriorated rapidly in prison.

And by the afternoon of January 20, a local worker was put on standby.

Sources said he was rushed to the hospital after having difficulty breathing and died shortly before 9pm last night.

Bishop’s relatives were informed shortly after the night of his death, just three weeks before his 56th birthday.

His death will now be referred to the coroner.