The Babes in the Wood perjury trial was shown a video of the double murderer’s ex-girlfriend as she harangued officers at the police station in Brighton.
Jennie Johnson shouted: “You arrested the wrong bloke so why don’t you admit it? You arrested the wrong man.”
In the crowded foyer in John Street, Russell Bishop’s mother Sylvia Bishop responded, saying to Johnson: “All right – shut up!”
They were part of a group of protesters who had marched from Wild Park, in Moulsecoomb, where the bodies of two nine-year-old girls – Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway – were found in 1986.
Bishop was charged with murdering the girls but acquitted at Lewes Crown Court in 1987 – and Johnson has now admitted that she lied on oath at his trial.
Ben Lloyd, prosecuting, told Johnson’s trial at Lewes Crown Court yesterday (Monday 26 April): “On (Saturday) 19 August 1989 a group march took place in the area of Wild Park which included a petition to Sussex Police seeking to keep the case open.
“Family members of the deceased girls were present. The march started in Moulsecoomb and it ended at Brighton police station.
“Jennifer Johnson, Russell Bishop and Sylvia Bishop attended the march.”
Johnson, also known as Jennifer Robinson, of Saunders Park View, Brighton, denies perverting justice and perjury.
The jury has been told that Johnson, 55, will be relying on a defence of duress, having been in a coercive relationship with Bishop.
Bishop was jailed after his 1990 trial when he was convicted of kidnapping a girl in Whitehawk, sexually assaulting her and trying to kill her.
He dumped what he thought was her body at the Devil’s Dyke but miraculously she survived and gave crucial evidence that brought him to justice.
After advances in DNA evidence and changes to the law of double jeopardy, Bishop was tried again in 2018 for the murder of Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway.
He was convicted by a jury at the Old Bailey and jailed for life with a minimum term of 36 years.
