The former girlfriend of Babes in the Wood murderer Russell Bishop failed to appear in court to be sentenced for perjury and perverting justice at Lewes Crown Court today (Wednesday 19 May).
Jennie Johnson, 55, of Saunders Park View, Brighton, decided to remain at Bronzefield Prison in Surrey, the court was told.
Her decision not to come to court to face justice echoed Bishop’s refusal to leave his cell when he was sentenced.
The former roofer and petty crook was jailed for life at the Old Bailey in December 2018 for the murder of two nine-year-old girls in Wild Park in Brighton.
Today, the judge, Sir Peter Fraser, known as Mr Justice Fraser, heard a victim statement and mitigation before retiring to consider his sentence.
The victim statement today was from Michelle Johnson, the mother of one of the girls, Karen Hadaway, who was killed in October 1986.
Michelle Johnson said that she felt “numb to the core” when she heard Jennifer Johnson lie about a crucial piece of evidence at Bishop’s first murder trial in 1987.
The lies, about Bishop’s blue Pinto sweatshirt, devastated her and her family and, Michelle Johnson said, “I’ve never doubted she was responsible for Bishop being acquitted.”
As well as Michelle Johnson’s daughter Karen, Bishop murdered Karen’s best friend Nicola Fellows at the same time.
Jennifer Johnson, also known as Jennifer Robinson, admitted swearing a false statement and lying under oath when Bishop stood trial at Lewes Crown Court in 1987 for the Babes in the Woods murders.
After her evidence, most notably about the blue Pinto top worn by Bishop, he was acquitted of murdering the two friends, leaving him free to strike again.
He went on to snatch a seven-year-old girl from the street in Whitehawk in February 1990, shoved her in the boot of his car and drove her to the Devil’s Dyke.
At the Dyke, he sexually assaulted her, strangled her and left her for dead in bushes. Miraculously she survived and her evidence helped to put Bishop behind bars.
After advances in forensic science and a change in the double jeopardy law, Bishop was retried and convicted of the Babes in the Wood murders in 2018 and jailed for life.
Johnson admitted having lied in her statement and in the witness box but pleaded not guilty, citing duress, saying that she was in fear and had no choice.
The defence was rejected by the jury in their guilty verdicts, which were returned at lunchtime on Monday.
