The families of Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows have urged relatives of other murder victims still seeking justice to ‘never give up’.
After the girls’ murderer Russell Bishop was acquitted in 1987, they were told they would never get justice because the law didn’t then allow people to be tried for the same crime twice under so-called double-jeopardy laws.
But undeterred, the families instead helped successfully campaign to change those laws, and in 2018 Bishop was finally brought to justice.
Today, Sussex Police formally and publicly apologised for failings in their investigation, and for wrongfully arrestesting Nicola Fellows’ father Barrie in 2009.
In a statement released on behalf of both families, they welcomed the apology, and urged others in similar positions to keep fighting.
They said: “Please, we implore you, even in your darkest days, never give up.
“If there is a fight to be had, then fight it. If hurdles are thrown in your way, work out how to overcome them.
“We were once told that we 'would never get justice' due to double jeopardy laws. So, we helped to change those laws and we also fought to change so many other aspects along the way.
“If we can get justice for the murder of two little girls after such miscarriages were dealt against us and still go on to win the battle after 32 years, then you can do the same.
“We are proud to have helped lay some of that hard path that you may need to tread. You can do this.
“RIP Nicola and Karen, you will always be with us in our hearts and memories.”
Bishop’s 2018 conviction was the result of not just a change in the law, but developments in forensic technology which meant evidence from a Pinto sweatshirt proved links between Bishop and the girls.
Bishop himself, who was sentenced to life in 2018, died in prison in 2022.
