‘Prolific’ lies told by the girlfriend of Babes in the Woods murderer Russell Bishop let him escape justice for killing two girls in 1986 and later try to claim a third victim, a court heard today.
Jenny Johnson, 55, allegedly lied ‘deliberately’ to help her boyfriend who was on trial for the brutal murders of nine-year-old schoolgirls, Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows.
The two schoolgirls were sexually assaulted and strangled to death by Bishop in bushes at Wild Park in Brighton in October 1986.
Johnson was a prosecution witness in her ex-boyfriend’s 1987 trial but she lied on oath about key evidence and Bishop was eventually acquitted, Lewes Crown Court heard.
Following his acquittal, it would be more than 30 years before he was convicted and jailed for the murders of Nicola and Karen.
Within three years of the 1987 acquittal, Bishop went on to kidnap and sexually assault another young girl, leaving her for dead.
Johnson today appeared at Lewes Crown Court charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice after allegedly lying about the ownership of a distinctive blue Pinto sweatshirt.
Jennifer Johnson (right) is accused of telling ‘lies that were important’ in the Russell Bishop (left) case, including about a crucial piece of evidence – a sweatshirt found near the scene
Johnson (seen outside Lewes Crown Court), now 55, is charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice, and appeared for trial on Friday after pleading not guilty
The woman, who denies both charges, will claim she lived in fear of Bishop and was under duress to retract a statement she made to police regarding the clothing.
Johnson had initially provided a statement on October 31, 1986 claiming she knew the sweatshirt, found near the scene of the murders, had belonged to her boyfriend.
She told officers that red marks found on the jumper came from a compound he used on his car, adding a pair of his light blue trousers had the same red stains.
But she sensationally retracted her statement during the trial and claimed she had never seen the blue Pinto sweatshirt and it did not belong to Russell.
As a result the judge directed the jurors to acquit Bishop if they were unsure the sweatshirt belonged to him and he had been wearing it on the night of the murders.
Bishop, who worked as a roofer, was re-arrested in 2016 after advances in DNA testing irrefutably linked him to the blue sweatshirt.
He faced a second trial for the murders of Karen and Nicola at the Old Bailey in 2018, where he was convicted and sentenced to a minimum of 36 years behind bars.
Bishop was first tried for the brutal murders of schoolgirls Karen Hadaway (right) and Nicola Fellows (left) in 1987 but was acquitted. He was convicted in 2018
Pictured: A blue Pinto sweatshirt, allegedly worn by Russell Bishop and said to contain vital DNA evidence, which was found beside a path behind Moulsecoomb railway station
As a result of Bishop’s second trial Johnson was arrested last year and charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice.
Alison Morgan QC, prosecuting, said Johnson took a deliberate decision to lie ‘deliberately and prolifically’ to help Bishop.
She said Johnson knew the importance of the sweatshirt to the trial and told lies about it.
She said: ‘In telling those lies, the prosecution alleges that she intended to pervert the course of justice. She lied because she was seeking to assist and protect her former partner.
‘By lying in the way that she did she wanted to help Russell Bishop to be acquitted of the offences of murder. ‘
She said: ‘Her evidence attributing the sweatshirt to Bishop fell away. The case against Bishop was significantly undermined as a result.
‘Bishop was acquitted of those offences at the trial which took place between November and December 1987. He was then released from custody and returned to live with the defendant and their children.’
Miss Morgan said: ‘Three years later in 1990, at a time when he was still living with the defendant, Russell Bishop kidnapped, sexually assaulted and tried to kill another young girl.
‘He left that girl in woodland, believing her to be dead. Miraculously, the girl survived.
‘There was another trial. The defendant continued to maintain her support for Russell Bishop.
‘This time, however, Russell Bishop was convicted of the offences of attempted murder and sexual assault and he was sentenced to a life sentence.’
Miss Morgan told the jury the defendant will claim she lived in fear of Bishop and was under duress to retract her original statement to police.
She said it was clear Johnson, who then worked as a cleaner at the American Express offices in Brighton, was in a ‘violent, volatile and coercive’ relationship with Bishop.
Miss Morgan said: It will be suggested on behalf of the defendant that she was forced to give false evidence by Russell Bishop and his family. She will say that she had ‘no choice’.
Russell Bishop, pictured (left) in prison in recent years and (right) after his initial arrest for the 1986 Babes in the Wood murders, was convicted in 2018, 32 years after the girls were killed
The girls were found dead in this ‘den’ in undergrowth in Wild Park, Brighton after the going missing the previous night
‘She will say that she was young and the victim of domestic abuse and coercive control. She will say that at the time when she told the lies she did, she was acting under duress.’
But Miss Morgan said Johnson, who was pregnant at the time and also had a a young son with Bishop, also showed signs of being an independent and assertive woman herself.
During the murder investigation she told police she had a normal relationship with Russell and been ‘happy’ until he started a relationship with 16-year-old Marion Stevenson.
Miss Morgan said a person is only entitled to claim that they are acting under duress if there is no reasonable evasive action that they could have taken.
She told the jury the defence of duress is only applicable if the defendant felt seriously threatened.
Miss Morgan said: ‘For someone to be acting under duress they must reasonably believe that if they do not do something, serious violence will be used against them, or someone close to them, immediately or almost immediately.’
Miss Morgan said Johnson had ample opportunities to tell the truth about the ownership of the sweatshirt.
She said: ‘Was she someone who was so terrified of Russell Bishop and his family that she simply had no choice but to lie on oath?
‘Was there anything stopping her from telling the judge or the police officers or anyone else present in the courtroom that she was under that type of threat.’
The case, which is set to last around four weeks, continues.
