Sussex Police have formally apologised for failings in its initial investigations into the murders of nine-year-old girls Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway in 1986.

The force has also apologised for the wrongful arrest of Barrie fellows – the father of Nicola.

The schoolgirls were sexually assaulted and strangled in woodland in Brighton by Russell Bishop.

The killings became known as the “Babes in the Wood” murders after the children’s tale with the same name.

Bishop was acquitted at the end of his first trial in December 1987 due to weaknesses in the case presented by police and prosecutors, and lies told by his ex-girlfriend, who was later jailed for perjury.

His acquittal left him free to kidnap, molest and throttle a seven-year-old girl before leaving her for dead at Devil’s Dyke, a valley in the South Downs, Sussex, in February 1990.

On Wednesday Chief Constable of Sussex Police Jo Shiner said there were failings in the original investigation into their deaths in 1986, and that Nicola’s father Barrie should not have been arrested as part of a connected investigation in 2009.

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Nicola and Karen’s families battled for more than 30 years to finally see Bishop jailed in 2018 after a retrial based on fresh forensic evidence as part of a prosecution made possible under reformed double jeopardy laws.

It was during his second trial that Bishop tried to cast suspicion on Nicola’s father.

Mr Fellows was also arrested by Sussex Police on suspicion of sharing indecent images in 2009, but the force confirmed on Wednesday that there was no evidence he had done anything wrong.

The officers who arrested him were not aware that the allegations had already been investigated and dismissed in 1988.

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