Babes in the Wood: Killer's ex-girlfriend ‘lied on oath’

Jennifer Johnson denies lying about evidence at Russell Bishop's first murder trial

The ex-girlfriend of Babes in the Wood murderer Russell Bishop "lied on oath" at his trial in 1987, a court heard.

Jennifer Johnson, 55, was in a relationship and had children with Bishop at the time he killed two schoolgirls in 1986.

A jury cleared Bishop of the killings in 1987 but he was eventually convicted in 2018.

At Lewes Crown Court, Ms Johnson denies perjury during Bishop's first trial and perverting the course of justice.

Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows, both nine, were found dead in woods in Brighton in 1986.

Ms Johnson, of Saunders Park View, Brighton, is accused of telling police that a blue Pinto sweatshirt belonged to Bishop and then later denying it, both in a witness statement and in evidence at the trial.

Giving a brief summary of the case ahead of the Crown's expected opening on Friday, prosecutor Alison Morgan QC said the "key garment" was recovered after the attack on the schoolgirls.

Ms Morgan said: "It is alleged against her that in 1987 she told lies in a witness statement prepared for the purposes of giving evidence in a criminal trial, and it is further alleged that she then lied on oath when she gave evidence at the criminal trial."

The case, which is expected to last four weeks, continues.

Follow BBC South East on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].