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Ellesmere Port man quizzed over 'Babes in the Wood' girl's abuse probe



A man from Ellesmere Port has been arrested in connection with allegations that sexually abused a nine year old girl who woould later die in the infamous 'Babes in the Wood' murders.

Sussex Police said the investigation into child sex abuse involving Nicola Fellows was not connected to the ongoing investigation into the murder of the schoolgirl and her friend Karen Hadaway.

Nicola, nine, and Karen, 10, were found strangled in Wild Park, Brighton, in 1986.

No one has ever been brought to justice for the killings, which came to be known as the Babes in the Woods murders.

Labourer Russell Bishop was charged with the murders but was acquitted after the prosecution admitted a series of errors in the presentation of forensic evidence at his trial in 1987.

The police spokeswoman said the latest arrests related to allegations of sex abuse against Nicola during the 1980s.

She said: "A 59-year-old man has been arrested in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, and a 44-year-old man has been arrested in Brighton on suspicion of sexual offences involving Nicola Fellows, one of the two victims of the Wild Park murders in 1986."

The investigation is being led by DCI Adam Hibbert of Sussex Police's Major Crime Branch.

Officers are appealing for anyone with information that might assist their investigation to contact Sussex Police on 0845 60 70 999, quoting Operation Iford.

The bodies of Karen and Nicola were found together on October 10, 1986.

A pathologist concluded they died between 7pm and 8pm the day before.

Bishop, who knew both girls and their families and had helped in the search, was arrested two months later.

He was jailed for life in 1991 for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a seven-year-old girl from Brighton.

THE GLOBE

thank fook for DNA

everyone should provide DNA by law!

YOU WONT MIND IF YOU HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE EH????

come on snobby gits, argue your human rights and crap.....

You won't get any arguement from me on that score Ste! I'd happily give mine in

yep an me.

Guilty until proved innocent eh? If you don't want to give your DNA to the police then you are a criminal?

I've never so much as parked a car illegally, and haven't got an overdue library book. If some one is convicted on a serious criminal matter then they're DNA is collected as a matter of course, (and quite rightly). Why should the majority of law abiding citizens have they're DNA harvested by a paranoid few?

There's nothing snobby about human rights. (Is that a poor insult to people who don't think the same way as you?). If YOU'VE got nothing to hide then YOU also won't mind being under constant video survaillance, all your conversations being monitored and recorded for future reference, (be them in person, on the phone, over the internet, in letter...ALL), and your whereabouts constantly scrutinised (with some sort of implanted tracking device, fitted from birth) so the government can check you should be where they've told you to be. You also won't mind that agents of the government can search you and your property at any time without reason because YOU'VE GOT NOTHING TO HIDE.

Oh and by the way, just because I don't want DNA harvesting, doesn't make me a snob or a criminal.

The quote was

"everyone should provide DNA by law!"

While I have some (actually a lot) of sympathy for the view you have also to recognise that DNA testing is FAR from infallible. In many, many cases the "result" of a DNA test is no more than a probability of a positive match. That probability can be a LOT lower than you are led to believe by the press.

Sure, a DNA test can eliminate someone being involved is (say) a crime but used alone it is in most cases thought to be still a developing technology.

Would I give a DNA sample is asked? Yes I would.

However, while the technology is still developing and while the "final" match remains open to statistical probability analysis I also have very significant concerns about the use that could be made of long term samples. When dealing with less than perfect DNA samples taken from a crime victim it is still too easy for incorrect statistical matches to be made. THAT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU - and would lead to a very uncomfortable time if you were not able to provide other evidence of your non-involvement.

(As a note - I had to research this subject in detail to be able to write an essay on it for my son's Uni course. All parents help out a bit)

Snod