Vigil takes place to mark 40 years since Babes in the Woods murders
Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows were killed in Wild Park on the 9th October 1986
A vigil is taking place to mark four decades since two school girls were murdered in a Brighton park.
Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows were killed in Wild Park where they'd been playing on the 9th October 1986, in what became known as the Babes in the Woods murders.
The community is returning there today to honour them by illuminating a memorial tree and lighting candles in their memory, with a red and white rose also being planted.
Jane, lives across the road from the park, and pays her respects every year:
"I knew both the girls. My daughter went to school with one of them, but they were just nice little girls.
"It's just horrible and sad."
She recalls a police search on the day that they died, gasping at the memory of them wrapping tape around the crime scene,
"I think every year about what if.
"I didn't see anything, I didn't know anything, but what if I'd looked out the window or I'd been over the park with a dog at that time.
"Every year I think about it."
The girls' killer, Russell Bishop, wasn't convicted until 2018 and jailed for life with a minimum term of 36 years - but died in 2022.
He was originally cleared of their murders on December 10th 1987 but within three years went on to kidnap and molest a seven-year-old girl, leaving her for dead at Devils Dyke.
Prishali Patel. who works in the shop opposite the park, said the girls live on through their customers' memories:
"When they do speak about the girls, they say they were very nice girls, friendly, polite.
"I don't think it'd ever be forgotten."