Babes in the Wood killer Russell Bishop has died in hospital, according to an official statement from the Prison Service.
Bishop was convicted of murdering two nine-year-old schoolgirls in 1986.
He was 20 years old when he sexually assaulted and strangled Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway in a woodland den in Brighton.
he was initially cleared of their murders in December 1987 but within three years he went on to kidnap, molest and throttle a seven-year-old girl before leaving her for dead at Devils Dyke.
While serving life for attempted murder, Bishop was forced to face a new trial for the Babes in the Wood murders after new DNA evidence was made available.
He was finally convicted of the killings in 2018 - when he was 55 years old. He was jailed for 36 years.
It has now been confirmed that Bishop has died. He is understood to have been suffering from cancer.
A Prison Service spokesman said: “HMP Frankland prisoner Russell Bishop died in hospital on January 20. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has been informed.”
Nicola's cousin Lorna Heffron said that although the families of the victims knew his death was approaching it was "quite a shock to the system".
She said: “We’re pleased that he’s gone and he absolutely won’t be able to hurt anybody else in the future. The world is a better place without him.
“I think the biggest relief is the fact that we got justice for Nicola and Karen before this happened.
“It’s the satisfaction of knowing that we don’t have to worry now that he, at any point in the future, might be able to apply for parole.”
Bishop was finally convicted of the murders when a discarded Pinto sweatshirt found on Bishop's route home was linked to the defendant through DNA evidence. Fibre, paint and ivy transfers placed it at the scene.
A sample from Karen's left forearm also found a “one in a billion” DNA match to Bishop.
At his sentencing, Mr Justice Sweeney said: “I have no doubt that you were a predatory paedophile.
“The terror that each girl must have suffered in their final moments is unimaginable.”
