'Wholly inappropriate' - Russell Bishop's ashes will not be buried in Brighton

Russell Bishop was jailed for a minimum of 36 years in 2018

The ashes of 'Babes in the Wood' killer, Russell Bishop, will not be buried in Brighton, the City Council has said.

Last year, Bishop was given just months to live after it was revealed he was suffering with terminal brain cancer. He died in in prison on Thursday 20 January.

A Brighton and Hove council spokesperson said the burial of Bishop's ashes in the city would be 'wholly inappropriate', and any request would 'almost certainly' be refused.

They added that the council is 'very mindful' of the strength of feeling to Bishop's murders in the city, and hopes that 'his family recognise this'.

A spokesperson said: “We have not received any request for Mr Bishop’s ashes to be interred within the city.

“Our starting point would be that it would be wholly inappropriate for him to be buried in the same place as where his victims are buried. We would almost certainly refuse a request for this to happen.

“We are also very mindful of the strength of feeling that his murders have caused in the city, and hope that his family recognises this.”

Russell Bishop was serving a life sentence for sexually assaulting and strangling Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway.

Bishop, a convicted paedophile, 55, was serving a life sentence for the murders of 9-year-olds Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows.

He was 20 years old when he sexually assaulted and strangled the girls in a woodland den in Brighton's Wild Park in October 1986.

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He was cleared of their murders on December 10 1987, but within three years went on to kidnap, molest and throttle a seven-year-old girl, leaving her for dead at Devils Dyke.

While serving life for attempted murder, Bishop was ordered to face a fresh trial under the double jeopardy law in light of a DNA breakthrough.

But it was another 32 years before Bishop was convicted at his second trial in 2018.

A court sketch of Russell Bishop in 2018 Credit: Elizabeth Cook/PA

In Brighton an application for burial must be made to the council, usually 3 days before the intended date of the burial.

The council will take the details of the person and then assign a grave space in one of its cemeteries.

The local authority then has the power to approve or deny said space, as well the scattering of ashes on a grave or vault space.

These rules apply to all 7 of its cemeteries.