Man arrested in connection with notorious 1986 'babes in the wood' Brighton double murder

Police have arrested a man in connection with the so-called "babes in the wood" double murders of schoolgirls almost 30 years ago after new evidence emerged. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested by officers from the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team on Tuesday (10 May).

On 9 October 1986, nine-year-old Nicola Fellows and her best friend, 10-year-old Karen Hadaway, were snatched off the street after going out to play on the Moulsecoomb Estate where they lived.

After a huge manhunt involving 150 police, friends and family, their bodies were found the next day on 10 October in nearby Wild Park, with evidence showing one of the girls had been sexually assaulted and that they had both been strangled. They were buried next to each other at a local cemetery.

Karen Hadaway's father Lee died of a heart attack in 1998, from what his family described as a broken heart. A march took place in 2006, to mark the 20th anniversary of the double murder, which remains one of the most infamous unsolved cases in British criminal history.

A man was previously arrested and charged with the murders but was cleared at trial. The latest arrest comes less than a fortnight after a bench seat, placed in memory of the two girls, was vandalised. The bench, near the spot where Nicola and Karen's bodies were found, was smashed up in April 2016.

Owing to the upset caused to the local community, Sussex Police and Brighton council decided to purchase a new bench in a "one-off special initiative".