The former girlfriend of Babes in the Wood killer Russell Bishop has failed in an attempt to appeal after being convicted of perjury.
Bishop, who died in January aged 55, was jailed in 2018 for a minimum of 36 years after being convicted of the murders of Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway.
He murdered the two nine-year-olds in Wild Park, Brighton, in October 1986 but was acquitted at his original trial in 1987.
Jennie Johnson was given a six-year prison sentence in May last year after a judge and jury heard that she lied at Bishop’s 1987 trial.
Today (Wednesday 22 June), three judges dismissed the 56-year-old’s application to appeal after considering arguments at a recent Court of Appeal hearing in London.
Lord Justice Fulford, Mrs Justice Cutts and Mr Justice Henshaw refused to give Johnson leave to challenge her conviction and sentence.
Bishop was 20 when he sexually assaulted and strangled Karen and Nicola in a woodland den in Wild Park, the judges were told.
He was cleared of their murders in December 1987 but within three years went on to kidnap, molest and throttle a seven-year-old girl.
While serving life for attempted murder, Bishop was ordered to face a fresh trial under the double jeopardy law, after a breakthrough in DNA science.
At the Central Criminal Court, better known as the Old Bailey, jurors convicted Bishop in December 2018 on the 31st anniversary of his acquittal.
The appeal judges heard that Johnson was jailed by Mr Justice Fraser at Lewes Crown Court in May last year after being convicted of perverting the course of justice and making a false statement to police.
Johnson said that she had been “a vulnerable young mother” in an “abusive relationship with Bishop” in the late 1980s.
Lawyers representing her argued that a fair trial had been impossible more than 30 years after the “relevant events” and said that proceedings should have been “stayed”.
They said that the judge’s summing up had been “demonstrably one-sided” – and Johnson had been “denied a fair trial”.
Lawyers also said that Johnson’s “defence of duress” failed “adequately to address” the circumstances of the “violent, coercive and controlling relationship” she had been in with Bishop.
The appeal judges disagreed and refused to give Johnson “leave to appeal”.
jenny johnson deserved all she got and more. a lying, wicked evil woman who knew her partner was a killer of 2 little children, one being my daughter karen, but chose to say nothing. She had 25 yrs or more to tell the truth. 6yrs for what she did perjury, and perverting the course of justice. what an absolute waste of tax payers money bringing this appeal, she should of got a longer sentence for her part. but i will always be a thorn in that evil bitch’s side until i take my last breath and beyond. Her and that murdering peadophile bishop were 2 of a kind there has never been an ounce of decency in that woman,if there was she would of told the truth and prevented another little girl having to go through a horrendous and savage ordeal in 1990. i pray for her own children often, but know their lives have been blighted by this evil pair.
6 years is insufficient
She is a despicable liar who helped a wicked child killer to avoid prison and justice
It also allowed him to attack and almost kill a seven year old girl
She is as guilty as he is and her sentence should reflect that