The former partner of Babes in the Wood killer Russell Bishop was a ‘prolific liar’ who was ‘at the heart’ of inventing the alibi which kept him out of prison, a court heard.
Bishop murdered nine-year-old friends Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows in 1986 in a case which became known as the Babes in the Wood.
Jennifer Johnson, now 55, admits she lied under oath at his first trial in 1987.
He was freed and tried to murder another seven-year-old girl in 1990.
Bishop was serving a life sentence for the second attack when he was finally convicted of the Babes in the Wood murders after a double jeopardy retrial in 2018.
New DNA techniques linked him to the murder through a blue sweatshirt.
Jennifer Johnson, now 55 (left), admits she lied under oath at Russell Bishop’s (right) first trial in 1987
Ms Johnson first told police the jumper was his then denied it in the witness box.
Alison Morgan QC for the prosecution told the court Ms Johnson knew the significance of the jumper and kept up her support for Bishop even after he was jailed for life.
Ms Morgan told her: ‘You are a prolific liar and you lie when you chose to lie.
‘You lied to protect your position and you lied to protect Russell Bishop. Nobody made you do it, you chose to do it.’
Ms Johnson said: ‘No, I did not.’
New forensic techniques led to Bishop’s conviction over the murders of nine-year-olds Nicola Fellows (left) and Karen Hadaway (right) in 2018 – and he was jailed for life with a minimum term of 36 years
Pictured: A blue Pinto sweatshirt, allegedly worn by Russell Bishop and said to contain vital DNA evidence, which was found beside a path behind Moulsecoomb railway station
Ms Morgan told her: ‘You are now so confused over the lies you’ve told, you don’t even know what the truth is now.
‘You lied to secure the acquittal of Russell Bishop, didn’t you.’
‘No, I did not,’ Ms Johnson said.
Ms Johnson denies perverting the course of justice and perjury.
She told Lewes Crown Court despite admitting she was never threatened and could not remember any details, she was in fear of her life.
In an intense exchange, Ms Morgan challenged Ms Johnson about her evidence at the first trial.
Johnson (pictured under a coat outside Lewes Crown Court) – who had three children with Bishop – claims she had no choice due to violent and controlling relationship
‘Russell Bishop is acquitted and you know from that moment on that you have lied on oath in a trial that resulted in him being acquitted,’ Ms Morgan said.
‘I had no choice,’ Ms Johnson said.
‘You knew,’ Ms Morgan said.
‘I had no choice.’
‘You knew,’ Ms Morgan said.
‘I had no choice,’ Ms Johnson said.
‘From the moment you walked out of that courtroom, you knew you had lied on oath,’ Ms Morgan said.
‘Yes,’ Ms Johnson said.
‘From the moment he was acquitted, you carried with you the knowledge you had lied on oath about a key part of the evidence,’ Ms Morgan said.
‘No,’ Ms Johnson replied.
‘You knew that you had lied about the key exhibit,’ Ms Morgan said.
‘I had no choice,’ Ms Johnson said.
Ms Morgan accused Ms Johnson of being at the heart of keeping Russell Bishop out of prison.
Alison Morgan told her: ‘It’s not about threats or duress.
‘It’s about you being absolutely besotted with him and doing whatever you could do to have him acquitted,’ Ms Morgan said.
‘You were right at the heart of all of the little pieces of the evidence.’
‘No,’ Ms Johnson said.
Ms Johnson insisted she could not remember the details of what happened around the time the father of three of her children murdered the friends and attempted to murder a third girl.
She told the jury: ‘It was 35 years ago, you can’t expect me to remember, it’s too long ago.’
The court heard Ms Johnson went to Brighton police when Bishop was arrested in 1986 to change her story after telling friend Sonia Maskell he was not at home the night the girls disappeared.
Ms Morgan told her: ‘This crucial time period became a problem, didn’t it?
‘The reason why you were at the police station was because you told Sonia that when you got home Russell Bishop wasn’t there and you didn’t see him till the next morning,’ Ms Morgan said.
‘If I said that 35 years ago, I can’t remember,’ Ms Johnson said.
‘It was crucial, it meant Russell Bishop did not have an alibi for the murders and you knew that and that is why you went to try and explain away the conversation you had with Sonia.
‘The panic was you realised what you said to Sonia meant he did not have an alibi for the night the girls were murdered,’ Ms Morgan said.
‘No, I can’t remember. If I said that, I must’ve said it,’ Ms Johnson said.
‘I can’t remember that far back.’
During her third day in the witness box, Ms Johnson admitted no member of Russell Bishop’s family had ever threatened her with violence.
Ms Johnson admitted physically and verbally abusing police who came to speak to Bishop after another young girl disappeared in 1990.
‘I was angry, yes, because they came to my house yet again,’ Ms Johnson said.
‘Yes, I was mad that they came to my house yet again, turned my life upside down yet again.
‘Because he was acquitted, so in my eyes he was innocent.
‘I know he was violent to me but I wouldn’t think any normal person would do that to children.
‘So if he was innocent of the first one, they were trying to frame him for the second one.
‘I was fed up with the police coming to my property,’ Ms Johnson told the court.
Jennifer Johnson denies perverting the course of justice and perjury.
The trial at Lewes Crown Court continues.