A YORK woman whose nine-year-old niece was murdered by a paedophile killer is calling for people to join her in a show of solidarity in the city.

Gillian Chambers's niece, Nicola Fellows, and her best friend, Karen Hadaway, ten, were abducted in Brighton in 1986 and found sexually assaulted and strangled in a park, in a case dubbed the "Babes in the Woods" murders.

Child molester Russell Bishop, who has been in York District Hospital awaiting a heart operation, was cleared of killing the pair in 1987. He was jailed for life three years later for snatching a seven-year-old girl and subjecting her to an horrific sex attack before leaving her for dead at a Brighton beauty spot.

In the wake of the murders of Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, Mrs Chambers, of Acomb, has mounted a campaign to call for a public debate and referendum on resurrecting the death penalty for child sex killers. She accepts that not everyone will back her life-for-a-life call, but hopes her family's fight will help bring about some change in the law to protect children from paedophiles.

To bolster this campaign she wants supporters to come carrying teddy bears for a walk around the Eye of York next to Clifford's Tower at 2.30pm on Sunday, September 15.

She said: "I want people to carry teddy bears in memory of all the children who have been murdered. Teddy bears symbolise the innocence of children and, because they are one of the first things parents buy for them, they also symbolise the protection that parents want to give their children.

"I want as many people as possible to join me for the walk to show the strength of feeling that there is out there. Nothing has been done since Nicola's murder to stop families having to go through the pain and heartache that our family went through. We need to stop this now."

Mrs Chambers would like anyone who wants to support the event in any way to phone her on 01904 330667.

Since the Evening Press told of her family's fight for a change in the law, she has received about 60 calls from people across the country who support her campaign, which calls on people to start petitions calling for a debate and referendum on reinstating the death penalty for child killers.

Mrs Chambers's brother, Ian Heffron, who lives in Wales, is organising a similar walk there on September 22 and another brother, Nigel Heffron, is planning a similar event in Brighton on October 9 - the 17th anniversary of Nicola's death.

Updated: 11:26 Monday, September 02, 2002