"New DNA Breakthrough Could Crack Case of Lin and Megan Russell's Brutal Murders"

MICHAEL Stone is serving three life sentences for the savage hammer murders of Lin and Megan Russell – but a fresh DNA probe could change that.

, now 66, was locked up after Lin, 45, and her six-year-old daughter were found tragically bludgeoned to death in Chillenden, , on July 9 1996.

Michael Stone is serving three life sentences for the Chillenden murders Credit: PA:Press Association Lin Russell with Josie (left) and Megan picnicking in Snowdonia a year before the brutal attack Credit: Russell Family – Sunday Times

The mum was walking her daughters Megan, six, and Josie, nine, home from a gala when they were dragged into a copse, tied up and beaten by a hammer-wielding killer.

Police found the victims later that night in a woodland less than half a mile from their home in Kent.

Lin and Megan were sadly pronounced dead at the scene, having suffered catastrophic head injuries while Josie miraculously survived and was rushed to hospital.

was eventually able to describe the murderer – but cops struggled to find a suspect, sparking one of the biggest manhunts in British .

Lin Russell and her daughter Megan Credit: PA Stone’s legal team believe the DNA testing will prove his innocence Credit: Reuters

Stone, a heroin user with a history of violence, was identified by his psychiatrist after they saw an e-fit of the suspect on Crimewatch a year after the horrific attack.

Stone, then 37, had no alibi and couldn’t remember what he was doing at the time of the murder – but no evidence put him at the scene, and Josie didn’t pick him out of a line up.

Stone, of Gillingham, Kent, has always proclaimed his innocence.

Now, he will be visited by an investigator the Criminal Cases Commission (CCRC), on Thursday – the 30th anniversary of the murders – to try and prove it, The Times reports.

Police officers at the scene in Chillenden, Kent Credit: PA:Press Association Serial killer Levi Bellfield has reportedly confessed to Lin and Megan’s murders Credit: PA

A sample of Stone’s saliva will be taken as part of which is able to isolate male DNA even when the sample is a mixture of the female victim and an unknown man.

Stone’s legal team believe that if the DNA of another man is found and identified it would prove his innocence and catch the real killer.

It’s this same advance in testing that saw exonerated after serving 17 years for a he did not commit.

The new scientist on the case wants to test samples from a bloodstained shoelace used to tie Lin’s wrists and tapings from the victims’ bodies as they have not been tested since 1996.

The CCRC rejected Stone’s appeal case in 2010 but are looking into his application made in 2017.

The same year, Levi Bellfield, a serial killer responsible for the murder of Milly Dowler, – but later retracted his statement.

Since then, Bellfield has reportedly written a detailed confession of the Chillenden murders after speaking to psychologists.

In April 2023, lawyers acting for Stone claimed that Bellfield had written and signed a fresh confession to the murder.

Bellfield was given a whole-life term for murdering , 19, in 2003, murdering Amelie Delagrange, 22, and trying to murder Kate Sheedy, 18, in 2004.

He was already serving time when he was found , who was snatched from the street walking home from school in Surrey, in March 2002.

However, the CCRC has said Bellfield’s claims were not credible as he has made false confessions to other notorious crimes.

Mark McDonald, Stone’s barrister, said: “Michael Stone has been in custody for 29 years for a murder he did not commit. He is innocent.

“But the very body designed to look to his case has procrastinated, delayed and failed to do the most basic examinations they promised to do.

“It has been eight years since we put in the application to refer the matter back to the based on compelling evidence, it has been nearly three years since they promised to make forensic testing a priority and, as of today, not one test has been done and it would seem not one exhibit has been obtained.”

A CCRC spokesman said: “It is important to get a forensic strategy in order to determine what should be tested and in what order, as clearly the applicant’s lawyers agree since they too have obtained a forensic strategy.

“The application has not been with the CCRC for eight years. A decision not to refer the case for an appeal was made in July 2023.

“It is two and a half years since a fresh review was commenced in November 2023 and considerable work has been done not only on forensic aspects of the application but on the several other aspects of the application which Mr Stone’s lawyers wished to be investigated.

“The applicant’s forensic scientist had the exhibits over a period of seven months of that time to prepare a forensic strategy and the CCRC’s forensic scientists took 10 months to prepare one.”

This comes after survivor from the deaths of her mum and sister.

The school faces closure because of a drastic drop in pupil numbers.
spent several years at Ysgol Baladeulyn, in Nantlle, Gwynedd both before and after the brutal attacks.

She told The Sun on Sunday: “It will be very sad to see it not used as a school any more.”