IT WAS probably the most brutal murders of the previous few a long time. In July 1996, when Lin Russell and her six-year-old daughter Megan had been crushed to demise with a hammer, in a rustic lane in east Kent, the nation was shocked to its core. Lin’s different daughter Josie, 9, was additionally attacked, however miraculously survived. Now, the barrister of the person convicted of killing Lin and Megan is taking the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) to court docket for failing to green-light an enchantment that might acquit his consumer of homicide.
The CCRC, which is chargeable for investigating alleged miscarriages of justice, insisted in July there was “no real possibility” the Court of Appeal would quash Michael Stone’s convictions – regardless of imprisoned serial killer Levi Bellfield admitting he bludgeoned the mom and daughter to demise in Chillenden, Kent.
But Stone’s barrister Mark McDonald has informed the Daily Express he'll go to “the High Court to immediately transfer the case to the Court of Appeal”.
He claims that the CCRC had refused to behave, regardless of it being given detailed details about a brand new witness and forensic check that might present enough grounds for a brand new enchantment.
The statutory physique mentioned in July: “We have identified no credible new evidence or information that raises a real possibility that Mr Stone’s conviction would not be upheld upon a reference to the Court of Appeal.”
Shaun Russell, with spouse Lin and daughters Megan (second left) and Josie at an Italian restaurant (Image: Family handout)
But Mr McDonald plans to write down to the CCRC this week informing it of his actions. He will then lodge a proper utility with the High Court by the tip of September.
“There’s now a significant amount of evidence that another person has committed this crime and, of course, it’s up to the Court of Appeal to decide whether or not the conviction of Michael Stone is safe or not,” he informed the Express.
Stone, 62, is serving three life sentences for the murders of Lin, 45, and Megan, and the tried homicide of Josie, who suffered extreme head accidents within the appalling hammer assault.
The savagery and randomness of the violence inflicted upon the defenceless mom and her two ladies after they crossed a meadow and walked down a bucolic nation lane appeared incomprehensible on the time.
Locals had been terrified to go away their houses within the days and weeks afterwards.
Stone was apprehended a 12 months after the murders however has all the time acknowledged his innocence, though he has a historical past of violent offences and served jail phrases for a separate stabbing and hammer assault. His unique conviction hinged on three cell confessions from different inmates whereas he was awaiting trial.
Two of those have since been disproved, and no DNA proof has ever linked him to the crime scene, the place the household was brutally tied up earlier than being battered.
Mr McDonald obtained a prolonged signed confession from Levi Bellfield in April, certainly one of a number of, after he confessed to the killings in a dialog with a jail psychologist.
He mentioned: “From Bellfield, we have pages of detailed evidence as to what he did, how he did it, who he hit first, whom he killed first, where he put the bodies, how he put [sic] the bodies, what was said, what was done, what he used to tie them up. It’s literally the complete detail of a murder that he did.”
Serial Killer Levi Bellfield has admitted to killing Lin and Megan Russell (Image: Police handout)
Sadistic Bellfield is a convicted serial killer. He is serving two life sentences for murdering Milly Dowler, 13, in 2002, Marsha McDonnell, 19, in 2003, and Amelie Delagrange, 22, in 2004, plus the tried homicide of Kate Sheedy, 18, in 2004.
He is claimed to have confessed to additional brutal murders and assaults on ladies however he has been accused of losing police time in some situations.
Last 12 months, Bellfied signed a four-page settlement to Stone’s solicitor, Paul Bacon, admitting to the murders of Lin and Megan with particulars solely the killer would know.
He spoke on the situation particulars could be shared solely with the CCRC and later retracted his confession after the knowledge discovered its method to the media.
His ex-wife Johanna Collings claimed there was “no way” Bellfield might have dedicated the murders as he was along with her at a birthday celebration that very same day in Twickenham.
But Mr McDonald says: “Bellfield has said she’s mistaken, she’s simply wrong.
They wouldn’t go out and celebrate a birthday on a Tuesday night. They went out on a Saturday night. In fact, he was working that night as a bouncer.”
He added that Bellfield has “made us sign an agreement with him that we will not go to the newspapers at all about anything he has said until this matter has come before the CCRC, so he’s not after publicity for this. He’s got nothing to gain from this at all. There are things that I can’t go into detail about, which the CCRC knows about”.
The barrister has beforehand referred to as the statutory physique “not fit for purpose” and mentioned it had “effectively put the burden upon Michael Stone to prove that Bellfield has committed the crime”.
He is talking at present forward of the discharge of a three-part Sky documentary The Russell Murders: Who Killed Lin & Megan? which re-examines the case.
It focuses in painstaking element on the minimal police proof Stone was convicted on at his unique trial in 1998, within the lead-up to Bellfield’s latest confession.
“The documentary shows the collapsing of the evidence against Stone and the dynamics moving towards Bellfield in relation to his confession and evidence relating to the murder,” says Mr McDonald.
Lin and Megan Russell (Image: Family handout)
Stone and his authorized workforce wish to forensically re-examine gadgets from the crime scene – together with a shoelace, plus a bloodstained towel, string bag and opened lunch field – utilizing a brand new type of testing referred to as Y-STR, which particularly targets the male Y chromosome.
Only minute strands of DNA had been collected and, on the time, they had been thought of too small to be examined as potential matches with recognized criminals.
Mr McDonald believes Y-STR testing ought to give investigators the power both to incriminate Stone or exonerate him.
Jim Fraser, who was head of forensic investigations for Kent Police throughout the preliminary investigation, mentioned hairs, fibres, blood, shoe marks and “just about every kind of forensic evidence imaginable was looked for in the crime scene”.
The solely exception to this, he added, was contact DNA, which is transferred by pores and skin cells of objects instantly touched. But even that, he says, is a sophisticated course of. “The likelihood of finding a yes or no answer here is slim,” he maintains.
Stone’s legal professionals have argued {that a} bootlace, which is believed to have been used to strangle one of many victims, needs to be retested.
Mr Fraser insists the potential homicide weapon accommodates “a single DNA component, which is found commonly in the population and nothing else.”
He added: “The bottom line is there’s effectively no evidence to connect anybody to that crime scene, whether it’s Bellfield or Stone or anybody else.”
But Mr McDonald believes Kent Police “missed” essential DNA checks. He additionally claims to know of a brand new eyewitness who “recognised Bellfield near the scene in a car” and who has by no means been interviewed by Kent Police.
Michael Stone's lawyer Mark McDonald is preventing to clear his consumer's title (Image: PA)
The different query, after all, is why Josie Russell, now 36, has by no means been referred to as upon to determine Bellfield as her attacker.
The one ray of sunshine from the horrible occasions is the outstanding restoration of this courageous younger lady. Her head accidents had been initially thought of so extreme, and her trauma so deep, docs didn’t know if she would ever communicate once more.
Defying the percentages, she made a full restoration due to the love and care of her father, Shaun Russell. Today, she works as a textile artist and is engaged to be married. She lives within the Welsh house she as soon as shared along with her mom and sister.
She didn't decide Michael Stone because the killer in an id parade following his arrest. Yet to Mr McDonald’s data, the CCRC has not requested to interview Josie about Levi Bellfield.
When requested if he's assured that Stone could be acquitted, he mentioned: “I wouldn’t be taking them to court if I wasn’t confident I would succeed.”
The Russell Murders: Who Killed Lin And Megan? airs on Sky Documentaries and NOW from September 16
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