Fresh DNA samples taken from jailed man 30 years after murder of mother and child

New DNA samples will be taken from a man jailed for a double murder, exactly 30 years after a mother and daughter were beaten to death.

The bodies of Dr Lin Russell, 45, and her daughter Megan, six, were found in Chillenden, Kent, on 9 July, 1996. Megan's sister Josie Russell, then nine, was left for dead with severe head injuries.

Following the murders, Josie returned with her father to live in Gwynedd, where she works as an artist.

Michael Stone is serving three life prison sentences, but the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is re-examining evidence after serial killer Levi Bellfield reportedly admitted the murders.

The DNA will be taken from Stone on Thursday.

Stone's solicitor, Paul Bacon, said he was "very hopeful" the CCRC review and DNA test "will eventually lead to the real culprit being found".

"We hope then to be able to bring Michael before the Court of Appeal and for him to regain his freedom after all these years of incarceration," he said.

Lin Russell and her young daughters were accosted as they walked along a country lane before being bound, blindfolded and bludgeoned with a claw hammer.

They had moved to the area from Dyffryn Nantlle, Gwynedd, a few months before.

On the day of the murders, Dr Shaun Russell was told that he had lost his whole family.

It was only when a policeman at the scene noticed Josie move that he realised she had survived the attack.

The killings sparked a huge manhunt and drew media attention from around the world.

Stone was first found guilty of two counts of murder and one of attempted murder in 1998 and again in 2001, after the Court of Appeal quashed his conviction due to doubts over a prosecution witness.

An application to the CCRC was rejected in 2010 and an attempt to seek a judicial review of the decision also failed in 2011.

But Stone and his legal team continued to maintain his innocence.

In 2021 Stone's team said a shoelace found at the scene could provide DNA evidence in their bid to overturn his conviction.

They said no DNA belonging to their client had been found on key exhibits in recent tests, including the lace.

In 2023, the CCRC confirmed Stone's convictions were to be reviewed.

That decision came after serial killer Levi Bellfield - whose victims include schoolgirl Milly Dowler - was reported to have confessed to the crimes.

Bone, who has represented Stone for 20 years, welcomed the CCRC's ongoing forensics investigations and said "high quality DNA from Michael will help them in their investigation".

He confirmed Stone was due to be visited on Thursday - the 30th anniversary of the murders.

Former Metropolitan Police officer Colin Sutton, who helped put Levi Bellfield behind bars behind bars, said he "cannot see a way he committed these murders".

"I think he has built this story up from time spent in prison alongside Michael Stone," he said.

Following Shaun and Josie Russell's return to Dyffryn Nantlle, Josie learned to talk again.

She works as an artist and has previously said she did not know "if we could have done it all without the mountains. Wales has given me so many ideas".

She attended a bilingual primary school, Ysgol Baladeulyn, which has just six pupils and faces the threat of closure this year.

Last month, Josie posted a link to an online petition to save the school on social media, and also shared a picture of her in the yard in 1995 - the year before her family moved to Kent.

"Please help save the primary school where I have so many happy memories from when I was a child," she wrote.

The CCRC said its ongoing review was "exploring all of the possibilities the application raises to determine whether Mr Stone may have suffered a miscarriage of justice".

"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," it said.

"Our test for referring a case is that there is a real possibility that the Court of Appeal would overturn his conviction, a test which was not met in any of the earlier applications.

"It would be inappropriate for us to make any further comment while the application is being reviewed."

Thirty years later, residents in Chillenden say they can never forget the killings.

"Not a year goes past that we don't think of and remember the pain that family must still live with," said a woman who wanted to known as Sally.

"The anniversary will be hard to live with; the scars from that day still don't feel healed locally."