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A serial killer has agreed to provide a DNA sample following his claim that he was responsible for the murders of a mother and her daughter three decades ago. The victims, Lin Russell, aged 45, and her six-year-old daughter Megan, were discovered dead in Chillenden, Kent, on 9 July 1996. Megan’s sister, Josie Russell, who was nine at the time, survived the attack but suffered severe head injuries.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is revisiting the case after Levi Bellfield, a convicted serial killer, reportedly confessed to the killings. Previously, the CCRC had obtained a fresh DNA sample from Michael Stone, who was convicted for these crimes and is serving three life sentences. Now, they have confirmed plans to collect a DNA sample from Bellfield as part of the ongoing review.
Michael Stone has been twice convicted for the murders of Lin and Megan, as well as the attempted murder of Josie. After the tragic events, Josie and her father moved back to Dyffryn Nantlle, Gwynedd, the area they had left just months prior to the attack; Josie now works as an artist. Stone has consistently maintained his innocence throughout. In 2022, Bellfield provided a detailed four-page statement admitting to the murders, evidence that was shared with Stone’s solicitor, Paul Bacon. Bacon expressed optimism, stating, “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.”
The murders involved Lin and her daughters being confronted while walking along a rural road in Kent, where they were bound, blindfolded, and struck with a claw hammer. The case prompted an extensive manhunt and attracted widespread media coverage. Stone was initially found guilty in 1998, then again in 2001 after a Court of Appeal ruling voided his first conviction due to unreliable witness testimony. Applications for case reviews and judicial reviews were unsuccessful in 2010 and 2011.
Levi Bellfield, born on 17 May 1968 in Isleworth, London, lost his father to leukaemia when he was ten years old. He grew up in the Hounslow, Hanworth, and Feltham areas of southwest London. Bellfield is known for killing 13-year-old Milly Dowler in 2002, as well as Marsha McDonnell in 2003 and Amelie Delagrange in 2004, and for the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy, who survived. The Dowler family described Bellfield as “truly heinous” given the brutal nature of his crimes. Bellfield has also faced charges related to assaults on other girls and young women
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