Serial killer Levi Bellfield 'signs letter confessing to notorious double murder of Lin and Megan Russell'

27 April 2023, 00:07 | Updated: 27 April 2023, 07:05

Stone (bottom right) hopes Bellfield's confession will see him freed
Stone (bottom right) hopes Bellfield's confession will see him freed. Picture: Alamy

By Will Taylor

A man jailed for life for murdering a mother and her daughter hopes a new confession from Milly Dowler killer Levi Bellfield will get him released.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

Michael Stone was imprisoned for the hammer attack on Lin and Megan Russell in Chillenden, Kent, in 1996.

The 62-year-old claims Bellfield's confession contains information only the killer could have known.

The details are with the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which has examined Stone's conviction since 2017.

Speaking from maximum security HMP Frankland in County Durham, he said: "I've been in prison for 26 years for a crime I did not commit.

Read more: Serial killer Levi Bellfield 'confesses to murder' of student who disappeared 24 years ago

Listen to LBC on Global Player: Podcasts, news and radio highlights
Listen to LBC on Global Player: Podcasts, news and radio highlights. Picture: Global Player

"I know that he did those murders. He's just revealed some information recently that's come to me through lawyers. It's information that he would only know if he had done it."

Lin Russell, 45, was tied up, blindfolded and beaten with a hammer along with daughters Josie, nine, and Megan, six.

Bellfield reportedly confessed to the hammer murders
Bellfield reportedly confessed to the hammer murders. Picture: Alamy

Josie survived but suffered life-threatening head injuries, though she recovered and makes textile landscapes.

Stone, a former heroin addict with robbery, GBH and assault convictions, was sentenced to life after two trials and he failed to appeal it.

Read more: Double child killer Colin Pitchfork must stay in jail and Levi Bellfield shouldn't get prison wedding, says Keir Starmer

He had allegedly confessed to an inmate while in prison in Canterbury, having been arrested a year after the Russell murders.

He told the Mirror: "[Bellfield's] crimes have hurt a lot of people, not just the people he murdered and their families. Other people have been blamed."

His defence team has submitted a four page written confession from Bellfield, 54, made in February last year.

Lin and Megan Russell were killed in 1996
Lin and Megan Russell were killed in 1996. Picture: Handout

He said he wore bright yellow gloves during the attack and threw the hammer in the Thames. Two witnesses allegedly said they saw him at the scene.

However, Bellfield later denied being involved, and the CCRC later was reported to be on the verge of finding that there was no forensic evidence connecting him to the killings.

The CCRC said: "This case is currently under review and no final decision has yet been reached on the application."

Bellfield, who was jailed for life, killed Milly Dowler, 13, in Surrey in 2002. He also murdered Marsha McDonnell, 19, in west London, and took the life of Amelie Delagrange, 22, a French student, the year after.

He tried to murder Kate Sheedy, 18, in 2004.

Stone was convicted of the Russell murders
Stone was convicted of the Russell murders. Picture: PA

It was reported this week that he has confessed to the murder of Elizabeth Chau, a student who vanished from Ealing, west London, in 1999.

Solicitor Theresa Clark was handed the confession last month. She said: "I have passed it to the police. He is likely to be interviewed under caution."

Stone said: "From my point of view I think [Bellfield has] lived with a lot of stuff...for a long time. I think it's built up and he wants to get it off his chest."

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Breaking
Paul Danan’s death at his Bristol home after taking a cocktail of drugs including cocaine and heroin was misadventure, a coroner has concluded.

Tragic Hollyoaks star Paul Danan 'found dead on sofa with TV still on,' inquest hears

Royal Island in the Bahamas, Caribbean selling for $45,000,000.

This could be you... buying a private island as Euromillions jackpot soars to £185 million

James Williamson mugshot

Alabama man ‘cooked his Chihuahua puppy to death in oven because it wouldn’t stop barking’

Last year, the Giant's Causeway received about 684,000 visits

Giant's Causeway visitors urged not to leave 'damaging' mementos in historic rock formation

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley arrives to make a statement outside New Scotland Yard, central London, after the High Court ruled that the Metropolitan Police cannot dismiss officers by removing their vetting clearance.

Sentencing changes to cost 'hundreds of millions’ in extra policing, Met chief tells LBC

Low section of player crouching with rugby ball on field

New Zealand teen dies in viral 'rugby collision' challenge

Friends are concerned for Hannah's mental health

'Extremely vulnerable' Brit backpacker who vanished in Peru found sleeping on streets after being assaulted by locals

The RSPCA has criticised the streaming service for broadcasting the scene in The Abyss

Disney accused of abusing 'animal-cruelty loophole’ by RSPCA over rat-drowning scene

Exclusive
xx

Devastated parents claim mould-ridden flat contributed to baby's death, as government slammed for Awaab’s Law delays

Drone Threat Hits Home: UK Bases See Intrusions as Ukraine Conflict Highlights Escalating Warfare

Drone war ‘could come to London next’, warns expert after record Russian aerial assault

Thames Water's chief executive Chris Weston appearing before the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, for a hearing on Reforming the water sector, at the House of Commons earlier this month.

'The era of profiting from failure is over': Thames Water slapped with £122.7m fine in biggest penalty in history

Haweswater reservoir in the valley of Mardale, Cumbria pictured last week, as the is UK set to record its driest, warmest spring in over a century.

Global temperatures set to rise above 1.5C threshold over next five years

THAILAND PATTAYA MARKET THAI FOOD

Cardiovascular disease rates in Southeast Asia soar by 148% in 30 years according to latest figures

File photo dated 03/02/22 of an online energy bill. The energy price cap will fall by 7% from July 1 for a typical household in England, Scotland and Wales, Ofgem has said. Issue date: Friday May 23, 2025.

Energy companies ordered to pay out £70 million in compensation over forced meter fittings

A young caucasian man in pajamas in bed about to take some blue pills from a brown bottle

Urgent warning after two die in London taking ‘blue pills’

Doctor working with medical imaging and technology to provide accurate diagnosis.

New study reveals the childhood cancers which take the longest to diagnose