Serial killer to give DNA sample after claiming he murdered mum and daughter 30 years ago

Serial killer to give DNA sample after claiming he murdered mum and daughter 30 years ago

ByCatriona Aitken

BBC Wales

A DNA sample will be taken from a serial killer who has claimed he is responsible for the murders of a mother and daughter 30 years ago.

The bodies of 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.

Now, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is re-examining evidence after serial killer Levi Bellfield reportedly admitted the murders.

It previously said it had taken a fresh DNA sample from Michael Stone - the man convicted of killing the pair, who is serving three life prison sentences.

It has now confirmed a sample will also be taken from Bellfield.

Stone has twice been found guilty of the murders of Lin and Megan and the attempted murder of Josie .

Following the murders, Josie and her father returned to live in Dyffryn Nantlle, Gwynedd, where they had moved from just a few months before the murders, and where she now works as an artist.

Stone has always protested his innocence.

In 2022, Stone's solicitor Paul Bacon said he had received a four-page statement, written by Bellfield, which admitted to and detailed the killings.

Last week, Bacon said he was "very hopeful" the CCRC review and Stone's 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.

A CCRC spokesperson said: "We intend to obtain a sample from Mr Bellfield. No date has been set for this."

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

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.

Bellfield was born on 17 May 1968 in Isleworth, London. He had two brothers and two sisters, and when he was 10 his father died from leukaemia.

In court in 2008, Bellfield said he had spent his entire life in the Hounslow, Hanworth and Feltham areas of south-west London.

Bellfield murdered 13-year-old Milly Dowler when she was walking home in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, in 2002, as well as Marsha McDonnell, 19, in 2003, and 22-year-old Amelie Delagrange in 2004. He also tried to kill Kate Sheedy, 18, who survived.

The Dowler family described Bellfield as "truly heinous" as they released details of how he raped, tortured and strangled the schoolgirl.

He has also previously been charged in connection with attacks on other girls and young women.