Michael Stone, who is serving life sentences for the murders of Lin Russell and her six-year-old daughter Megan in 1996, provided a fresh DNA sample on Thursday, July 9, 2026 — exactly 30 years after the crime. This development could pave the way for his conviction to be overturned, according to the Mirror.
Background of the Murders
The murders occurred on July 9, 1996, after Megan and her nine-year-old sister Josie attended a swimming gala. Their mother Lin, 45, and the family's white terrier Lucy picked them up from school in the Kent village of Goodnestone. The family had recently moved to the area from Gwynedd, Wales. They took a shortcut through cornfields and a small wood toward Nonington, where they lived with the girls' father, Shaun.
At approximately 4:25 p.m., a man passed them in a car, got out, and approached carrying a hammer. He forced them into a small clearing, tied them up, and subjected them to a sustained, severe, repeated, and vicious assault. The terrier Lucy was also beaten to death. Lin and Megan were left lying on their backs a few feet apart, while Josie was blindfolded and tied to a tree. No money or belongings were stolen, and forensic experts found no evidence of a sexual motive.
The Aftermath and Josie's Survival
Shaun raised the alarm when he returned home from work and found the house empty. Police discovered the shocking scene later that night. Initially, they thought Josie was dead, but an hour later she was seen to move and was rushed to hospital. Miraculously, she survived nine hours after the attack. Emergency surgery saved her life, but a large amount of damaged brain tissue was removed, leaving her with some intellectual impairment, as Stone's trial later heard.
Detectives initially struggled to find evidence linking a suspect to the crime. Extensive forensic work failed to produce fingerprints, DNA, or other clues. On the first anniversary of the murders, Jill Dando fronted a BBC Crimewatch appeal that included a reconstruction of the attack.
Stone's Arrest and Trial
Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Philip Sugarman contacted the programme to say that an E-fit likeness of a driver seen in the area looking angry and agitated resembled Stone — a man he had treated. Stone had mental health issues, a serious heroin addiction, and multiple convictions over 16 years for escalating violence. He was known locally as Mad Mick the Hammer Man because he had been jailed for two years in 1981 for a robbery in which he attacked a man with a hammer.
Stone's former girlfriend, Rachael Marcroft, said he used to beat her repeatedly and was scary and brutal, though she did not believe he had committed the murders. The case against Stone relied on dubious prison confession evidence from three inmates who had been in jail with him while he was on remand. After three days of deliberations, a 10-to-two majority jury convicted Stone on all charges. He yelled out: "I didn't do it, Your Honour. It wasn't me."
Appeals and Ongoing Doubts
The conviction was quashed a year later after a fellow inmate, a perjurer and police informant, retracted his evidence, and another was found to have taken money from a newspaper. Three appeal court judges ordered a retrial. In 2001, a second jury convicted Stone, again by a 10-to-two majority, and he was jailed for life. However, doubts persist decades later. There was no forensic evidence, and the motive for the attack remains unclear.
Fresh DNA Analysis
A Criminal Cases Review Commission spokesman said: "We are exploring all of the possibilities the application raises to determine whether Mr. Stone may have suffered a miscarriage of justice. Our test for referring a case is that there is a real possibility that the Court of Appeal would overturn his conviction."
The fresh DNA sample taken on the 30th anniversary is a critical step in this process. If the sample yields new evidence, it could lead to a referral to the Court of Appeal and potentially exonerate Stone after three decades behind bars.
