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The serial killer Levi Bellfield will have his DNA taken in an attempt to establish if he murdered Lin and Megan Russell in ۱۹۹۶.
Michael Stone has protested his innocence since his conviction in ۱۹۹۸ for the killing of Lin, ۴۵, and her daughter, six-year-old Megan, as well as a vicious attack on Megan’s sister Josie, nine, who survived.
The DNA samples will be taken by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which is investigating if Stone was wrongly convicted after Bellfield claimed he was the real killer.
The tests follow advances in DNA science which may allow previously unidentified male genetic material left at the scene where the Russell murders took place to be linked to an individual.
The CCRC said in a statement: “We intend to obtain a sample from Mr Bellfield. No date has been set for this.”
Bellfield is serving whole-life tariffs in HMP Frankland for the murders of ۱۳-year-old Milly Dowler in March ۲۰۰۲; ۱۹-year-old Marsha McDonnell in February ۲۰۰۳; and ۲۲-year-old Amélie Delagrange in August ۲۰۰۴. He was also convicted of the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy in May ۲۰۰۴.
Bellfield’s solicitor, Theresa Clark, said: “I’m sure he’d agree to the DNA test. He’s going to cooperate.”
As part of Stone’s application to the CCRC, his DNA was taken by investigators on Thursday. Karen Todner, a solicitor for Stone, said: “There’s a whole range of things that can be done now.”
Exhibits from the original crime scene that are still available include part of what is believed to be a shoe lace the attacker used to bind his victims, as well as sticks. Todner said a lunchbox in which a bloody finger print was found at the scene has now been lost.
Todner said DNA testing previously available had shown two categories of male DNA at the murder scene. Some could be identified as belonging to Lin’s husband, Shaun, but other male DNA remained unidentified.
“There is male DNA on some of the items,” she said. “New techniques possibly allows this to be matched to a person.”
Stone’s application to the CCRC names another suspect for the murder other than Bellfield. A key witness against Stone, and his supporters say the only evidence, came from Damien Daly, who claimed Stone had confessed to him in prison.
Daly was later convicted of a separate murder. Todner said: “The only evidence against him is from a person serving life for murder and whom the jury in that case disbelieved. There is nothing else against Michael Stone.”
Lin Russel and her daughters were attacked with a claw hammer before being bound and blindfolded in Chillenden in Kent in ۱۹۹۶. Josie was left seriously injured.
There is doubt about the credibility of Bellfield and his confessions to further crimes. He has also admitted to at least six other attacks on women in London and Surrey where the victims survived in a document given to the governor at HMP Frankland, and which was sent to police.
The serial killer also said he had abducted and murdered Elizabeth Chau, who disappeared from a west London street in ۱۹۹۹, and who has never been found. The Met disbelieved Bellfield’s confession in that case and refused to dig up a spot in west London where he said he had buried the body.
Bellfield has confessed to the Russell murders, retracted his admission, and then confessed again.
Stone’s original convictions were overturned, only for another jury to convict him again. The CCRC has been heavily criticised for failings, including in the Andrew Malkinson case, wrongly imprisoned for ۱۷ years for a rape for which someone else has now been convicted.
