Hammer killer Michael Stone refused new appeal
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
Hammer killer Michael Stone was refused a new appeal over his conviction for the murders of Lin and Megan Russell, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) said today.
Stone is serving three life sentences and has been told he must serve at least 25 years in jail over the 1996 attacks in Chillenden, Kent.
The CCRC said: "After a detailed and painstaking investigation we have identified nothing which justifies referring the case for a new appeal."
Stone was originally found guilty in 1998 of killing Dr Russell, 45, and her daughter Megan, six, and the attempted murder of Megan's sister, Josie, in Chillenden, near Canterbury, Kent.
Those convictions were quashed in February 2001 by three appeal judges and a retrial was ordered.
In October 2001, Stone was again convicted after a trial at Nottingham Crown Court, and his three life sentences were re-imposed.
He has always protested his innocence but the trial judge Mr Justice Royce described his crimes as "truly appalling offences" and stressed that there were some cases where it was unlikely that an offender would ever be released.
Today, rejecting his bid for a new appeal, a spokesman for the CCRC said: "In Mr Stone's case we have not found any new evidence or new argument that we consider capable of raising a real possibility that the conviction would be quashed."
He said its investigation "included a substantial amount of fresh forensic testing on material from the crime scene" and "carefully considered all the submissions" made by Mr Stone and his team before reaching the final decision not to refer in this case".
Stone appealed again against his convictions in 2005, claiming he did not receive a fair trial and was framed by another prisoner, but his challenge was rejected.
Josie, who was nine at the time of the attack, was found with massive head injuries in a copse in Chillenden, next to the bodies of her mother, sister and the family dog, Lucy.
She miraculously survived and was later able to tell police officers what she could remember about the attack.
The murders happened as the family walked home from school along a country lane in July 1996.
Mr Justice Royce said that Stone, a heroin addict, had numerous convictions from an early age for offences of burglary and theft and there were also convictions for robbery and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
One of his previous convictions involved an attack by him with a hammer.