Bootlace found at murder scene could nail Levi Bellfield

A bootlace could be used to nail Levi Bellfield after the serial killer said he used it to tie Lin Russell’s hands before bludgeoning her and daughter Megan to death – as police say a DNA test could confirm his claims.

Michael Stone is currently serving three life sentences for the murders of Lin, 45, and Megan, six, in the picturesque village of Chillenden, Kent, 26 years ago. 

However, in a harrowing four-page statement, Bellfield formally confessed to the murders, providing chilling details of the attack.

Solicitors for Stone, who was also convicted of the attempted murder of nine-year-old Josie Russell, say the ‘astonishing breakthrough’ could free their client.

‘Fragments’ of DNA were found on a bootlace which had been missing for 14 years until it was found in police storage, The Sun reports.

The lace could match Bellfield and several other men, but scientists have not yet been able to establish a link, it is understood.

Tests are currently being carried out on the bootlace, 99cm in length, which contains traces of blood from both murder victims. 

The evidence was found close to the bodies and it was originally claimed by prosecutors to have been consistent with being used as a tourniquet by a junkie.

However, no forensic link was found between the lace and Stone, an ex-heroin addict, who would have used his teeth to fix the tourniquet.

Stone’s solicitor said he has received a ‘genuine’ four-page statement from Bellfield in which he details his involvement in the killings, which would mean his client had suffered a miscarriage of justice.  

Bellfield, 53, is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of schoolgirl Millie Dowler. 

He has also been convicted of murdering Marsha McDonnell and Amélie Delagrange and the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy, and will never be considered for parole. Bellfield is thought to be the only criminal in UK legal history to be serving two whole-life orders.

He is being held in the vulnerable prisoners’ unit within HMP Frankland in Durham – where Stone is on the main wing.  

Lin and her two daughters, Josie and Megan, as well as their dog Lucy, were tied up and savagely beaten with a hammer in the brutal attack. Only Josie survived, sustaining horrific injuries.  

Solicitor Paul Bacon said: ‘I can say I have received a four-page statement from Bellfield, which is a genuine confession, it’s an absolutely astonishing breakthrough.

‘I will now meet with colleagues following this remarkable development to finally, after many years, get freedom for Michael Stone. This is the evidence that will prove he is innocent.’

Michael Stone has consistently insisted his innocence, and Bellfield’s statement could mean he has suffered a miscarriage of justice.

Stone was jailed in 1998 after being convicted of the murders.

However, his police record dates back to 1971 when he was 12 years old and continued into his adult life, serving three prison sentences in the 1980s and 1990s.

Stone has previous convictions for crimes including ABH, robbery, burglary and GBH and was known to carry weapons. 

He was sentenced to two years’ in prison in 1981 for attacking a man with a hammer during a robbery.

He then received a four-and-a-half year sentence for stabbing a friend while he slept in 1983, an attack that penetrated the friend’s lung and nearly killed him, and he tried to wound a police officer in the eye after this arrest. 

Stone was jailed for a third time and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for two armed robberies in Maidstone and Brighton respectively during the same week in 1986.

He was released from prison in 1993. 

The confession document, seen by The Sun, goes into appalling detailing about how Bellfield brutally attacked the family and even killed the family dog after it bit him.

Barrister Mark McDonald said on Twitter yesterday: ‘For over 21 years I have represented Michael Stone who was wrongly convicted of the Chillenden murders.

‘Levi Belfield has made a full written confession to the crimes. Michael Stone is innocent and must be immediately released from prison. 

‘Stone has been in prison for 26 years despite plenty of evidence that this is a miscarriage of justice.’

Bellfield’s statement says that he was wearing a ‘pair of marigold washing up gloves’ and had the hammer in his right hand as he stopped the Russell family walking along a lane.

He claims that his intention was ‘to just attack Lin’, but quickly changed his mind on hearing the screams, presumably of Megan and Josie Russell.

The 14-paragraph statement then goes into detail about how he led the Russell off of a track before killing them, and then driving back to his Twickenham home before heading off to work.

He claims that the following day he threw the hammer he used to carry out the attacks into the Thames near Walton, Surrey. 

The publication reports that Bellfield made the statement to solicitor Paul Bacon, who represents Michael Stone.

He ends the statement by saying it was the first time he had ‘committed a crime and another person has been arrested for it’, before apologising to Stone and the Russell family ‘for my heinous acts’. 

It is believed the document has been sent to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) which has the power to investigate alleged miscarriages of justice. 

Last year, Mr McDonald said a bootlace found at the scene could be an ‘absolutely huge’ and crucial piece of evidence.

He said there is ‘no forensic, no identification evidence at all’ against Stone, and said the bootlace could yield DNA that would ‘undoubtedly point away’ from his client.

Kent Police said its position on Stone’s conviction remains unchanged.

Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Fotheringham of Kent Police said: ‘Following two trials at which Stone was found guilty by a jury on both occasions, and an appeal to the High Court, Michael Stone remains convicted of the murders of Lin and Megan Russell, and the attempted murder of Josie Russell in 1996.  

‘Michael Stone made an application to apply for a Judicial Review in respect of his conviction in September 2012. 

The Honourable Mr Justice Blake ordered that permission for the application should be refused.

‘The Criminal Case Review Commission commenced an extensive re-examination of the murder investigation in 2017 and has had access to all forensic evidence, documentation and exhibits from the original investigation, the review by Hampshire Police, details of the two Crown Court trials and appeals to the High Court.

‘The shoelace which was seized as part of the original investigation was made available to the CCRC. 

‘All evidence from the examinations on the shoelace were recorded and disclosed to the CCRC.’