Michael Stone's lawyer: Levi Bellfield admitted to Russell murders

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Michael Stone is serving life sentences for the murders of the mum and daughter, who were found bludgeoned to death in Kent in July 1996. Lin’s other daughter, Josie, then nine, suffered severe head injuries in the attack. The potentially vital clue was recently recovered after it had been lost by police for 14 years. DNA testing on the lace could “undoubtedly point away” from Stone, said his lawyer. It could also remove any doubt that he is the killer.

Lin, 45, and Megan, six, were murdered in Chillenden, Kent, as they walked home following a swimming gala.

Stone, now 60, was arrested in 1997 and was jailed for life the following year after two prisoners told how he confessed to them. Three years later, he stood trial for a second time after one of the convicts retracted his statement. He was convicted again and a later application for an appeal was rejected.

Stone’s file is now being considered by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).

His legal team believes advances in DNA technology will prove vital in their bid to get his conviction referred back to the Court of Appeal.

Barrister Mark McDonald claimed yesterday that Stone was made a “scapegoat” and that the real killer is still free.

He said: “My message is simple: Michael Stone is innocent of this crime which means that the real

person who committed this crime is still at large.

“We have got to find the person who committed this awful crime and make sure we lock him up.”

Fragments of the lace were tested for “genetic fingerprints” around the time of the murder investigation.

But the science was in its infancy and there were no firm results.

The testing process reduced the size of the lace. The 80cm remnant was discovered last year. 

Mr McDonald said there is “no forensic, no identification evidence at all” against Stone.

The bootlace could yield DNA that would point the finger at someone else, he added.

The lawyer added: “This is huge. It’s absolutely huge.”

Mr McDonald described the jailing of Stone as “the biggest miscarriage of justice since the Birmingham Six.”

He was referring to the six Irishmen wrongly convicted of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings.

Det Chief Supt Paul Fotheringham of Kent Police said: “We are engaged with the CCRC and have been providing them with all the relevant information and evidence required in relation to the case.

“Much like a live investigation, it would not be appropriate at this stage of the review to disclose the nature of the materials provided.”

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