Levi Bellfield to have DNA test in connection with Lin and Megan Russell murders | Criminal Cases Review Commission
Serial killer Levi Bellfield’s DNA will be taken to determine whether he killed Lin and Megan Russell in 1996.
Michael Stone has protested his innocence since his conviction in 1998 for the murders of Lin, 45, and her six-year-old daughter Megan, as well as the brutal attack on Megan’s surviving nine-year-old sister Josie.
DNA samples will be taken by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which is investigating whether Stone was wrongly convicted after Bellfield claimed he was the real killer.
The tests follow advances in DNA science that may allow previously unidentified male genetic material to be linked to a person at the scene of the Russell murders.
In a statement, the CCRC said: “We plan to collect a sample from Mr Bellfield. No date has been set for this.”
Bellfield imposes a life tariff for the murder of 13-year-old Milly Dowler at HMP Frankland in March 2002; Marsha McDonnell, 19, in February 2003; and Amélie Delagrange, 22, in August 2004. He was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy in May 2004.
Bellfield’s lawyer, Theresa Clark, said: “I am confident he will agree to DNA testing. He will cooperate.”
Stone’s DNA was taken by investigators on Thursday as part of his application to the CCRC. Karen Todner, one of Stone’s lawyers, said: “There’s a wide range of things that can be done now.”
Exhibits found at the original crime scene that still exist include sticks and a piece of what is believed to be a shoelace that the attacker used to tie his victims. The lunchbox, which contained a bloody fingerprint at the scene, is now missing, Todner said.
Previously available DNA tests showed two categories of male DNA at the murder scene, Todner said. While some could be identified as belonging to Lin’s husband Shaun, other male DNA could not be identified.
“There is male DNA on some of the items,” he said. “New techniques probably allow this to be matched with a person.”
In Stone’s application to the CCRC, it is stated that there is another suspect other than Bellfield in connection with the murder. He is a key witness against Stone, and his supporters say the only evidence comes from Damien Daly, who claims Stone confessed to him in prison.
Daly was was later convicted a separate murder. Todner said: “The only evidence against him is from a man who was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and whom the jury in this case did not believe. 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, Kent, in 1996. Josie was seriously injured.
There are doubts about Bellfield’s credibility and his confessions to other crimes. In a document given to the governor of HMP Frankland and sent to police, he also admitted carrying out at least six further attacks on women in London and Surrey, of which the victims survived.
The serial killer also said he kidnapped and murdered Elizabeth Chau, who disappeared from a west London street in 1999 and was never found. The Met did not believe Bellfield’s confession in the case and refused to dig up the spot in West London where he said he buried the body.
Bellfield confessed to the Russell murders, retracted his confession, and then confessed again.
Stone’s initial convictions were overturned, but another jury convicted him again. The CCRC has been heavily criticized for its failings, including the case of Andrew Malkinson, who was wrongly sentenced to 17 years in prison for a rape for which another has now been convicted.
