UK - Lin, 45, & Megan Russell, 6, Chillenden, Kent, 9 July 1996

[Mrs Marple]

We hear they are working on something periodically, and nothing ever comes of it.

 

[callmehenry]

I have always believed he did not commit this crime and one day I hope he gets exonerated

My hill to die on will always be that Michael stone is innocent of these murders and attack. Josie described a man that didn’t fit his description, yet the police arrested him anyway. The whole thing has stank since the beginning if you ask me. The police know they’ve messed up else why would the laces ‘go missing’ and why not retest once they’d found them?! They know that there would be uproar if a man whose been inside for 30+ years is found innocent plus other women and girls could possible have been saved if it turned out to be another well known perpetrator instead, never mind just how inept it would make the police look. I know Michael Stone has done things previously that were wrong but if he didn’t do it then he shouldn’t be inside for it, so the dna should be retested and if his matches then fair enough, but I highly doubt it will

 

[callmehenry]

He was prime suspect in the murder of a former special constable in the 70s.

In the 80s he was arrested for stabbing his best friend (who was asleep) and then tried to blind a police officer.

He has a long record of extremely violent offences. He had been questioned in relation to several other deaths prior to the Russell murders.

So the cynical amongst us might presume that the police had a reason to want him put away, if he did indeed murder one of their own. As for the crimes in the eighties, neither involved women and children and are a long way away from tying up and beating people with hammers. That’s a big jump for anyone imo.

 

[callmehenry]

He was prime suspect in the murder of a former special constable in the 70s.

In the 80s he was arrested for stabbing his best friend (who was asleep) and then tried to blind a police officer.

He has a long record of extremely violent offences. He had been questioned in relation to several other deaths prior to the Russell murders.

I also just want to add that the police officer attack was after the attack on his friend and happened during the course of the officer trying to arrest him for said attack.I’m not condoning it, just pointing out that in the heat of the moment you can put yourself in his shoes and possibly understand how he was trying to evade arrest not just randomly injure someone.
Most of his other prior offences were robbery from banks, building societies and shed/ garages etc. again, not condoning it, just pointing out that none of this fits with tying up a woman and two children and battering them with a hammer. None of it! The police say that as a boy he himself was hit with a hammer (by a parent?) as punishment but that to me sounds like a very tenuous link by the prosecution to make it seem that that was something he would do himself because he’d experienced it. Sounds like some weak evidence to me.

 

[tes1984]

So the cynical amongst us might presume that the police had a reason to want him put away, if he did indeed murder one of their own. As for the crimes in the eighties, neither involved women and children and are a long way away from tying up and beating people with hammers. That’s a big jump for anyone imo.

I agree that the police might have wanted to put him away. He was alleged to have bound and beaten his female partner, and to have carried a hammer in his car.

Everything against him is circumstantial though. Nothing in terms of forensics, which is key these days. Nothing to place him there either.

I would say that MS is a good suspect for these murders, but I certainly wouldn't have convicted him. Whoever the killer turns out to be, I reckon he will share a lot of characteristics with MS, in terms of drugs, mental instability, history of violence etc.

 

[CrackerC119]

If the DNA profile found on the shoelaces didn't match Stone or any Russells then it suggests to me that someone else handed the shoelaces, which given how shoelaces tend to only be touched by a handful of people on a day-to-day basis, I think it would be of paramount importance to identify the DNA holder.

Since my original post on this thread, it seems more information has become available in the public domain that wasn't there before, such as quotes from Barbara Stone and suggestions of abusive behaviour towards Michael Stone's family, from himself and more detailed information, regarding statements from his psychologist. I have read suggestions that M Stone was known to carry a hammer and that he had made very grim threats of violence towards people, including his probation officer in the days leading up to the Russell attacks.

I've also read pieces which suggest that M Stone threatened his sister and his family and that Barbara Stone believes her brother, M Stone killed someone in the 1970s. An alleged ex-girlfriend alleged that M Stone attacked her and that there was a similarity with her injuries to those of the Russells. It is also alleged that M Stone smashed up his sister's car.

However, B Stone seems certain that her brother did not commit the Russell murders and that he wouldn't have acted alone in an attack, which it seems that the Russell murders was a solo attack.

BUT:

• Why did he allegedly burn his clothes after the attack?
• Why did friends notice bloodstaining on his clothes and a change in his behaviour after the date of the attack, e.g. he waited outside a friend's house, instead of coming inside, as he normally did?
• Why do friends seem to claim he knows the Chillenden area, despite his denial of knowing it?

I do still maintain my point that there isn't a strong enough case for Stone to be convicted, though. I maintain my concerns about the lack of Stone's DNA on the shoelace and also the seemingly dubious displacement of said shoelace in police storage. I am mindful of the fact that there was an enormous amount of public pressure to get a name for the perpetrator of these attacks.

 

[Mrs Marple]

My understanding was that the lace disintegrated so could not be tested further and was disposed of. I think that came out more recently.

I agree there isn't really enough evidence based on today's standards but l'm not convinced he is innocent.

 

[CrackerC119]

My understanding was that the lace disintegrated so could not be tested further and was disposed of. I think that came out more recently.

I agree there isn't really enough evidence based on today's standards but l'm not convinced he is innocent.

I am not convinced of his innocence either. The more I read, the more I see how he fits the mould but I just don't think there's enough evidence to have definitively convicted him.

I have both read that the lace had disintegrated from rigorous testing and been misplaced but apparently the lace has been found.