Michael Stone 'disappointed' after double killer told his case won't be appealed
Jailed Chillenden killer Michael Stone has spoken from prison after a bid to appeal his conviction was blocked - as his barrister threatened legal action.
The prisoner - jailed for the 1996 murder of Dr Lin Russell and her daughter Megan in Kent - has been told his case will not be referred to the Court of Appeal.
The Criminal Case Review Commission made the decision despite claims Milly Dowler killer Levi Bellfield, 54, had penned a signed confession to the hammer attack.
Now Stone’s legal team, led by barrister Mark McDonald, say they could challenge the CCRC in the courts with a judicial review.
Stone was jailed after his trial was told he confessed to drug dealer Damian Daley as the pair were held in adjoining cells at Canterbury prison.
Heroic bystanders chase off attacker who dragged teen through alley to rape her
And Stone has told family he now has to hope that Daley - himself later jailed for life for murder - gets a conscience.
Lin Russell and daughter Megan (PA)
Serial killer Levi Bellfield (PA)Stone told sister Barbara, 61, in a series of calls: “I’m disappointed but not surprised.
“I now have to wait for Damien Daley to get a conscience and explain why he lied about me and what he gained from doing so.”
Barbara said: “I don’t have any faith in the British legal system so I wasn’t that surprised but I’m still devastated.
“They have not even investigated Bellfield and I don’t know why.
“No one seems to be taking what he said seriously while an innocent man remains in prison.
“Damien Daley is the only one who can make a difference.
“They don’t believe Bellfield because they think he’s lying but they believe Damien Daley who has since been convicted of murder. It just doesn’t make sense.
“So Bellfield’s word is not good enough but Daley’s is? I want a full investigation into Bellfield’s confessions.
“I’m horrified that one rule applies to one person and not another. This a huge miscarriage of justice.”
Mum confronts woman who stole flowers from her son's grave on 10th anniversary
Ms Russell, 45, and Megan, six, were found bludgeoned to death in Chillenden, Kent. Ms Russell’s other daughter, Josie, then nine, suffered head injuries.
Michael Stone was jailed for life in 2001 for the murders and is serving three life sentences but has always protested his innocence.
Serial killer Bellfield is serving life for abducting and murdering Milly, 13, in Surrey in 2002.
Last year he claimed responsibility for the so-called Chillenden murders before he retracted his statement.
Michael Stone's sister Barbara (MDM)But in April the Daily Mirror revealed he had handed his solicitor, Theresa Clark, a new confession.
Despite the new revelations, the CCRC said there was “no real possibility”
the Court of Appeal would quash Michael Stone’s convictions.
They also said they had “identified no new evidence or information” in Stone’s case.
But Mr McDonald told the Mirror: “We intend to challenge the CCRC decision on the basis that it’s not fit for purpose.
“The test for referrals to the Court of Appeal is too high.”
He added: “Mr Stone is not resigned - he’s fighting every single day to prove that he’s innocent. He’s done that for the past 25 years.
“But equally when you’ve been in prison for 25 years for a crime you didn’t commit you’ve got to keep hope because if you don’t you would just give up.
“We talk every single day. He said to me, ‘What’s next? What do we do next?’ He’s not going to give up.
“He said to me, ‘Thank God we don’t have the death penalty because I’d be dead now’.”
Stone has already passed his tariff of 25 years but will not confess to the killings so is not eligible for parole.
Barbara, from Gillingham, Kent said: “I don’t think he’s coming out. He’s an innocent man. He’s said he was innocent from day one and he has repeated it numerous times.
“There is no evidence to say he did it.”
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
