Josie Russell: 20 years on from the hammer horror attack
After surviving catastrophic head injuries from the hammer attack that killed her mother and sister, Josie Russell truly is…
It was a crime like none in living memory for those who lived in the beautiful countryside of Chillenden, Kent. And now, nearly 21 years on, the details are still shocking. A woman, her two daughters and dog were tied up, blindfolded and brutally beaten with a hammer.
Because of their shattered skulls, police assumed, unsurprisingly, that their bodies were too battered to have survived.
But then, a miracle occurred. Because, despite her appalling appearance, the elder daughter, Josie, had a pulse. Against all odds, she survived – and now, more than two decades on, she is doing better than ever. But the memories of the attack that robbed her of her mum and sister will never leave her.
‘If I say, “I’m thinking about the future all the time and I think positively”, it doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about the past,’ said 30-year-old Josie. ‘I do think about it, and think
of the happy memories and things, but I don’t like thinking about it too much.’
On 9 July 1996, Lin Russell was walking her two young daughters, Josie, then nine, and Megan, six, home from school after a swimming gala, with their little dog, Lucy. The three were crossing a field when a man holding a hammer stopped them and demanded money.
Lin, 45, told him that she didn’t have any, as she’d left her purse and handbag at home. But he decided this wasn’t good enough.
He then marched the trio into the woods, where he ripped up Josie’s swimming towel, used it to blindfold them, and then tied them up.
Josie, terrified, asked the man what he was going to do next, and he replied he was going to leave them there and that it would be easy for them to get free of their bindings.
So it’s not known why he then attacked Lin with the hammer, but in court Josie said that she remembered hearing her mum shouting out, then gasping and having difficulty breathing.
She was hit at least 15 times – so severely that her skull fractured and her brain was all but severed.
When Josie tried to stand up and free herself, the man turned on her. Once he believed he’d killed her, too, he attacked Megan, and finally the dog.
It wasn’t until their father, Shaun Russell, returned home from work and realised his family were missing that the police – and local hospitals – were informed.
It took eight hours for the police to find their bodies and, believing they were all dead, they sealed off the scene. It was only when a doctor arrived, an hour later, that they discovered Josie was still alive, albeit only just.
Emergency surgery saved her life, but her recovery was to take a long time. For nine months, she was unable to speak. But as early as September, she told her father via sign language that she had some memories of the attack.
One of the biggest manhunts in British police history began, and hundreds of men were questioned as officers tried to work out who could have committed such a horrific crime.
In July 1997, a year after the attack, their attention turned to Michael Stone, after a man in the neighbouring village reported his motor mower being stolen. He saw a car drive off and he noted down the make and colour. Stone owned an identical car at that time.
The 37-year-old heroin addict had been known to police since he was a child.
He’d started stealing from shops at just 12 years old, then moved onto burglary and armed robbery. He’d previously attacked people with crowbars and hammers.
Although the evidence was just circumstantial, Stone was arrested, charged and held in custody. And it was there that he confessed to Damian Daley, a man in the neighbouring cell, giving details that only the killer would know.
The defence claimed that Daley was a liar, and Stone pleaded not guilty, but was convicted in October 1998 and jailed for life. Despite him later losing an appeal, both he and his family still maintain his innocence. His sister, Barbara, believes British serial killer Levi Bellfield, who was convicted of the murder of Milly Dowler among others, may be the real culprit.
‘ We are pinning our hopes on advances in DNA technology,’ she said. ‘I’m not saying Bellfield is the killer, but we need to test his DNA against that found at the scene. Advances in technology could lead to something.
‘There was no DNA evidence at the scene to put my brother there, and even the e-fit issued at the time looks like Bellfield.’
The Russell family had moved to Kent from Wales a year before the attack and, shortly afterwards, Shaun decided to move back.
‘Josie’s old teachers got in touch and said I should bring her home so that they could look after us and help get Josie back on her feet,’ said Shaun. ‘I found a cottage a stone’s throw from our old house. Tucking ourselves away in the middle of the Welsh mountains, where we would be surrounded by people who cared for us, meant she could heal in a place that held only happy memories.’
Although it was feared that her injuries would lead to longterm mental development problems, Josie graduated from Coleg Menai in Bangor with a degree in graphic design in 2009, and is now an artist who both displays and sells her work. The bright, successful woman is a far cry from the battered girl who no one expected to survive.
‘I used to get people saying, “You are so brave, Josie”,’ she revealed. ‘I don’t understand why they said that, because I haven’t done anything that brave, really; I just got better.’
She continued, ‘Now people say to me that I’m a famous artist. I’m not a famous artist; I’m just an artist making my way in life. Still, I definitely like them saying that rather than, “You’re the little girl from the papers.”’
‘She could heal in a place that held only happy memories’