Daily Mirror

MILLY KILLER: I MURDERED LIN AND MEGAN

Lawyer: ‘Bellfield is hammer attacker’

- BY TOM PETTIFOR and AMY-CLARE MARTIN

LEVI Bellfield has allegedly confessed to murdering Lin Russell and her sixyear-old daughter Megan in 1996.

The claim comes from lawyers representi­ng the man jailed for the killings. Bellfield murdered Milly Dowler in 2002.

LEVI Bellfield has allegedly described how and why he committed a double murder that another man is in jail for.

It is claimed killer Bellfield has admitted bludgeonin­g to death Lin Russell, 45, and her six-year-old daughter Megan in 1996.

The two victims – along with Lin’s older daughter Josie – were attacked in a country lane by a man who tied them up, made them sit down, blindfolde­d them and battered them one by one with a claw hammer.

Josie, aged nine at the time, survived despite horrendous injuries.

Lawyers claimed yesterday Bellfield made a cell room confession to a fellow inmate about killing Lin and Megan. Michael Stone, who is serving a life sentence for the murders, is using the fresh informatio­n in a bid to prove he is innocent.

WITNESS

His solicitor Paul Bacon said: “There is now new and compelling evidence which proves he was not responsibl­e for these awful crimes...

“The evidence suggests that the person responsibl­e is Levi Bellfield...

“Bellfield describes how he came across Lin and her two children, how he attacked them with a hammer and his motivation for the killing.

“The confession is detailed and has a number of facts not in the public domain... We have identified forensic material from the scene of the murders which corroborat­es the confession by Levi Bellfield.”

Stone’s legal team added they have a witness who saw Bellfield driving from the murder scene in Chillenden, Kent.

Mr Bacon also told a press conference in Central London yesterday he has submitted the confession to the Criminal Cases Review Commission. Stone’s sister Barbara Stone said: “Although we’ve had our doubts in the past, when he has seen the contents of the new evidence, he is quite confident it’s him [Bellfield] that’s done it.” Bellfield – who murdered 13-year-old Milly Dowler in 2002 – has rubbished the alleged confession. In an audio recording from behind bars, he said the claims are the work of “compulsive liar” Richard Baker.

Bellfield, 49, said: “Such vile, untrue allegation­s don’t warrant a response.

“They are... the words of a lonely... rapist who craves the spotlight.”

His ex-girlfriend Jo Collings, who says she celebrated her 25th birthday with Bellfield on the day of the murders, told the Mirror: “I can categorica­lly say he did not do it.” Stone was convicted in 1998 of murdering Lin and Megan. The conviction­s were quashed in 2001, but he was found guilty again at a retrial.

With a lack of DNA evidence, his conviction hangs on a fellow prisoner Damien Daley, who said Stone confessed through a heating pipe into the next cell in prison.

Mr Bacon said Daley has told “numerous people” he lied to the jury. Bellfield snatched Milly in the street in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, as she walked home from school in 2002.

But he was not found guilty of the abduction and murder until 2011.

In 2008 he had been given a wholelife jail term for the 2003 murder of Marsha McDonnell, 19, and for murdering 22-year-old Amelie Delagrange, 22, in 2004 and the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy, 18, in 2004.

 ??  ?? MOTHER & DAUGHTER Lin and Megan Russell. Insets, Bellfield and Milly Dowler
MOTHER & DAUGHTER Lin and Megan Russell. Insets, Bellfield and Milly Dowler
 ??  ?? Killer Bellfield denies claims SICK THUG – SOLICITOR PAUL BACON
Killer Bellfield denies claims SICK THUG – SOLICITOR PAUL BACON
 ??  ?? Michael Stone seen in 2005 INNOCENT?
Michael Stone seen in 2005 INNOCENT?
 ??  ?? VICTIM Megan, six, died with mum
VICTIM Megan, six, died with mum
 ??  ?? VICTIM Marsha McDonnell was 19
VICTIM Marsha McDonnell was 19
 ??  ?? HOPE Ms Stone has hailed new evidence
HOPE Ms Stone has hailed new evidence
 ??  ?? VICTIM Milly Dowler, killed in 2002
VICTIM Milly Dowler, killed in 2002
 ??  ?? VICTIM Lin Russell died in 1996
VICTIM Lin Russell died in 1996
 ??  ?? SURVIVOR Josie Russell, nine at time
SURVIVOR Josie Russell, nine at time

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