JOSIE RUSSELL
Aged just nine she was left for dead in the sickening hammer attack in which her mum and sister Lin and Megan Russell were murdered on a sunny country lane.
Now 22 years on, Josie Russell’s smile shows she is at peace as she and her fiance plan their future in the home she once shared with the tragic pair.
Josie, now 31, survived with horrific head injuries after killer Michael Stone bound and blindfolded the young girls and their mum and bludgeoned them with a claw hammer.
He had pounced on them as they walked with their dog Lucy in Chillenden, Kent, in 1996.
It was just a year after the family had moved from the much-loved cottage in Snowdonia which Josie and fiance Iwan Griffith are now making their home.
Josie said: “I feel like I’ve always lived in that house. I remember playing in the garden and things like that.
“We’re just making it how we want it to be now, a little bit more updated, because it’s a very old house.”
The family first settled in the house in 1991 when Josie was three, but sold it in 1995 when they moved to Kent. After the tragedy, dad Shaun took Josie back to the same valley to help her recover from her horrendous ordeal.
Josie went on to study at university in nearby Caernarfon in 2005 where she met Iwan, now 32 – who she reveals knew nothing of her past.
She said: “We didn’t really talk about anything. We just carried on with life. We went out and did normal teenage stuff.”
In 2010 Josie used compensation from the Criminal Injuries Board and cash from a trust fund to buy back the house where she and Iwan are making a home.
The bedroom that mum Lin decorated for her when she was a little girl has now become a studio for talented textile designer Josie.
Her creativity was one of the comforts that helped her through the trauma.
She said: “I’ve always liked artwork, even when I was little I used to do crafts.
“I’ve done arts and crafts for quite a long time and just carried on with it. I love working with textiles.”
Josie said the work keeps her “really, really busy” and helps prevent her dwelling on the horror of her past. She