Jailed Stone’s release hopes
ONE of Levi Bellfield’s exes says she believes the monster murdered Lin and Megan Russell. Rebecca Wilkinson, mum of four of his daughters, spoke after the jailed serial killer apparently confessed to a fellow inmate. She revealed details of her six-year relationship with Bellfield in the 1990s which she believes link him to the murders that shocked the nation in 1996. Rebecca said: “I’m 99 per cent certain he killed that mum and daughter. “It fits the murders he’s done before. “His level of violence shows he’s capable of it.” Rebecca, 45, of Feltham, South West London, said Bellfield drove a beige Ford Sapphire like the one spotted at the scene in Chillenden, Kent. Bellfield’s alleged confession could lead to a retrial of heroin addict Michael Stone, 57, who claims he was wrongly jailed for murdering the Russells. Lin Russell, 45, daughters Megan, six, and Josie, nine, and their dog were tied up and bludgeoned with a hammer in a country lane. Lin and Megan and the dog died but Josie survived.
Stone’s lawyers claim Bellfield made a “very detailed” confession to convicted rapist Richard Baker in Frankland prison, Co Durham.
Yesterday solicitor Paul Bacon said Stone, who has already served 20 years for the murders, was in “very good spirits” when he spoke to his sister on Wednesday.
He added: “It’s going to take a little while for this to come to a conclusion but he was feeling much more hopeful.
“He has seen a copy of the confession and is satisfied it is quite genuine, as we all are that are involved in this because the detail is such that, frankly, you just couldn’t make it up.
Mr Bacon said Bellfield started confessing to a fellow prisoner when he heard that a two-part documentary on the Russell murders was being shown on BBC2 in the summer.
“He was very worried it might identify him and he had this conversation saying how worried he was and so on. Those conversations continued between the two programmes and after the second programme. It lasted for several weeks and all we did was to keep receiving the information through this chap’s solicitor in pieces. He made a note immediately after the conversations while it was very fresh in his mind and that led to a full detailed confession.
“It’s a waiting game for Michael now but everything is with the Criminal Cases Review Commission. They told us they are pursuing it as quickly as possible.”
Mr Bacon said Stone was in the same prison as Bellfield and had walked past him but failed to recognise him.
“They passed each other in a corridor, maybe a year or two back. Michael told me this, because I asked him, ‘Have you met him?’.
“And he said ‘No, no, no, but we passed each other and I didn’t know who he was until another inmate said, Do you know who you just passed?’” Mr Bacon said Stone had called Bellfield’s claim he had offered him money “complete rubbish”.
Bellfield, who has a new Islamic identity, Yusuf Rahim, is serving life for the hammer murders of two young women and strangling Milly Dowler, 13. He has denied murdering
the Russells.