A Lingering Doubt: Michael Stone and the Russell Murders
In October 1998, Michael Stone, a 38-year-old career criminal was convicted of the brutal murders of Lin and Megan Russell in Kent, England. Decades later, questions about his guilt remain
Background
From an early age, Michael Stone seemed destined for prison. After an abusive and tumultuous childhood, Stone dropped out of school and drifted into a life of drug addiction and petty crime. As his addiction worsened, his crimes became more violent and his mental health deteriorated.
Stone himself would admit that he was unable to control his violent temper, and over the years, his drug-fueled crimes and fits of rage landed him in prison numerous times throughout his life.
He has also been a suspect in several unsolved homicides, yet it was the crime for which he is currently serving life in prison, the savage attack of a mother and her two daughters in 1996, that is perhaps the most controversial.
A Troubled Start
Michael Stone was born Michael John Goodban in the town of Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent on June 7, 1960. From the start, his life lacked stability. Both Ivor Goodban, his registered father, and Peter Stone, whose last name he would adopt, denied that he was their son.
His early life was marred by abuse and domestic violence, and when he was about eight years old, his mother, Jean, sent him to a children’s care home in Canterbury, near the village of Chillenden, Kent.
These early experiences made Stone a troubled and disruptive child, and as a result, he was frequently moved to different homes. His angry and aggressive outbursts would continue and only get worse as he got older.
Stone would frequently run away and hitchhike, though he would usually return to the care home. At a young age, he looked up to and hung around with older boys and began using drugs. It was also around this time that he began having regular interactions with the police, a pattern that would continue throughout his life.
Around age 16, Stone left the care system and also dropped out of school. With little education and a growing heroin addiction, Stone entered into a life of crime.
A Life of Crime
To support his drug habit, Stone turned to burglary and theft, often breaking into sheds and stealing lawnmowers and other tools that he could sell. As his addiction worsened, he resorted to increasingly violent crimes, including muggings and armed robberies. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Stone served time in prison for assaulting a man with a hammer during a robbery, stabbing a man, attacking a police officer, and committing two armed robberies.
He was also arrested for assaulting a former girlfriend, but the charges were later dropped when she refused to testify. He was also a suspect in the murder of a man named Francis Jegou, who had been robbed and stabbed to death in Maidstone in 1976. Stone was 16 at the time, and the murder occurred close to where he was staying. He is alleged to have later admitted his guilt to a psychiatrist.
Stone was questioned about the crime, but never charged due to a lack of evidence. Though Stone’s sister, Barbara, believes that he is innocent of the murders for which he is currently locked up, she did say that she believed he was responsible for the murder of Jegou, and that he came to her shortly after the killing and asked her to hide a knife. He was also suspected of intentionally pushing a friend who had fallen under a London train as he stood next to Stone.
In addition to his criminality, Stone had a documented history of severe mental illness. He had been committed to a psychiatric hospital where he was diagnosed with a psychopathic disorder. He was also reportedly banned from most of the pubs around Medway for fighting and disorderly behavior.
Murders of Lin and Megan Russell
At around 4 p.m. on the afternoon of July 9, 1996, 45-year-old Lin Russell arrived at Goodnestone Primary School in Chillenden, Kent, to pick up her two daughters, six-year-old Megan and nine-year-old Josie, from a swimming gala. Lin, Megan, and Josie, along with their family dog, Lucy, then began their walk home through the countryside.
Approximately twenty minutes later, they passed a beige parked car on Cherry Garden Lane. A man then got out of the car, brandishing a hammer and demanding money. Lin told the man that she didn’t have any money with her, but said she could go home and get some.
The man then struck Lin with the hammer. Lin screamed for Josie to run, and as she attempted to flee, the attacker chased her down and dragged her back to the small copse by the footpath. He then bound and blindfolded all three of them with strips from the girls’ swimming towels and bludgeoned them all with the hammer in a frenzied attack.
Lin, Megan, and Lucy were all killed in the attack, while Josie was left with severe injuries. Lin’s husband, Shaun, arrived home that afternoon, and as the hours passed with no word from his wife or daughters, he grew increasingly worried. At around 9 p.m. that night, Shaun called the police. A search team with dogs combed the area and discovered the bodies around midnight. Josie, who was clinging to life, was rushed to the hospital.
Investigation
After Shaun was told the horrible news, he was able to visit Josie in the hospital before being interviewed by the police and quickly cleared of any involvement. Three days after the murders, on July 12, a bag containing the towel strips was found in some hedges near the crime scene.
In late August, Josie was discharged after spending more than six weeks in the hospital. In March 1997, details of the crime were made public in an attempt to solicit information from the public. Multiple witnesses reported seeing a beige car driven by a white man near the scene of the killings. Josie Russell’s description of the attacker was a white man in his 20s, about 5ft 11’ with spikey blonde or brown hair.
In July 1997, the story was featured on the British television series Crimewatch. The day after the broadcast, police received a call from a psychiatrist who told them that the e-fit composite resembled one of his patients, Michael Stone.
When the police talked to the caller and other medical personnel who treated Stone, they were told of Stone’s violent and aggressive threats and fantasies, which included murdering his probation officer, killing people and their families, and killing children.
Arrest and Trial
Stone was arrested in July and held until his trial in October 1998. He was charged with the murders of Lin and Megan Russell. From the beginning, the case against him was entirely circumstantial. There was no forensic evidence or witnesses that linked him to the crime.
The killer had left a bloody fingerprint on Josie’s lunchbox, and several hairs were also found that did not belong to the victims. A black bootlace that was smeared with blood was also left at the scene. This evidence, as well as the bloodstained towel strips recovered near the scene, was tested using the techniques available at the time, and no links to Stone were found.
On the first day of Stone’s trial, the prosecutor for the Maidstone Crown Court told the jury: “I will tell you straight away there is no scientific evidence to link Stone to the scene.” The prosecution argued that the bootlace found at the scene was the type of item an addict would use to inject heroin. It was argued that Stone’s drug addiction was the motive for the attempted robbery and subsequent murders.
The prosecution’s case hinged on the testimony of Damien Daley, an inmate who was locked up with Stone while awaiting trial. Daley testified that Stone confessed to him about the murders, a claim which Stone vehemently denied. Daley’s charges of arson and grievous bodily harm were dropped in exchange for his cooperation.
Two other witnesses, Mark Jennings and Barry Thompson, both convicted criminals, also testified that Stone confessed to them about the murders while they were locked up. A fourth witness, Sheree Batt, testified that she had seen Stone wearing bloodstained clothes on the day of the murders. Stone, who was a habitual drug user, was unable to produce an alibi or account for his whereabouts that day.
On October 23, 1998, after more than 15 hours of deliberation over two days, Michael Stone was found guilty of the murders of Lin and Megan Russell and the attempted murder of Josie Russell.
Appeal and Second Trial
Stone’s conviction was quashed when it was learned that one of the witnesses, Barry Thompson, admitted to lying on the witness stand. It also came out that another witness, Mark Jennings, had been paid £5,000 by The Sun newspaper before he had given evidence. Damien Daley admitted to lying about his drug use while on the stand, but maintained that Stone had confessed to him.
Also, Jean Batt, the mother of Sheree Batt accussed her daughter of lying to the jury and that the day she saw Stone with the bloody clothes was actually July 26, and not July 9, the day of the murders.
Following these revelations, a retrial was ordered in 2001, during which Stone was once again found guilty and given three life sentences with a tariff of 25 years.
Lingering Doubt
Since his arrest, Michael Stone has consistently maintained his innocence. According to his sister, he has been approached by the parole board; however, he is unwilling to consider it because he views accepting parole as an admission of guilt.
Stone’s attorney, Mark McDonald, appealed the conviction again in 2005 on the basis that Daley’s testimony was unreliable and self-serving. This appeal was rejected. It has been noted that neither Daley, Jennings, or Thompson offered any details during their testimonies that were not already available in the newspapers.
The witnesses also described a beige car, which Stone did not own. And though he did bear some resemblance to the e-fit composite, he was considerably older and shorter than the man described by Josie Russell.
There has also been speculation that the murders were committed by convicted serial killer Levi Bellfield. Bellfield, who is serving life in prison for murder, confessed to the Russell murders in 2022 but later retracted his confession. Police believe that Bellfield is either lying in order to play mind games or was offered some sort of payment.
Over the years, Stone’s legal team has continually petitioned the Criminal Cases Review Commission to refer his case to the Court of Appeal. Thus far, they have been unsuccessful. However, according to a January 2026 article from the BBC, the CCRC is currently reviewing an application.
A spokesperson said, “It would be inappropriate for us to discuss the case or make any further comment while the application is being reviewed.”
Closing Thoughts
It is important not to lose sight of the fact that the true victims in the case are the members of the Russell family. Shaun, who lost his wife and daughter, and Josie, who lost her mother and sister and nearly her own life, are left with the trauma and memories of that horrible day nearly 30 years ago.
Whether he is guilty or not, it was Michael Stone’s lifestyle of drug use and violent criminality that put him in a situation where his fate rested in the hands of other convicted criminals.
Yet one chilling question remains: if Michael Stone didn’t kill Lin and Megan Russell, who did?
Sources:
Kale, Sirin. “The Russell murders: is Michael Stone in prison for a brutal crime he didn’t commit?” The Guardian, 22 November 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/nov/22/russell-murders-is-michael-stone-in-prison-for-brutal-crime-he-didnt-commit
Ferguson, Angela & Harrison, Holly. “Forensic evidence to be re-examined in Lin and Megan Russell murders.” BBC, 20 January 2026, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gvj604e32o
Milmo, Cahal. “Step-by-step account of the walk to death.” The Birmingham Post, 24 October 1998, https://www.newspapers.com/image/849928559/?match=1&terms=lin%20russell%20
Frith, Maxine. “Nonentity who became a murderer.” The Birmingham Post, 24 October 1998, https://www.newspapers.com/image/849928559/?match=1&terms=lin%20russell%20
McGowan, Patrick. “I’m innocent, says man accused of Lin and Megan murders.” The Evening Standard, 21 October 1997, https://www.newspapers.com/image/723109531/?match=1&terms=lin%20russell%20
Morris Steven & Gillan Audrey. “Michael Stone to be retried.” The Guardian, 9 February 2001, https://www.newspapers.com/image/259591819/?match=1&terms=michael%20stone
Rayner, Gordon. “Russell killings ‘point to Bellfield’.” The Daily Telegraph, 25 June 2011, https://www.newspapers.com/image/754132160/?match=1&terms=michael%20stone
Given the beige car, aggregate analysis indicates it Michael Stone and Levi Bellfield committed the crimes together and the witness did not get a good look at the attackers, thus thinking it was only one. Michael Stone refused to engage in rape and since serial killers and rapists are about power rather than sex, Levi Bellfield reluctantly agreed: the victims would be tortured and killed and serial killers do not rape constantly.