A man serving life in jail for murdering a mother and daughter hopes a new confession to the crime by the serial killer Levi Bellfield will lead to a new police investigation.
Bellfield’s solicitor has said her client is “adamant” he is responsible for the murders of Lin Russell, 45, and her daughter Megan, five, in Kent, in July 1996 – and feels he needs to “take responsibility” for the killings.
Michael Stone is serving three life sentences for the murders – and the attempted murder of nine-year-old Josie Russell – but has always maintained his innocence.
Stone’s solicitor, Paul Bacon, has said Bellfield’s new signed confession should spur the police on to “investigate these crimes afresh” after his client’s 26 years in jail.
“It must have taken some courage and considerable soul-searching by Levi Bellfield to have written and signed this confession,” Bacon said in a statement on Thursday. “It will, hopefully, bring closure to the families involved. Now, the police need to respond and investigate these crimes afresh, to affect closure for these families.”
Bellfield has already been convicted of three murders: 13-year-old Milly Dowler in March 2002; Marsha McDonnell, 19, in February 2003; and Amélie Delagrange, 22, in August 2004. He was also convicted of the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy in May 2004.
His solicitor has said he has confessed to the killing of Lin and Megan Russell after engaging with prison psychologists. He first claimed responsibility for the murders last year before later retracting his statement.
Bellfield’s solicitor, Theresa Clark, told the BBC: “At the end of the day, the instruction from my client is clear. He’s adamant that he did it. My client says ‘I did it, I need to take responsibility for what I’ve done’.”
The confession is believed to have been referred to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Stone was eligible for parole in July last year but refused to apply because he maintains he is innocent. A heroin addict, Stone was arrested a year after the Russell murders on unrelated charges of burglary and robbery. But he had a long list of convictions, including using a hammer to rob and cause grievous bodily harm.
Asked about the latest development, Kent police referred to a previous statement made by the force, where it said its position on Stone’s conviction remains unchanged.
Earlier this week, the family of a 19-year-old woman whom Bellfield claims to have murdered two decades ago accused the Metropolitan police of failing to take the case seriously because of their race and the alleged victim’s gender.
Bellfield has made a signed and written confession to the kidnap, rape, assault and murder of the university student Elizabeth Chau, who disappeared from a west London street in 1999, his solicitor confirmed.