The prosecution openly admitted that there was precious little evidence against Michael Stone (see BBC News 19 Oct 98), and its case resolved around alleged confessions made by Stone to a fellow prisoner whilst he was on remand (see BBC News 27 Oct 98 and BBC News 26 Oct 98).

On 6 February 2001 Michael Stone won his appeal - see Guardian articles: Key witnesses were police informants / 'I told the jury a pack of lies' / Stone wins appeal.

See also:
Appeal Court judgement

On 8 February 2001 the court of appeal then quashed his convictions and ordered that he be held on bail pending a retrial - see BBC News 'Stone to face retrial' and from the Times 'Fair trial impossible, argue lawyers'

Update:
At his retrial at Nottingham Crown Court in October 2001 Michael Stone was again convicted of the murders by a 10-2 majority. He continues to protest his innocence.

See also:
In-depth article at Scandals in Justice - Michael Stone

The man jailed for life in 1998 for killing Lin Russell and her daughter Megan in a country lane is to face a retrial.

At a hearing in London on Thursday morning, three Court of Appeal judges quashed Michael Stone's conviction but ordered him to stand trial again.

Lord Justice Kennedy, sitting with Mr Justice Maurice Kay and Mrs Justice Hallett refused to accept the defence's claims that Stone could not receive a fair second trial.

Stone's defence counsel, William Clegg QC, argued that the huge amount of negative publicity surrounding the case meant it would be impossible for him to get justice.

But prosecution lawyer Nigel Sweeney QC said any jury in England was able to be directed by a judge to disregard what they had seen on the television or read in the press.

After listening to legal submissions for most of the day the judges took just five minutes to make their decision.

No application for bail was made and Stone was remanded in custody.

Lord Justice Kennedy said: "For reasons which we will give in full at a later date, probably Wednesday next week, this appeal will be allowed and there will be an order for re-trial."

Following the decision Michael Stone's sister, Barbara, who has campaigned for his release since his conviction, said: "At least he has got a chance to prove his innocence now and we are thrilled to bits that his conviction has been quashed."

The judges announced on Tuesday they were "minded to allow" Stone's appeal against his conviction after doubts arose about a key witness at his trial, Barry Thompson.

Stone, from Gillingham in Kent, was jailed for life for the murders of 45-year-old Lin Russell from north Wales, her six-year-old daughter Megan, and the attempted murder of her other daughter Josie, nine.

The family were attacked as they walked home from school in Chillenden, near Canterbury, Kent on 9 July 1996.

Mrs Russell and her youngest daughter were bludgeoned to death with a hammer but Josie, although left for dead, survived and has made a miraculous recovery.

Josie, and her father Dr Shaun Russell, have since moved back to north Wales.

Stone has always protested his innocence. The court ordered that he should be rearraigned within two months.

The retrial is unlikely to be in Kent and not before September this year.

A Kent Police spokeswoman said: "In light of there being a retrial we will not be making any comment about today's hearing."

Michael Stone may yet not face a retrial. The fresh hearing ordered by the Court of Appeal yesterday will go ahead only if the new trial judge decides at the time that a fair hearing is still possible.

There were more than four hours of legal submissions yesterday over whether the nature of the publicity that followed Mr Stone's original conviction would prevent him receiving a fair retrial.

William Clegg, QC, for the appellant, said: “Michael Stone can't now receive a fair trial, such has been the wealth of prejudicial material adverse to him and inadmissible in any criminal trial.

“No jury could try his case fairly, and any conviction resulting would inevitably be unsafe.”

Mr Nigel Sweeney, QC, for the Crown, said: “We invest juries who try cases with good sense, good judgment and an ability within the trial to put out of their minds anything they might have heard before.”

The man accused of the murder of Lin Russell and her daughter Megan, and the attempted murder of Josie Russell, was told that the guilty verdicts at his trial in October 1998 were now considered to be unsafe. Argument by his defence team that he should be freed were rejected by the court.

Lord Justice Kennedy, sitting with Mrs Justice Hallet and Mr Justice Kay, said that they would give their reasons for overturning the conviction, and for not releasing Mr Stone, at a hearing to be held next week.

Mr Stone, 40, was accused of battering to death Mrs Russell, 45, and Megan, 6, as they walked along a country lane near Chillenden, Kent, on their way home from primary school in July 1996. Josie, then aged nine, was left for dead but has since made some recovery.

Mr Stone, unemployed, from Gillingham, Kent, was convicted after a trial at Maidstone Crown Court and given three life sentences. His retrial is expected to take place at the Old Bailey in the summer.

Mr Stone, a pale and stocky figure in a white polo shirt and dark trousers gazed around a packed courtroom on the second day of his appeal. He will remain in custody until his trial. If the trial judge believes that media publicity surrounding the high-profile case jeopardises the chances of a fair trial, then Mr Stone will be freed.

His sister Barbara, speaking on the steps of the High Court in London, said: “Michael Stone is very pleased that his convictions have been quashed and is looking forward to prove his innocence at the retrial.

“As the case is now sub judice, we will make no further comment.”

Josie's father, Dr Shaun Russell, was informed of the court's decision by a Kent Police officer who has been staying at the family's new home in the Nantlle Valley, Gwynedd.

The Court of Appeal uses the yardstick of the “interests of justice” in considering whether to order retrials.

Before the Criminal Appeal Act 1988, it could order a retrial only on the basis of “fresh evidence” presented at the appeal. This was widely criticised as “too restrictive” in a series of cases which later turned out to be miscarriages of justice.

The 1988 Act broadened the test so that a retrial can be ordered “where it appears to the court that the interests of justice so require”.

Appeal judges take account of factors such as the gravity of the charge, the evidence and also the length of time since the offence.

They may order a retrial for the same offence which they have already quashed, another offence on the indictment or an offence which was put as alternative but which the jury did not have to reach a verdict on because of the conviction.

Retrials may be ordered despite the rule that offenders cannot be tried twice for the same offence. That rule, known as the “double jeopardy” principle, applies only where an offender has been acquitted and not where he has been convicted.

The rule is currently under review by the Law Commission, the law reform body for England and Wales, which is expected soon to recommend a relaxation under strictly defined circumstances.

The Government is expected to back such proposals which are also supported by the Conservatives. In cases of murder, for instance, this could mean that an offender could be tried a second time if compelling new evidence - such as DNA material - came to light.

The Law Commission is also looking at stronger prosecution rights of appeal against a judge's rulings that there is “no case to answer”.

Retrials can be and are regularly ordered by the Court of Appeal where the original conviction is not regarded as “safe” .

Sheila Bowler, a music teacher from Rye, Sussex, was finally cleared in 1998 of murdering her aunt. Juries are told to put out of their minds anything they may have read and consider only the evidence before them.

Equally the Court of Appeal has ruled the media publicity can prejudice the right to a fair trial.

In 1991, the court allowed an appeal against conviction by the two sisters, Michele and Lisa Taylor, convicted of murdering Alison Shaughnessy, a bank clerk.

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Copyright
Michael Stone
RN2980
H M Prison
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Criminal who claimed Michael Stone admitted Russell killings says he never expected his story to lead to conviction

When Barry Thompson told police what he thought was a silly little story about Michael Stone, he never expected to hear from them again, let alone appear as a key witness in a murder trial.

But when he got into the witness box, Thompson assumed the swagger of a man comfortable with the surroundings of a crown court. As he gave evidence his manner was casual, his answers sharp, and he would have no truck with suggestions that he was a liar. He had no reason to make anything up, he said. "I don't even know the man."

Stone, he said, had threatened him and said: "I made a mistake with her [Josie Russell], I won't make the same mistake with you." But the day after Stone was given three life sentences for murder and attempted murder, Thompson, a convicted criminal who now works as a builder in Basildon, Essex, admitted that he had lied.

Thompson now claims that he fabricated the threat and lied under oath because he considered his own evidence so slight that it would not make a difference. He has even claimed that he was under pressure from police to say what he did.

For some reason Thompson wanted to get his lies off his chest. The day after Stone's conviction he began ringing round tabloid newspaper newsdesks.

Having been rebuffed by the Sun, he phoned the Mirror, which called in its court reporter, Adrian Shaw, to deal with the case. At a meeting in Basildon, Thompson brought with him a handwritten statement in which he admitted he was a liar.

He told Mr Shaw: "Stone never said the words I attributed to him. I told the jury a pack of lies. I did not think I would have to go to court after I made my statement to the police. When I was told I was to be called as a witness I did not want to attend court, but the police took me there and brought me home. Even when I gave evidence I thought the case against him was so thin that he would be acquitted anyway."

The claims that Thompson lied became the focus of an investigation by Hampshire police into the working of the Kent police inquiry into the Russell family killings. The evidence of other witnesses was also scrutinised and a number of newspaper reporters were interviewed.

The report findings have not been made public but Kent police claim that they have been exonerated. Thompson has been told by the crown prosecution service that he will not be prosecuted for perjury following a police investigation.

Thompson, who had been serving a two-year sentence for dishonesty and intimidating witnesses, gave evidence on the fifth day of the trial at Maidstone crown court.

He said he had worked as an orderly in the segregation unit of Elmley prison in Sheerness, where Stone was on remand, preparing breakfast and dinner for the prisoners and cups of tea for the warders.

"The first time I see Michael Stone he was coming down the stairs to get his breakfast or dinner and I said to him, 'So, you're the one . . .' He said, 'I'll see you on the wing and talk about it' and I said 'That'll be fine.' I served him his breakfast or dinner and he went back up to his cell.

"I see him the following day in the exercise yard. He was on his own. I was in the kitchen making tea. I called him over to the window and asked him what he had been arrested for."

Anne Rafferty QC, prosecuting, asked if that was quite a short conversation. Thompson indicated that it had to be because of the prison officers.

Asked if Stone had had anxieties, Thompson said: "He was saying he was going to an ID parade on Friday and the police were rushing forensic tests through and not to judge him until the results had come back. I said 'I am not judging you'."

Thompson claimed that the next day Stone approached him. "He said, 'I made a mistake with her, I won't make the same fucking mistake with you'." He now says that what Stone really said to him was: "You and me are going to fall out."

In the original trial, Stone's counsel, William Clegg QC, suggested that Thompson had made the whole conversation up, and that if it had in fact happened a prison officer would have overheard it.

"If something had been said to the effect of 'I made a mistake with her, I won't make the same fucking mistake with you,' isn't that something that in the ordinary course of events you would expect a prison officer to hear?"

Thompson responded that there was no prison officer within 50 yards. Mr Clegg then asked: "If you are right, nothing passed between you before the conversation you have told us about that could be interpreted as aggressive."

Thompson: "It doesn't pay to be un-nice to people in that situation. Inevitably, they all go back on the wing."

Mr Clegg later asked: "You had done nothing to provoke a threat?" Thompson, who seemed annoyed at the suggestion, replied: "Quite sure, yes."

Mr Clegg, who later told the jury Stone had been "fitted up by a bunch of convicts", asked: "You are quite sure you are not trying to get in on the bandwagon, making things up about Stone?"

Thompson: "Definitely not, it would be very detrimental to me. I don't particularly want to be here."

Asked what his motive was, he said: "None whatsoever, apart from the fact that I found it very strange that he would say them sort of words. It was very strange, and the way he looked at me."

When Mr Clegg suggested to Thompson he had made up the conversation, he replied: "You are entitled to suggest that."

Mr Clegg suggested that the entire jail population knew Stone was accused of the murders and he could not safely turn his back, adding: "If you cannot get him one way, you can get him another."

Yesterday that assumption turned out to be right, as Thompson's account was indeed "wholly unreliable".

Michael Stone, the man found guilty in 1998 of the murders of Lin Russell and her daughter Megan, and the attempted murder of her other daughter Josie, yesterday began his court of appeal bid to plead his innocence.

The 40-year-old only replied to his name as appeal court judge Lord Justice Kennedy, sitting with Mr Justice Maurice Kay and Mrs Justice Hallett, began listening to the evidence.

They were told that one of the key witnesses in the original trial was a perjurer and may even have been a police informant. Stone's counsel, William Clegg QC, said that Barry Thompson had now changed his story. "What he says is completely contrary to the evidence he gave at the trial. He now says Stone made no confession of any kind to him and that his evidence at Maidstone was untruthful," he said. "Secondly he says that he and perhaps he and Daley [another key witness] were both, at the material time, police informants."

Stone, who has spent much of his life in prisons and institutions and has had addictions to heroin and alcohol, has steadfastly denied any involvement in the killings. At his original trial, Mr Clegg said Stone had been "fitted up by a bunch of criminals".

In the lead up to his three-week trial at Maidstone crown court, police were aware that their evidence - mainly based on evidence alleged to have been given to convicted criminals - might not be strong enough. Other grounds in the appeal include issues relating to DNA and non-disclosure of evidence.

Stone was given three life sentences for the murders of Lin Russell and Megan, 6, and the attempted murder of Josie, then 9, near their home at Chillenden, Kent. They were tied up and beaten with a hammer in a ferocious 15-minute attack as they made their way home through cornfields. The family dog was also killed.

Before the appeal began, Stone's sister, Barbara, 38, said: "Michael has always maintained his innocence. We have waited a long time to be able to prove to the courts that this is so. We are very hopeful of the convictions being quashed and that the British legal system proves to be just."

The full opening of the appeal was delayed while the court dealt with moves on Stone's behalf relating to taped telephone conversations between a national newspaper journalist and the witness Barry Thompson.

After the legal argument, the judges ordered that the tapes, transcript and manuscript notes should be disclosed to the defence.

Mr Clegg is expected to begin opening the case proper this morning.

Michael Stone today won his court of appeal challenge to his convictions for the murders of Lin and Megan Russell.

Three judges in London indicated that they would "allow the appeal" on the basis of the unreliability of key witness Barry Thompson's evidence, given at Stone's trail.

Stone, 40, of Gillingham, Kent, will remain in custody pending deliberation by the court on Thursday on the issue of a possible retrial.

Today's drama unfolded on the second day of Stone's appeal before Lord Justice Kennedy, sitting with Mr Justice Maurice Kay and Mrs Justice Hallett at London's law courts.

Stone was given three life sentences at Maidstone crown court in 1998 for the two murders, and the attempted murder of Megan's sister, Josie, near their home at Chillenden, Kent in 1996. He was in court for the announcement.

Sitting in the dock, flanked by security officers, Stone turned to his sister Barbara and smiled, and she then punched the air in delight.

He could be free later this week if the court does not order a re-trial.

The appeal court's decision followed the revelation that the prosecution could no longer rely on one of its key witness, Mr Thompson, as a "witness of truth".

Stone's counsel, Mr William Clegg QC, told the three judges that just "moments ago" he was handed a document by the crown. Mr Clegg read out from the document.

The prosecution stated in the document that having considered all the material now before the court for the purpose of the appeal, the crown "cannot seek to rely on Barry Thompson as a witness of truth".

Thompson, who told the jury that Stone had confessed to the killings while in prison, reportedly said just days after the conviction that he had told the jury "a pack of lies" when he claimed Stone had threatened him and referred to the murders.

He has claimed in newspaper articles that he and another key witness against Stone at his trial were "paid police informants".

It was shortly after this announcement that Lord Justice Kennedy said the court was "minded" to allow the appeal.

The court has not formally quashed the conviction and Lord Justice Kennedy warned that the proceedings were still "live" and there was a realistic possibility of an order for a re-trial and that therefore nothing to Stone's detriment may be published in the interim.

Yesterday, Mr Clegg said that Mr Thompson had now changed his story. "What he says is completely contrary to the evidence he gave at the trial," Mr Clegg said. He now says Stone made no confession of any kind to him and that his evidence at Maidstone was untruthful."

Another prosecution witness, Damien Daley, also gave evidence that Stone had confessed to the killings in prison.

Stone, who has spent much of his life in prison and institutions and has had addictions to heroin and alcohol, has steadfastly denied any involvement in the killings.

A lawyer representing Michael Stone has formally lodged an application to appeal against his conviction for the murders of Lin and Megan Russell and attempted murder of Josie Russell.

Solicitor Derek Hayward said the defence team was "hopeful and optimistic" about their chances of being granted leave to appeal.

Stone, 38, was given three life sentences last month after his trial at Maidstone Crown Court. It is believed the defence is basing its appeal on witness Barry Thompson's alleged admission of perjury.

Just days after Stone's conviction, Mr Thompson said that he had told the jury "a pack of lies" when he claimed Stone had threatened him and referred to the murders.

Stone, a long-term heroin addict with a severe personality disorder which psychiatrists say is untreatable, is being held at top security Frankland prison in County Durham.

His sister and mother went to visit him there this week, after defence lawyers had told him of the new developments.

His sister Barbara Stone said: "He has been informed of the new evidence. Obviously he has always maintained that Thompson did lie. I am just grateful that he (Thompson) had the strength of character to come forward."

Stone's family have criticised the local health authority for claiming Stone was untreatable. They believe he was responding well to community care at the time of the murders and are convinced of his innocence.

Asked how her brother was coping with jail, Mrs Stone said: "He's fine. He is as well as can be expected. We are quite happy with the way he is being treated."

The barrister for double murderer Michael Stone has said that the credibility of a key witness had been "very much reduced" after his claim that he lied to the jury.

Former prisoner Barry Thompson, 33, said Stone had referred to the murders for which he was jailed last week while the two were serving time in Elmley prison in Kent last year.

He now claims to have fabricated the conversation, bringing into question the safety of Stone's conviction and possibly having an impact on his forthcoming appeal.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, barrister William Clegg said: "If the reports are accurate, it will plainly provide fresh evidence which the Court of Appeal will be able to consider in deciding whether this conviction is safe.

"On the basis of the material I've read in the newspapers and I have been given overnight, I would have thought his [Thompson's] credibility as a witness is very much reduced."

Stone, 38, received three life sentences last Friday for the brutal hammer murders of Lin Russell, 45, and her six-year-old daughter Megan, and the attempted murder of Josie Russell, now 11, in Chillenden, Kent, in July 1996.

On Monday, Stone's solicitor Derek Hayward said Thompson had agreed to make a statement admitting that he lied.

"I have spoken briefly to Mr Thompson and hope to speak more fully with him in the next 24 hours as a result of which I hope to receive a statement from him," he said.

Thompson's evidence, described by Mr Clegg as "very important", was one of two "cell confessions" testified to by Stone's fellow prisoners.

"Both confessions potentially were damning pieces of evidence - if they were said by Stone," said Mr Clegg.

He refused to comment on whether or not Thompson's comments could overturn the double killer's conviction, adding: "It will be for the Court of Appeal to decide whether, in the light of the fresh evidence, the conviction is safe."

The Crown Prosecution Service has asked Kent Police to investigate Thompson's claim to the Mirror newspaper that he told "a pack of lies" during the 11-day trial.

Thompson told the Maidstone Crown Court jury which convicted Stone that he had been threatened by the double killer while they were together in Elmley prison in July 1997.

Thompson testified that Stone had said: "I made a mistake with her - I won't make the same f------ mistake with you."

The prosecution claimed this was a reference to the fact that Josie Russell survived the attack that killed her sister and mother.

Thompson now denied the conversation took place, telling The Mirror: "None of what I said was true and I want to give a statement to his solicitor admitting I lied. Stone never said the words I attributed to him. I told the jury a pack of lies."

Mr Hayward said the development was "encouraging" for Stone's pending appeal.

Thompson's motive for changing his story has been withheld for legal reasons.

Stone's defence counsel William Clegg QC, alleged during the trial that his client was being "fitted up by a bunch of convicts".

Mr Clegg said the defence team would submit grounds for an appeal in the next two weeks, but it could take up to six months for the court to list the hearing.

A witness whose crucial evidence helped convict Michael Stone of the murders of Lin and Megan Russell has told a newspaper that he lied to the jury.

"None of what I said was true and I want to give a statement to his solicitor admitting that I lied," former prisoner Barry Thompson told The Mirror.

Michael Stone was given three life sentences on Friday for the murder of Lin Russell and her six-year-old daughter Megan and the attempted murder of Josie Russell, then nine, at Chillenden, Kent, in 1996.

At Maidstone Crown Court, Thompson claimed Stone, a fellow prisoner, said to him: "I made a mistake with her [Josie]. I won't make the same f------ mistake with you."

The paper reports that Thompson said what Stone actually told him was: "You and me are going to fall out."

The Mirror said it has seen a lengthy and "amazing" confession written by Thompson and which it says would surely form and important part of Stone's appeal.

The paper said it was unable to reveal why Thompson had made this "incredible about-turn" for legal reasons.

But it did state that Thompson did not think he would have to go to court after making his statement to the police, and that he never thought Stone would be convicted.

The Mirror said Thompson had neither asked for nor received payment for the interview.

The jury in the Michael Stone murder trial has heard there is "little in the way of evidence" to link him to the brutal killings of Lin Russell and her daughter Megan.
Anne Rafferty QC, for the prosecution, told jurors at Maidstone Crown Court to "strip away sympathy and emotion" when considering their verdict.

Her closing speech came after Mr Stone declined to give evidence at the trial.

Miss Rafferty admitted there was no identification of Mr Stone as the killer of Lin Russell, 45, her daughter Megan, six, or the attempted murderer of her other child, Josie, then aged nine.

But she said there were witnesses in the area at the time of the killings who had seen a man resembling Stone.

And a former friend who had seen him with blood on his clothes the day after the murders was a "truthful, reliable and accurate" witness.

The victims attacked by a man with a hammer as they walked along a country path to their home in Chillenden, Kent, on 9 July 1996.

They were tied up and Lin and Josie were blindfolded before they were bludgeoned.

Josie was left for dead but recovered and went on to tell police of the 15-minute ordeal.

Mr Stone, 38, denies the charges.

Miss Rafferty told the jury of eight women and four men: "I told you there would come a time when you would need to strip away emotion and sympathy so that you can do your job.

"It is essential because your starting point is the limited amount that Josie can say."

She added: "It is against this miserable background that you might want to consider what little there is in the way of evidence about the day and the time and the day of the killings."

Witness Nicola Burchell had seen a man fitting Stone's description in a car by the country path shortly after the murders.

But she had not picked him out at an identification parade last year - and Josie Russell, although recognising an E-fit of the killer compiled by Miss Burchell, had also failed to spot him in a line-up.

The prosecution has relied throughout the trial on an alleged confession made by Stone to a fellow prisoner while he was being held on remand for the murders.

Miss Rafferty admitted that prosecution witness Lawrence Calder was unreliable in his evidence about seeing Stone with blood on his clothes the day after the killings.

She said: "Lawrence Calder as a witness was all over the place. He was not only difficult to understand but what he had to say was all over the place."

But, said the prosecutor, Calder's girlfriend Sheree Batt had provided a far more coherent account.

She had seen the defendant with blood on his T-shirt.

Miss Rafferty said: "She was truthful, reliable and accurate. She didn't know the contents of what Lawrence Calder had put in his witness statement."

The court has also heard that there was no forensic evidence to link Stone to the murder scene.

Miss Rafferty reminded the jury that Stone had told detectives he burned his clothes from the time of the murders because they were scruffy and he had put weight on.

She said: "It assured, of course, there was absolutely no forensic link because they no longer exist. If he were worried, it was a very sensible precaution."

Stone had told police that he had no idea where he was that day because he had been using so many drugs.

The trial was adjourned.