Stone given three life sentences for Russell murders
Michael Stone has been given three life sentences after being convicted of murdering Lin and Megan Russell and attempting to murder Josie Russell.
It is the second time Stone, 49, has been convicted of the brutal attacks. His original 1998 murder conviction was quashed earlier this year when a retrial was ordered.
Stone had denied killing the mother and daughter.
Nottingham Crown Court heard they were attacked by a hammer-wielding man on a country lane near Chillenden, Kent in 1996.
The four-week trial heard how Josie, who was nine at the time of the attack, was found with massive head injuries in a copse next to the bodies of her 45-year-old mother, sister and the family dog Lucy.
She was transferred to King's College Hospital, London, where she underwent emergency neurosurgery. Within two months, however, Josie was able to begin communicating to officers what she could remember about the attack.
The court was shown videotaped interviews in which she described a man holding a hammer getting out of his car. He then, according to Josie, demanded money and Lin Russell told her and Megan to run away.
She said the man caught up and hit her on the head before dragging her back to the copse where she remembered trying to prevent the man striking her mother.
Stone was arrested a year after the murders in July 1997, and, the court heard, he was unable to give an alibi for when the Russell family were attacked. While Stone was on remand at Canterbury Prison, fellow inmate Damien Daley claimed a man in the neighbouring cell confessed to the Chillenden murders.
The trial heard evidence about hairs, blood samples and fibres found at the scene - none could be linked with Stone.
