Stone's appeal over murder retrial is rejected
Appeal court judges have ruled Michael Stone must face a retrial over the murders of Lin and Megan Russell.
The judges have rejected defence claims that Stone, 40, can not receive a fair hearing after intensive publicity about him.
Stone's convictions for the murders of the mother and daughter were overturned last week.
Stone, of Gillingham, Kent, was not present at the Court of Appeal as Lord Justice Kennedy, Mr Justice Maurice Kay and Mrs Justice Hallett, gave their reasons for ordering a retrial.
Lord Justice Kennedy, reading from a 15-page written judgment, said the central question in a new trial - expected to start on September 3 in Birmingham - will not be Stone's character, but whether the evidence of the key prosecution witness can be believed.
He says "in justice to the Russell family and the wider community" there should be a retrial to answer that question.
Stone was given three life sentences at Maidstone Crown Court after being convicted of the two murders, and the attempted murder of Megan's sister Josie near their home at Chillenden, Kent, in 1996.
The judges ruled last week that Stone's appeal "must succeed" on the basis of the unreliability of key prosecution witness Barry Thompson, who gave evidence at Stone's trial alleging he had confessed to the killings in prison.
Stone's counsel, William Clegg QC, had argued that he could not have a fair trial because of "prejudicial" material in the media following the original trial.
But Nigel Sweeney QC, for the Crown, has submitted that a fair trial was possible, saying: "We in the criminal courts invest juries with good sense, good judgment and an ability within the trial to put out of their minds anything they might have heard before."
