The miscarriage of justice watchdog is to take another look at Michael Stone’s murder convictions after having rejected an application back in July. A spokesperson for the the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) said: ‘We have agreed to a request from Mr Stone’s representatives to carry out a further review. While we can’t comment on the specifics of an investigation, it is not unusual for different reviews to focus on different arguments or evidence.’
In 2001, Mr Stone was sentenced to life imprisonment at Nottingham Crown Court for the murders of Dr Lin Russell and her six-year-old daughter Megan, and the attempted murder of Dr Russell’s nine-year-old daughter Josie, in 1996. In April Levi Bellfield’s solicitor said her client was ‘adamant’ he was responsible for bludgeoning mother and daughter to death leaving another daughter, Josie, to survive with serious head injuries.
Stone’s barrister Mark McDonald in an interview for the Justice Gap described the CCRC’s decision ‘utterly astonishing’. ‘What more can a person do to prove their innocence than another man confessing to the crime,’ he said. ‘There is no identification evidence against Stone, no forensic evidence. His conviction rests on the testimony of one man, Damien Daley, a proven liar.’
The barrister argued that high profile case has been a test for the CCRC which it had failed. ‘It’s harder now to be referred back to the Court of Appeal than it was before the commission was set up and it was down to ministers to refer a case back,’ he said.
