New suspect identified in 1996 murder of Lin and Megan Russell

Two witnesses have identified their own relative as a new suspect in the murder of Lin Russell and her six-year-old daughter in Kent 30 years ago.

Dr Russell and her two daughters were attacked with a hammer as they walked home from a school swimming gala in Canterbury, Kent, in July 1996.

Michael Stone has been in prison for 29 years after being convicted of killing Dr Russell and her youngest daughter, Megan, and the attempted murder of her other daughter, nine-year-old Josie.

He has continually pleaded his innocence.

Two people have now given witness statements to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) naming their relative Raymond Buck as the killer, the Sunday Times reported.

One of the new witnesses, Ross Shields, 39, was a child at the time of the murders.

He told the Sunday Times that he overheard Buck confess to another family member on the day of the attack: "I've done something unforgivable. I've killed three people."

The paper adds that Buck, a carpenter, had a history of violence and took his own life aged 46 in 2000.

Stone's solicitor said that the miscarriages of justice watchdog is now reviewing the new evidence and carrying out "further DNA analysis".

Karen Todner told the Press Association: "I'm much more positive than he has been for the last 29 years.

"We're hoping that things are finally, finally moving in the right direction."

She added: "The CCRC are undertaking further DNA analysis. Because obviously the science behind DNA has dramatically improved since his case, and since the last DNA analysis.

"So they're doing that. And when they've done that, then we're hoping that they will test that against various people, Raymond Buck being one of them."

Ms Todner said that while the oral witness evidence was important, "conclusive evidence" would be a DNA result.

More from Sky News:
London airport suffers major outage
Fourth UK heatwave on the way

Stone, and a member of Buck's family, are among those to submit to this new round of DNA analysis.

Ms Todner said: "If DNA comes back as positive for anyone other than Michael, then obviously we'll be asking the CCRC to send it back to the Court of Appeal.

"So hopefully we'll know where we are by the end of this year."

(c) Sky News 2026: New suspect identified in 1996 murder of Lin and Megan Russell