On the latest episode of The Crime Desk's On The Case podcast, host Alex Matthews sits down with reporter Matt Young following his exclusive interview with Barbara Stone, the sister of the man jailed for life over the infamous Chillenden murders.

Lin Russell, 45, and her six-year-old daughter Megan were battered to death with a hammer in a country lane not far from their home in rural Chillenden, Kent, in 1996.

Megan's older sister Josie, who was nine years old at the time, miraculously survived the bloodbath in a crime that horrified the nation.

A year later, a BBC Crimewatch reconstruction led to 38-year-old Michael Stone – a violent heroin addict – being locked up for the murders.

He is still behind bars today but has long protested his innocence and, as The Crime Desk reported exclusively, his case is being reviewed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which will decide if it should be referred to the Court of Appeal.

If Stone’s name is cleared, it would be one of the longest-running miscarriages of justice in British criminal history.

On July 9 1996, Lin Russell, 45, and her two daughters, Josie, nine, and Megan, six, were attacked by a man wielding a hammer while walking home from a swimming gala

Serial killer Levi Bellfield confessed to the Chillenden Murders via a statement to his solicitor Paul Bacon in 2022

In an interview with the The Crime Desk, Stone said he would 'never' admit to the killings. He insisted serial killer Levi Bellfield was involved.

In 2022, Bellfield – who is serving whole-life sentences for the murders of Milly Dowler, Marsha McDonnell and Amélie Delagrange, as well as the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy – signed a written confession, which he later withdrew.

Paul Bacon, Stones' lawyer, claimed Bellfield signed another confession – although the CCRC rejected the document on the basis that his testimony is not credible.

Matt Young tells On The Case: 'As far as Stone's legal team are concerned, the police never believed Bellfield's confession.

'I don't think they are holding an awful lot of hope in that aspect, but they say it's him. Paul Bacon, who's a long time solicitor of Stones – he spent a long time talking to Bellfield in prison, over a period of a year or so.

'Lots and lots of meetings with him face to face in jail… it was a long process and he's a reliable, experienced solicitor who believes it's Bellfield.'

As part of his investigation, Young visited the village of Chillenden to speak to locals about the crime that took place just over 30 years ago.

None of those interviewed, he claimed, believed police had got their man.

He said: 'Every resident we spoke to, including people who were there at the time, who spoke to police during their investigation, all the neighbours – every single one of them just finds it impossible to believe it was Michael Stone.'

To delve into the Chillenden Murders and hear excerpts from Young's exclusive interview with Barbara Stone, search for On The Case, wherever you get your podcasts.