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Title 4344: THE RUSSELL MURDERS: WHO KILLED LIN AND MEGAN?
Video 16487: DUBS_Ep 3
Stream 22835: English Template
Section
Spellcheck File Source:
nbcuniversal.zooscripts.com/title/4344/video/16487/stream/22835/transcribe/
00:00:00.656 | 00:00:07.936 1
18854041654846531437618503000930933417
23RD OCTOBER 1998
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The jury at Maidstone crown court has found Michael Stone guilty of the murders of Lin
Russell and her six-year-old daughter Megan.
00:00:14.681 | 00:00:16.280 3
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and her six-year-old daughter Megan.
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‘There cannot be anyone in this country who does not understand
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the complete horror of the offences with which you have been convicted.’
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With those words from the judge ringing in his ears,
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The man who led the investigations emerged from court just minutes after the verdict.
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It was really important for everybody, not least of which Dr Russell and Josie, that the
person responsible was brought to justice.
00:00:43.750 | 00:00:51.050 9
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The sister and mother of Stone left court today shocked by the verdict. Only yesterday
Stone had indicated from the dock he expected to walk free.
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00:00:53.016 | 00:00:58.516 11
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I phoned Josie straight away at home. I said, ‘the man has been found guilty.’ She just
said ‘good.’
00:01:02.840 | 00:01:24.890 12
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(OFF)(ON) Everybody was pleased for Shaun and Josie particularly. There was a sense
of elation, I suppose, that someone had been convicted. I opened the paper the next
day and there was a—a photograph of Stone which had been taken as he was leaving
court. He was howling. I mean, he was in anguish. I don't know, I got a bit of a shiver
down the back of me spine at that point to think you don't look like a guilty man there in
that picture.
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00:01:44.000 | 00:01:50.500 14
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Police investigating the murder of a mother and her daughter in Kent say they were
victims of a brutal, frenzied attack.
00:01:54.000 | 00:01:58.400 15
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(OFF)(OFF)(ON) It was massive news, a mother and two daughters bludgeoned with a
hammer.
00:02:00.000 | 00:02:06.200 16
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(OFF)(OFF)(ON) They were a charming family. It just seemed inconceivable they would
be the victims of such a terrible crime.
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00:02:09.000 | 00:02:11.750 18
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The motive is at the moment incomprehensible.
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00:02:14.000 | 00:02:17.250 20
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(OFF)(OFF)(ON) And it was a year before they found Michael Stone.
00:02:18.000 | 00:02:22.450 21
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‘I'm an innocent man’, Michael Stone shouted as he was led away back to prison.
00:02:24.000 | 00:02:26.200 22
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(OFF)(OFF)(ON) Michael and I talk every day.
00:02:28.000 | 00:02:29.550 23
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(OFF) Michael, can you hear me?
00:02:31.000 | 00:02:34.450 24
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[OVER THE PHONE] Yeah. I never did this. It wasn’t me. I wasn’t there
00:02:35.000 | 00:02:37.750 25
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(OFF)(OFF)(ON) Maybe, actually, they got the wrong man.
00:02:39.000 | 00:02:42.350 26
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We have now received a full confession by Levi Bellfield.
00:02:46.000 | 00:02:49.350 27
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(OFF)(OFF)(ON) A serial killer carried out hammer attacks on women.
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No comment.
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Have you been watching the news?
00:02:52.000 | 00:02:58.200 30
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[OVER THE PHONE] Yeah, yeah. Bellfield getting it off his chest and telling the truth.
Should show that I’m not responsible.
00:02:59.000 | 00:03:02.700 31
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(OFF)(OFF)(ON) Police will be very reluctant to admit they made a mistake.
00:03:04.000 | 00:03:07.300 32
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(OFF)(OFF)(ON) There’s something about this case that doesn't fit.
00:03:07.000 | 00:03:10.250 33
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(OFF)(OFF)(ON) We want the truth. And I don’t think we’ve had it.
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00:03:24.000 | 00:03:41.300 36
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The conviction of Michael Stone means villagers in Chillenden can now rest assured
that the man responsible for the brutal killings right here in this copse is now firmly
behind bars. And it means that survivor, Josie, can now put behind her the painful task
of re-calling evidence and get on with the next stage in her healing process.
00:03:44.000 | 00:03:47.950 37
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(OFF)(ON) By 98, the Russell murders had become something of a national debate.
00:03:50.000 | 00:03:58.200 38
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Following the conviction of Michael Stone for those two brutal and horrible murders,
does the Home Secretary believe that further measures will be needed?
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I would entirely agree with the right honourable gentleman that there have to be
changes in law and practice in this area.
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[OVER THE PHONE]
00:04:07.000 | 00:04:13.900 41
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They were trying to change mental health laws. A dangerous person's act kind of thing.
They used my case as a flagship for their campaign.
00:04:16.000 | 00:04:26.950 42
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(OFF)(ON) At that time, he had stood trial. Uh, he'd been sentenced to life on the basis
of prison cell confessions that he allegedly made. And several of those confessions had
started to unravel really, really quickly.
00:04:33.000 | 00:04:44.200 43
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Barry Thompson whose testimony helped convict Michael Stone is now admitting in a
national newspaper that he lied to the jury. According to the report nothing of the
conversation he said he had with Stone was true.
00:04:45.000 | 00:04:51.000 44
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(OFF)(ON) Following the Thompson retraction, the first mutterings of doubt over the
conviction were beginning to emerge.
00:04:55.000 | 00:05:07.050 45
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Barry Thompson must now be re-interviewed by police. If it emerges that he did commit
perjury whilst under oath, it will add fuel to claims that Stone’s conviction is unsafe and
may shorten his journey to here, the court of appeal.
00:05:09.000 | 00:05:09.450 46
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(OFF)(ON)
00:05:11.000 | 00:05:14.600 47
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During that time the media was just about as bad as you would ever read.
00:05:15.000 | 00:05:18.500 48
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Michael Stone fantasised about killing and torturing people.
00:05:19.000 | 00:05:28.250 49
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(OFF)(ON) Journalists wanted a horrendous murderer. And in Michael Stone, after the
conviction, they had a villain to fit the crime, and Michael Stone became a national
byword for evil.
00:05:31.000 | 00:05:33.800 50
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(OFF)(ON) It was just hate and venom. It was just awful.
00:05:37.000 | 00:05:44.950 51
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(OFF)(ON) One of the problems of that press coverage was although it wasn’t in
contempt of court, that the trial was finished, it wasn’t the end of the matter.
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00:05:52.000 | 00:06:00.100 53
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Michael Stone left the appeal court having seen his murder conviction quashed but this
morning, Stone will find out if he’ll be freed or face a retrial.
00:06:02.000 | 00:06:02.450 54
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(OFF)(ON)
00:06:02.550 | 00:06:15.900 55
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Stone's barrister, Bill Clegg, was keen to avoid a retrial. And one of his strong
arguments was that this man's reputation had been so trashed that he couldn't possibly
get a—a retrial that was going to be fair. But of course, the appeal judges insisted on a
retrial.
00:06:20.000 | 00:06:24.550 56
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Michael Stone’s solicitor, and his sister Barbara emerged to give their reaction.
00:06:25.000 | 00:06:31.350 57
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At least he’s got a chance to prove his innocence now. And we’re thrilled to pieces that
the conviction was squashed.
00:06:34.000 | 00:06:46.700 58
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(OFF)(ON) I thought that Michael Stone might stand a much better chance of being
acquitted at the second trial because as far as we knew, the police hadn't got any new
evidence. And, others in the media had begun to pick apart some of the other evidence.
00:06:58.000 | 00:07:19.400 59
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(OFF)(ON) The editor I was working to said, ‘you know, this Michael Stone case. Have a
look into it.’ There were really disturbing question marks in all sorts of nasty places. It
was an intimate, bloody murder. Yet no forensic evidence. He wasn't identified at the
scene. I think people would have liked a clearer story. Why did you do that then? How
did you do it? I believed that there was something very wrong about the case.
00:07:36.000 | 00:07:36.800 60
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[OVER THE PHONE]
00:07:38.000 | 00:07:45.550 61
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Considering all the papers at the time were really crucifying me. Assassinating my
character. Jo-Ann Goodwin was a breath of fresh air. Is he innocent?
00:07:49.000 | 00:08:10.050 62
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(OFF)(ON) By the time I finished the first article, I was convinced that there was more to
be said and more to be discovered. But Kent Police they said they were very sure they'd
got the right man. The criminal journalists on my own paper thought I was wasting
everybody's time and the paper's money. I went out on a limb because you want the
truth. Not my truth. Not your truth, but the truth. I want to know who did it.
00:08:22.000 | 00:08:23.000 63
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00:08:25.000 | 00:08:32.450 64
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Michael Stone arrived at Nottingham Crown Court this morning for the start of his
second trial. There's intense media interest in his case.
00:08:35.000 | 00:08:49.200 65
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(OFF)(ON) They moved the second trial to Nottingham on the basis that there might be
fewer people who didn't know about Michael Stone. But it was a, such a notorious case
that I think it would have been difficult for the jury to suspend their knowledge of—of
what had happened before.
00:08:55.000 | 00:09:01.750 66
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[OVER THE PHONE] There was five years of publicity. It was on the front page nearly
every day. You can't help being influenced by that.
00:08:59.000 | 00:09:00.000 67
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00:09:04.000 | 00:09:12.400 68
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Outlining the prosecution case, Nigel Sweeney QC, described how Lin Russell and her
two daughters were brutally attacked on a summer afternoon five years ago.
00:09:13.000 | 00:09:17.400 69
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(OFF)(ON) It was tense. And I don't think anyone knew what was gonna happen, either
way.
00:09:19.000 | 00:09:22.150 70
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Josie Russell won't be giving evidence here in court.
00:09:24.000 | 00:09:29.450 71
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(OFF)(ON) Shaun Russell and Josie didn't want to go to the trial. Maybe it would have
been too much for them.
00:09:39.000 | 00:09:41.600 72
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Josie made a slow but remarkable recovery.
00:09:42.000 | 00:09:48.800 73
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(OFF)(ON) There's no doubt that out of the appalling, um, events that occurred that day,
Josie's story touched a nation's consciousness.
00:09:51.000 | 00:09:54.950 74
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Please give a huge welcome to our three Spices, Baby, Posh and Josie.
00:09:58.000 | 00:09:58.450 75
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(OFF)(ON)
00:10:08.000 | 00:10:23.950 76
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If you were to tell that story you had to reflect the horror of what had been done to the
family. Particularly focussing on Josie, because her recovery became such a big part of
the story. Our audience had such an interest. You know, they were horrified by it. They
were shocked by it. But they wanted to hear about it.
00:10:20.000 | 00:10:27.050 77
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She’s kind of led the way for me. I went from suicidal to, you know, hope. It’s a model,
it’s an example for me to follow in a way.
00:10:41.000 | 00:10:46.350 78
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William Clegg, seen here on the right, told the jury that the prosecution’s case beggared
belief.
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00:10:53.000 | 00:10:55.200 80
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(OFF) What changed in terms of your defence?
00:10:57.000 | 00:11:08.250 81
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(OFF)(ON) Nothing. We concluded we would adopt exactly the same approach as the
first trial. In trial one, the prosecution relied upon three cell confessions. In the second
trial there would only be one witness, Damian Daley.
00:11:18.000 | 00:11:27.550 82
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(OFF)(ON) At the heart of the prosecution case was this confession that he’s said to
have made to Damian Daley, through this ventilation pipe, while he was being held on
remand at Canterbury.
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00:11:31.000 | 00:11:55.550 84
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(OFF)(ON) There was no other evidence that he was guilty. So, it was unusual. But, um,
it did amount to a case for him to answer. Somebody was saying, ‘he told me he did it.’ I
thought it would be a good idea for the jury to go down to Canterbury Prison, to the
actual cell that Michael Stone was in and to the adjoining cell where Damian Daley was.
When we were there, a policeman read from, um, Harry Potter and the jury were able to
hear the quality of the sound in—in the adjoining cell.
00:12:12.000 | 00:12:21.550 85
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(OFF)(ON) What was established in this visit to the cells was that yes, what Damian
Daley was saying, the sound travelling along the pipe through the hole in the wall, it
could have happened.
00:12:26.000 | 00:12:29.950 86
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(OFF)(ON) It was certainly possible to hear if you spoke in a loud clear voice.
00:12:31.000 | 00:12:36.400 87
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(OFF)(ON) But I'm not sure that that really goes in any way to the veracity of what
Damian Daley was saying.
00:12:38.000 | 00:12:46.450 88
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(OFF)(ON) If Stone had to say ‘yes, I murdered them! Yes, I smashed their heads’ at the
top of his voice for someone to hear. Well, I would find that extremely unlikely.
00:12:57.000 | 00:12:58.000 89
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On the eighth day of this trial the jury heard from Damian Daley, the prosecution’s most
important witness. Daley, at the front of this group, claims the defendant, Michael Stone,
confessed to the killings while they were on remand together at Canterbury jail.
00:13:19.000 | 00:13:40.050 94
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(OFF)(ON) There was a renewed energy in trying to encourage Damian Daley to tell the
truth. He didn't look so well presented. He was starting to look like somebody who used
drugs. Bill Clegg was asking him questions and he said, ‘did you lie in the first trial?’
‘Yes, I lied in the first trial. I took drugs but I denied it, I lied to them.’ So, I thought
they're not gonna believe him this time. He's not so believable.
00:13:47.000 | 00:13:51.350 95
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(OFF)(ON) ‘Is it fair to say you’re a liar Mr Daley?’ ‘Yeah, I suppose I am, aren't I?’
00:13:51.450 | 00:13:52.450 96
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00:13:52.000 | 00:13:57.700 97
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[OVER THE PHONE] He had a lot to gain. He would have sold his grandmother down
the pan to get his charges dropped.
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00:14:08.000 | 00:14:18.150 99
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William Clegg, delivering his closing speech to the nine men and three women on the
jury, he told them that they could risk one of the largest miscarriages of justice ever
seen in this country.