Fresh doubt cast on Michael Stone's conviction for Chillenden murders

The conviction of Michael Stone for the murders of Lin and Megan Russell in Kent 20 years ago could be thrown into doubt after new witnesses have come forward, his lawyer has claimed.

Stone was convicted in 1998 of the double killing in Chillenden but people in the area have now provided Stone's legal team with new descriptions of a man seen in the area at the time.

One of those descriptions is said to bear a striking similarity to Levi Bellfield - the man currently serving a life sentence for the murder of Milly Dowler in Surrey.

Stone, a known drug addict with convictions for violence, has always protested his innocence but is currently in prison in Durham after being convicted by a jury of the Russell's murders.

Although he was granted a retrial in 2001, he was subsequently convicted for a second time.

His solicitor Paul Bacon told ITV News that having revisited old police statements, he has found one description of a man in the area he believes matches Levi Bellfield's description.

Bellfield was convicted in 2011 of the murder of 13-year-old Milly Dowler, who had disappeared on her way home from school in Walton-on-Thames in 2002.

Earlier this year Bellfield admitted to the murder – and was said to have made further jail-cell confessions, although he subsequently withdrew the confessions.