Triple-killer Levi Bellfield has confessed to being in the area where a mother and daughter were bludgeoned to death – but denied playing a part in their deaths.
Lin Russell, 45, her daughters Megan, six, and Josie, nine, were beaten with a hammer in the frenzied attack in 1996 which sent shockwaves around the nation.
The family were ambushed as they walked home along a country lane in Chillenden, Kent with their dog, after a school swimming gala.
Lin, Megan and dog Lucy died, and drug addict Michael Stone was arrested the following year and convicted of murder. But he has always protested his innocence.
Serial killer Bellfield, 53, has now admitted visiting the area on two occasions and to dating a woman who lived nearby.
He also said he owned a beige Ford similar to one seen at the crime scene some 25 years ago.
But the 53-year-old said in a statement he wishes to ‘set the record straight’ in a bid to distance himself from the murders.
Serial killer Levi Bellfield (pictured), 53, reportedly confessed to being near the area where Lin and Megan Russel were bludgeoned to death in Chillenden, Kent, in July 1996
Shaun Russell, with wife Lin and daughters Megan (second left) and Josie at an Italian restaurant in 1996 before their horrifying murders
Police activity at the scene in a small copse in Kent where Lin and Megan Russell were beaten to death in a frenzied hammer attack
Lin and her two daughters – Megan (pictured) and Josie, nine – and their dog Lucy, were tied up and savagely beaten with a hammer in a brutal attack which shocked the nation
Michael Stone (pictured), 61, is currently serving three life sentences for the murders of Lin and her daughter at the same jail as Bellfield in Durham, but claims he is innocent
Bellfield is serving a whole life term at Frankland, where his fellow inmates include Stone and Soham murderer Ian Huntley.
The former nightclub bouncer murdered 13-year-old Milly Dowler, Marsha McDonnell, 19, and 22-year-old Amelie Delagrange.
In 2017, Bellfield reportedly claimed he was the man behind the murder of Lin and Megan Russell.
But he later retracted his confession and has never been charged.
But now Bellfield is understood to have confessed to being in the area, in a statement which is being looked at ‘closely’ by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).
He admitted to being near the scene at the time of the hammer attacks, but denied murdering Lin, 45, and Megan, six, according to The Sun.
In a statement to his lawyer, seen by The Sun, Bellfied wrote: ‘I wish to set the record straight. It is my hope that by making this statement a line can be drawn under my suspicion of committing the 1996 Chillenden crimes.’
Michael Stone, 61, is currently serving three life sentences – at the same jail as Bellfield in Durham.
Stone, a drug addict with prior convictions, was arrested a year after the attack and charged with the murders.
Lin (left), Megan and their dog Lucy died, while Josie (right) survived the attack, which took place as the family walked home along a country lane from a school swimming gala
Bellfield, who is serving life for killing 13-year-old schoolgirl Milly Dowler (pictured) and two women, was said to have confessed in a statement which is being looked at ‘closely’
He was found guilty after two prisoners gave evidence for the prosecution, telling the court how Stone had confessed to him in prison.
In 2001, Stone faced a retrial after one of the prisoners withdrew the claim against him. But he was found guilty once more and sentenced to three life-sentences.
He is due to finish his 25-year minimum term next year, but will not be allowed out because he has not confessed to the killings.
A bootlace, used to tie up one of the girls, was dropped by the killer and later found at the scene by detectives.
A small part of the lace was tested for DNA at the time. But, with the processes still in their infancy, the tests came back inconclusive.
Stone’s defence team believes the potentially crucial piece of evidence could point the finger at someone else.