8 February 2001: Retrial after conviction of Lin and Megan Russell murderer quashed

The tabloid paid for statements of a prisoner and other prisoner testimony, that was so crucial to the conviction of Michael Stone for the hammering to death of a mother and daughter, was soon exposed by another tabloid as ‘a pack of lies’.

In any other circumstances, the intense media coverage would have been considered prejudicial and made a retrial impossible. But the authorities were certain that Stone was the killer and couldn’t risk him being freed. And so a retrial was ordered... Read the full Russell Murders Crime File