Hammer murders key witness jailed

Damien Daley gave evidence at Michael Stone's trial in 2001

A key witness in the Michael Stone hammer murder case has been jailed for four years for drug dealing.

Damien Daley testified that Stone had confessed to the murders of Lin and Megan Russell while on remand in jail.

Stone, jailed in 2001, was recently granted leave to appeal because of what his lawyers called the "inherent unreliability" of Daley's evidence.

Daley, 28, of Gillingham, had denied possessing drugs with intent to supply at his Maidstone Crown Court trial.

Heating pipe

The court heard that Daley made sure heroin was flushed down the toilet when the police raided an address in Folkestone, Kent.

The drugs were eventually retrieved from the drainage system by police and Daley was arrested and charged.

He was acquitted of being concerned in the supply of drugs but jailed for possessing drugs with intent to supply.

The judge said there had to be a deterrent element to the sentence to discourage others.

Stone has always denied his involvement in the murders

Daley claimed that Stone confessed to the killings through a heating pipe in a neighbouring cell in Canterbury Prison.

Stone was given three life sentences for murdering 42-year-old Lin Russell and her six-year-old daughter Megan and for the attempted murder of another daughter, Josie, who was left with severe head injuries.

The family was attacked while walking along a country lane in Chillenden, Kent, in 1996.

Stone was originally convicted at Maidstone Crown Court in 1998 but, following an appeal, a retrial was ordered because of the unreliability of another witness testimony.

He was then found guilty of the murders in 2001.

There was no forensic evidence at the trial and Stone's defence team claimed there was no evidence to support Daley's testimony.

Before Daley's trial, his counsel Paul Valder, claimed his client would not be able to get a fair trial because of the publicity surrounding Stone.

Judge Keith Simpson had said the case could be transferred out of the county but Daley asked for the trial to proceed.

The judge considered making a order banning publication of any connection between Daley and Stone but decided not to.

Instead he banned Daley's full address being published for fear of reprisals.