A carpenter said to have confessed to the murders of Lin Russell, 45, and her six-year-old daughter Megan is at the centre of a new probe into the double murders, it has been claimed08:50, 25 Jul 2026A new prime suspect has emerged over the hammer murders of Lin and Megan Russell, reports say.‌Lin, 45, and her six-year-old daughter Megan were brutally murdered while walking on a quiet country lane near the village of Chillenden, Kent, in July 1996.‌The mum and her two young daughters were ambushed, before being tied up, blindfolded, and bludgeoned with a claw hammer. The family’s dog was also killed, while nine-year-old Josie survived the attack, but was left with severe head injuries.‌Michael Stone was convicted in 1998 of two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder - but earlier this month, it was announced that new DNA samples will be taken from the prisoner after a forensic assessment was launched by Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).Now, new reports have linked carpenter Ray Buck - who took his own life in 2000 - to the killings.‌An eyewitness allegedly claimed they heard carpenter Buck confessing on the day of the murders - and one of Buck’s sons has now volunteered to provide a DNA profile, according to the Sun.A CCRC spokesperson has been approached for comment.‌It comes after the CCRC confirmed it would be taking a DNA sample from serial killer Levi Bellfield after he previously claimed to have carried out the killings.Bellfield, who is serving a whole-life sentence for the murders of Milly Dowler, Marsha McDonnell, and Amelie Delagrange, is said to have confessed after talking to prison psychologists, but later retracted his statement. To date, no evidence has corroborated his claims.‌A DNA sample has also been taken from Stone, who continues to protest his innocence over the killings of Lin and Megan Russell and the attempted murder of Josie Russell.He was initially identified as a possible suspect following an appeal on the BBC's Crimewatch programme, at which point he stated he could not remember what he was doing at the time the crimes occurred.His convictions relied heavily on the testimony of former prison inmate, Damien Daley, who claimed Stone had confessed to him while they were both on remand at HMP Canterbury, rather than on any direct forensic evidence linking Stone to the crime scene.Article continues belowStone's original 1998 conviction was overturned on appeal after a key witness admitted lying.He was retried and found guilty again in 2001, based largely on Daley's testimony.