DAMIEN Daley is a criminal and a drug addict. He may lie to get by in life, but there’s one thing he hasn’t lied about It is the cell confession by Gillingham man Michael Stone that he carried out the Chillenden murders.

And now his older brother, Simon Bell, has spoken out to defend Daley, after Stone lost his second appeal against conviction for two murders and attempted murder at the Royal Courts of Justice in London last week.

Simon, 37, a father of two, who lives in Gillingham, said he is sick and tired of hearing Stone’s sister Barbara and the defence team trying to discredit his brother’s evidence.

Simon, whose face we have agreed to hide for fear of reprisals, admits his brother is a heroin addict and career criminal, but categorically denies Daley lied about Stone’s cell confession.

Speaking exclusively to the Medway Messenger's crime correspondent Lynn Cox, Simon said: “My brother, by his own admission, is a self-confessed criminal, he’s admitted he will lie to get on in life but I know my brother and I know he is not lying about this – why would he?”

“The criminal underworld has an unwritten rule about what’s right and wrong. If someone has done something bad to either women or children or old people then they are viewed by criminals as scum – that’s why Damien spoke out. What Stone confessed to that day sickened him.”

Daley, brought up in Folkestone, has been in and out of prison most of his life and is currently serving a four-year sentence for drug-dealing.

He gave evidence at Stone’s original trial because he was repulsed by what he heard Stone confess while they were chatting through a pipe connecting the two cells. Both were on remand at the time in Canterbury Prison and had never met before.

Simon added: “Damien will be in and out of prison for the rest of his life -- so why would he make prison life difficult for himself?

“If suggestions about him being a paid police informant and a grass carry on, his life will be extremely difficult for him inside.

“His last conviction is a long one. He wasn’t a big-time drug dealer and only made £1,500 from it, so a four-year sentence is quite severe. If he was an informer, surely he wouldn’t have got such a hefty sentence?

“Other prisoners hate grasses, and if Damien is labelled as one, he’ll have to watch his back constantly.

“He wouldn’t have spoken out about the confession if it wasn’t true. He wouldn’t put himself in the spotlight of the media and every single criminal in the land.

“Everyone seems to forget that Michael Stone was also a heroin addict and has serious mental problems. When he lived in Gillingham he surrounded himself in the drugs world and was regularly in trouble with the law.

“I am 100 per cent positive that Damien is not lying and I’m sure the man who committed the murders is behind bars where he should be.”