Michael Stone’s conviction for the double murder of Lin and Megan Russell is to finally be reviewed – following a confession by serial killer Levi Bellfield.

In the latest dramatic twist to Stone’s legal challenges to his sentence, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) – the independent body which needs to approve any challenge to a conviction before referring it to the Court of Appeal – has said it will look again at the case.

Gillingham’s Michael Stone has spent 26 years behind bars for the brutal hammer murders of academic Lin, 45, and her daughter Megan, six, as they walked home across fields in Chillenden, between Canterbury and Dover, in July 1996.

Josie Russell, Megan’s sister, who was nine at the time, was also attacked and left for dead – but went on to make a miraculous recovery.

Stone was sentenced to three life terms at his initial trial in 1998 and, again, in 2001 after his original conviction was quashed.

He has always maintained his innocence and pointed to a complete lack of forensic evidence – or any witnesses - linking him to the scene.

The key evidence in the case rested on a fellow cell-mate, Damian Daley, who claimed Stone confessed to the murders as the two were in neighbouring cells at Canterbury Prison. Stone denied any such confession, while doubt has been raised over the reliability of Daley – who is now serving life for an unrelated murder in 2014.

However, any hope of his case being reviewed seemed doomed to failure after the CCRC earlier this year said there was no realistic prospect of his conviction being overturned by the Court of Appeal.

Serial killer and rapist Levi Bellfield – whose victims included Surrey schoolgirl Milly Dowler and who had a track record of attacking women with a hammer – has twice confessed to being the real killer.

But he has also withdrawn both claims claiming he made them up.

Now, however, The Guardian newspaper says the CCRC will begin a fresh review into the case.

The Guardian says the move came “in response to a ‘pre-action’ letter by Stone’s lawyers warning that they would take the CCRC to a judicial review over its disregard of Bellfield’s multiple confessions from his cell in recent years to the murders and the body’s failure to order new forensic tests on DNA strands found at the crime scene”.

Stone, now 63, recently could be heard speaking from his cell in a new documentary on Sky which examined the case and raised questions over the conviction.

Quoted in the Guardian, Stone’s barrister, Mark McDonald, said: “Michael Stone has been in prison for 26 years for a crime he did not commit. I am really pleased that the CCRC have reconsidered their decision and decided to review this case again.

“I first put my application into the CCRC in 2017 after another man admitted he carried out the crime that Stone is in prison for. It took six years to make a decision. It is essential that this review is undertaken as a matter of urgency and Stone’s conviction is referred back to the court of appeal. The decision as to whether Bellfield is credible needs to be taken by the court of appeal not the CCRC.”

A CCRC spokesman was quoted as saying: “We have agreed to a request from Mr Stone’s representatives to carry out a further review. While we can’t comment on the specifics of an investigation, it is not unusual for different reviews to focus on different arguments or evidence.

“Our commitment to thoroughly investigate all eligible applications extends to undertaking additional work related to cases we have previously reviewed.”