THE Kent Messenger Group has received sensational new evidence that could provide convicted killer Michael Stone with a crucial alibi for the Russell murders. In an exclusive interview, prostitute and drug user Connie Smith has claimed that on that fateful afternoon five years ago Stone was helping her move home.

Ms Smith, 32, remembers it well because it was her birthday. She has made a formal statement to Stone's solicitor Derek Hayward. Kent police have confirmed they are fully investigating her account, after the KM Group's daily newspaper, Medway Today, handed over information to them.

Ms Smith, from Strood, decided to break her silence after hearing that Stone had been found guilty for the second time of the brutal murders of Lin Russell, her daughter Megan, six, and the attempted murder of Josie, then aged nine.

Less than 24 hours after the verdict was announced at Nottingham Crown Court a week ago, she spoke publicly to Medway Today for the first time about how, on the afternoon of the murders on Tuesday, July 9, 1996, Stone had been with her in Maidstone - some 30 miles away from the scene of the brutal hammer attack in Chillenden.

The question is, why has it taken so long for her to come forward? She said at the time she was in and out of prison and being threatened by violent boyfriends to keep her mouth shut. But now she says: "I can't sleep at night. I just can't sit here and let somebody innocent be locked up when the person who did it is out there laughing his head off."

Stone's sister, Barbara, said: "This information is potentially very important and, if confirmed, could form the basis of an appeal."