Two independent experts brought in by a television programme to re-examine Michael Stone’s conviction for the Chillenden murders are backing his attempt to win a third appeal.

Eminent defence counsel Stephen Kamlisch and legal expert Sheryl Nwosu told BBC Two’s The Chillenden Murders documentary there were significant doubts surrounding the case against the Gillingham resident.

He is serving three life sentences for the killings of Lin Russell and her daughter Megan, six, and the attempted murder of Megan’s sister Josie, nine, on a remote footpath near Canterbury in 1996. He has always protested his innocence.

A post-script to last night’s programme revealed Mr Kamlisch and Ms Nwosu had agreed to work on Stone’s behalf to have the case formally re-examined.

They were given unprecedented access to case files from the original trial and subsequent retrial and agreed his conviction may have been unsafe.

And they were told by a forensic specialist that advances in DNA techniques not only confirmed no link between Stone and the crime, but showed the likely presence of another man at the scene.

Samples obtained from the family of Levi Bellfield, who was convicted for the murder of schoolgirl Millie Dowler and two women, showed a possible but unprovable link to him.

Bellfield has denied involvement.