I’m not convinced Michael Stone is the killer
‘Stone continues to argue that his conviction is a miscarriage of justice on the grounds that the evidence against him came from another prisoner, who was described as a "career criminal" whom the Crown acknowledged "would lie when it suited him".
In 2010, the Criminal Cases Review Commission announced that it would not refer the case back to the Court of Appeal because it had found no new evidence to justify making a referral, but Stone's legal team asked the Court to reconsider based on the testimony of a new witness, who had come forward to say that the prisoner Stone allegedly confessed to was lying. The Court of Appeal found that the Criminal Cases Review Commission was entitled not to find the new witness's evidence credible based on the length of time it had taken the witness to come forward.
Stone had asked the CCRC to re-examine a 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) long boot lace which had been dropped at the scene of the crime by the murderer.[citation needed] It had DNA from a number of males which could not be linked to Stone. The prosecution at trial had argued that the DNA must have belonged to one of Stone's friends; however, the lace proved to be missing and so the CCRC were not able to re-examine it using modern DNA techniques. They did re-examine the ends of a swimming towel which had belonged to the victims and which had been torn into six strips by the perpetrator. Male DNA readings were detected at both ends of the strips, but the DNA once again did not belong to Stone, who has argued that Levi Bellfield should be investigated for the killings.
In May and June 2017, the case was scrutinised in The Chillenden Murders, a two-part BBC Two programme in which a team of independent experts re-examined the evidence. The Telegraph summarised the television programme by stating, "According to the BBC, new details, uncovered during the making of the documentary, raise the possibility that the wrong man may have been convicted." Two of the legal experts who took part in the programme – prominent defence barrister Stephen Kamlisch and legal expert Sheryl Nwosu – believe there are significant doubts regarding the conviction and are now working on Stone's behalf to have the case re-examined with the aim of launching a third appeal against the conviction.
On 29 November 2017, BBC Wales reported that Levi Bellfield allegedly confessed to the murders to a fellow prisoner, giving details that "would only be known by the killer". Bellfield denied that he committed the murders and denied making the confession.