A witness who helped convict Michael Stone of the murders of Lin and Megan Russell has admitted that he lied to the jury, it was reported last night. Barry Thompson says that nothing in his testimony to the trial was true, according to the Mirror.
The newspaper said Thompson had made a confession in which he admitted perjury.
Thompson gave evidence about conversations he claimed to have had in prison with Stone. Stone was given a triple life sentence at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday last for the murder of Lin Russell and her six-year-old daughter Megan, and the attempted murder of Josie Russell, then nine, at Chillenden, Kent, in 1996.
Thompson had claimed that Stone had said: "I made a mistake with her [Josie]. I won't make the same f***ing mistake with you."
But the newspaper says Thompson has admitted: "I lied to the jury." He is said to have told the paper: "None of what I said was true and I want to give a statement to his solicitor admitting that I lied."
The Mirror says it has seen a lengthy confession written by Thompson in which he admits perjury. It says the "incredible about-turn" is sure to form a significant part of Stone's appeal.
The newspaper quoted Thompson as saying: "Stone never said the words I attributed to him. I told the jury a pack of lies . . . Even when I gave evidence I thought the case against him was so thin that he would be acquitted anyway."
The newspaper said Thompson had told it that Stone merely said: "You and me are going to fall out."
The Mirror said Thompson had neither asked for nor received payment for the story.