Hammer attack victim Josie Russell reveals she and her fiancé have moved into family home where murdered mum and sister lived

HAMMER attack victim Josie Russell has moved back into the family home she shared with her murdered mum and sister.

Josie was just nine years old when she was tied up and bludgeoned with a hammer in a country lane in Chillenden, Kent, in a crime that shocked Britain.

Her mum Lin, 45, and six-year-old sister Megan both died in the horrific attack by Michael Stone in 1996, along with the family dog, but miraculously Josie survived.

Now, 22 years after her mum and sister were slaughtered, the 31-year-old is living with "soul mate" and fiance Iwan Griffith in the Welsh home she once shared with them before the family moved to Kent in 1995.

She told Lorraine on ITV this morning: "I feel like I've always lived in that house. We're just making it how we wanted it to be now, a little bit more updated, because it's a very old house."

Asked how she remembers the home in the Nantlle Valley, she continued: "Happy times, I remember playing in the garden and things like that."



The family settled in the house in 1991 when Josie was three but it was sold to a businessman in 1995 when the family moved to Kent.

But Josie used money from a trust fund and compensation from the Criminal Injuries Board to buy it back in 2010.

Textile artist Josie is engaged to fire alarm engineer Iwan , who didn't know about her horrific ordeal when they first met at university in Caernarfon on December 31, 2005.

She said: "I don't remember very much. We didn't really talk about anything. We just carried on with life. We went out and did normal teenage stuff."

Josie also revealed she has no plans to wed just yet but is "just happy being engaged".

When asked how she has managed to overcome the devastating tragedy, she added: "I think just being really, really busy. My work is doing really well.

"That's just making me focus on that and the future and everything."



Josie was walking with Lin, Megan and the family dog down a quiet country lane after a school swimming competition when they were set upon.

The mum and daughter were tied up, blindfolded and beaten to death with a hammer in an attempted robbery.

Josie survived the horrific attack despite suffering life-threatening head injuries.

The chilling murders that shocked the nation

On July 9, 1996, Lin Russell was walking home with her two daughters Josie, nine, and six-year-old Megan, in Chillenden, Kent.

But tragedy struck when Michael Stone savagely tied them up with the dog's lead and his bootlace before bludgeoning them to death with a hammer.

Miraculously, Josie, who was battered and left bleeding, survived the shocking attack which horrified the nation.

The double murder sparked one of the biggest manhunts in British police history.

In 1998, Stone was convicted over the killings and jailed for life. The Court of Appeal later ordered a retrial after a prosecution witness recanted his evidence.

But at the Old Bailey in 2001 a new jury convicted Stone again.

In December 2006 a High Court judge ruled that Stone was so dangerous he should not be considered for release until 2023 when he served a minimum of 25 years.

Brave Josie has since spoken out about the horrific murders that left her unable to speak for a year.

She is now working as a textile artist after gruaduating from Coleg Menai in Bangor with a degree in graphic design in 2009.

Josie met fiance Iwan at university and revealed today she is living in the family's first home in Wales before they moved to the Kent in 1995.

It was initially feared she had been killed along with her mum and sister but despite catastrophic injuries she pulled through.

She has since graduated from Coleg Menai in Bangor with a degree in graphic design in 2009 and started making and selling greetings cards at art fairs before moving on to producing textile landscapes.

Speaking today, she said: "I'm not a victim, I'm not a survivor, I'm just me."

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Michael Stone, of Gillingham, Kent, was arrested and charged over the double murder just over a year after the attack after a huge manhunt.

The heroin addict was handed three life sentences after being found guilty at two trials but has denied he was responsible.

The evidence against Stone is based on a confession to a fellow prisoner, which he claims never took place.

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