New prime suspect in Lin and Megan Russell murders: Carpenter 'confessed to killings on same day' as son volunteers for DNA test

Published: 10:05, 25 July 2026 | Updated: 10:27, 25 July 2026 Lawyers representing the man convicted of murdering Lin and Megan Russell have said a new suspect could be responsible. A witness has claimed he heard Ray Buck confessing to the killings on the same day that Lin, 45, and her six-year-old daughter Megan were ambushed on a country lane in Chillenden, Kent, in 1996. Buck killed himself four years later but it is now understood one of his sons has agreed to provide a DNA sample after the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which examines potential miscarriages of justice, began a forensic assessment. Michael Stone was convicted after a cell confession, which was disputed, in 1998 and found guilty again after a retrial three years later. Now he has provided a new DNA sample from his cell at HMP Frankland, County Durham. Serial killer Levi Bellfield, who killed 13-year-old Milly Dowler in 2002, has also given a sample. Bellfield confessed in writing to committing the Russell murders but police did not believe him. This week the Daily Mail's Crime Desk revealed that Bellfield boasted he was certain his DNA will be found on items linked to the Russell murder scene. Lin Russell and her daughter Megan were bludgeoned to death on a country lane in 1996 Ray Buck, a carpenter who killed himself in 2000, has been put forward as the new prime suspect by lawyers acting for the man convicted of the murders Criminologists have previously warned Bellfield could be making a false claim for attention. Lin had been walking with Megan and her then-nine-year-old daughter Josie, who survived the attack, from the girls' primary school in Goodnestone down a country lane. This month marks 30 years since the pair were bludgeoned to death in broad daylight during the attack which left Josie with catastrophic head injuries but did not kill her. New suspect Buck was questioned by detectives during the original investigation but was not treated as a suspect. Then aged 42, Buck was living with his ex-wife and their three children in Folkestone, 15 miles from the lane. A distant relative who contacted police in 2017 and Stone's lawyers in April claimed that on the day of the murders he was at Buck's sister's house when he arrived and confessed to killing three people and a dog. The Russells' dog was also killed during the attack. A source close to the new witness told The Sun: 'It was apparently the same day Ray received divorce papers from his ex-wife Irene and he came flying through the door. 'Ray went into the kitchen and said 'I have done something unforgivable. I have killed three people. I could not stop, I could not stop'. 'Ray also said he had killed a dog and had lost his shoelace.' Michael Stone, pictured in 2005 after judges threw out his second appeal, was convicted of the Russell murders but the case is now being probed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission Serial killer Levi Bellfield confessed in 2023 to committing the Russell murders, but police did not believe him Your browser does not support iframes. The track leading towards where Lin, Megan and Josie were stopped by the killer Buck was said to have driven a car which matched the killer's, had a history of violence and was known to police. The source said Buck, who was a carpenter, usually had a hammer in his car. Four years after the murders, in 2000, Buck jumped off Beachy Head near Eastbourne and died aged 46. An inquest heard he suffered from depression after his ex-wife blocked access to their children. But it was also claimed Buck had left a suicide note in his van saying he 'could not live with the guilt'. Sources in Kent Police said there were inconsistencies between the witness's current account of events and their previous evidence in 2017. Detective Chief Inspector Neil Kimber said all information provided was 'comprehensively examined in full by the investigation team'. He added: 'Following two trials at which Michael Stone was found guilty by a jury on both occasions, and an appeal to the High Court, he remains convicted of the murders of Lin and Megan Russell.'