The impression of the child was still there, as if he had been softly taken out,” Elizabeth recalled. His dad Ambrose, 61, has also insisted that he will never stop hunting for his son’s killer(s) but admits the “only thing he has is hope”. That trip to his local shop in Gillingham was the last time he tasted freedom. Barbara Stone –sister of Michael –has long campaigned for his release

The Kent family lived in the peaceful village of Road in Wiltshire. Their home, known as Road House Hill, was an elegant setting for the family of nine and their three servants. But once the details are established, it is unease in the police case – which would form the basis of Stone’s conviction – which dominate the storytelling in this documentary. It is, for the most part, a well-trodden path. Chillenden was a peaceful, idyllic hamlet before the crime shattered the peaceHer dog was found on its own in Minnis Bay by officers on Wednesday. Her car, a silver Suzuki, was found parked in the village of Saint Nicholas-at-Wade, where she is believed to have walked from. The answer is ‘probably not’ but it does do a very fine job in highlighting the key elements of such a grisly crime.

The detonation caused the building to collapse and a further 21 people were injured but the people responsible have never been found.Five years later, Constance Kent confessed to the crime. She had acted “quite alone,” Constance promised, but she never expressed a motive for the murder beyond that it was committed “not out of jealousy.” It was about seven in the morning,” says Stone, speaking from HMP Frankland in Durham, as he recalls the moment in July 1997 when he was arrested close to his home in Gillingham. He was 37 at the time. But despite repeated efforts to overturn his conviction, it is only in the last few years any real opportunity for any case to be presented to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has emerged. Still, amateur sleuths following the case were convinced a woman had committed the crime. As Harper’s Weekly explained, “It was generally agreed that a girl or woman must have been concerned in the affair, because after the blanket in which the child’s body was wrapped … [it] had been folded down with a neatness and care that a man was unlikely to exhibit.” DI Lee Neiles, of the Kent and Essex serious crime directorate, said: “We thank those who have come forward with information so far and we are continuing to appeal for witnesses. It is crucial that we speak to anyone who may have heard or seen anything suspicious, just after midnight.

His original trial – held at Maidstone Crown Court in 1998 – hung on the evidence of three men. All had been prisoners in neighbouring cells to Stone while he was on remand. They all claimed he had confessed the crime to them. All the details they revealed had, however, been printed in the newspapers. Damien Daly is alleged to have admitted to have made up Stone’s cell confession. Picture: Kent Police As his barrister concludes, it comes down to which of three men – all found guilty of murder – do you believe: Stone, Bellfield or Daley?

Scotland Yard Investigates The Murder Of Francis Savile Kent

Kent Police’s only contribution – other than historic clips and comments from former employees – is merely a submitted statement at the end of the programme insisting that Stone has been tried and found guilty on two occasions. Claire Knights was last seen in Upstreet near Canterbury on Wednesday. It is believed she was walking her dog in the village to Minnis Bay in Birchington, where she was reportedly seen that afternoon. Notably absent are Josie and her father Dr Shaun Russell – only featured in historic media interviews. You cannot help but feel the pair of them – both subject to such horrific trauma in their lives – would rather the rest of the world forgets the crime which shattered their lives and robbed them of their loved ones. Both have long since left Kent – returning to the peace of North Wales where they had lived before the tragedy. And while the weapon used to beat Miss Knell to death was never found her parents Bill and Pam still hope the man responsible will be found and brought to justice. Explains Stone’s barrister, Mark McDonald: “From that meeting, we got a lot more detail. We had the description by Bellfield, of what they were wearing, how he did it, who he hit first, how he murdered them, who he tied up, how he’d killed the dog. He said he knew the area very well.

The crime occurred 27 years ago – July 9, 1996 – in Chillenden, a pretty hamlet lying midway between Canterbury and Dover. Enough time for the dust to settle – for the stain it left on the community and the wider country to fade. Yet all these years later it continues to generate headlines. He concludes: “Josie and Shaun Russell blame me for that crime. It really tears me apart thinking they think I did that. That’s the worst part of it. I want them to know I didn’t do that.” Dr Shaun Russell and his surviving daughter Josie moved out of Kent after the murder As Jim Fraser, head of forensic investigations at Kent Police at the time, says: “Could he have done it? Yes. Did he do it? That’s a completely different question.”

Constance Kent Fascinated The Press — And Even Charles Dickens

A full DNA profile, which police believe belongs to the killer, was created from crime scene evidence in 2008 but "a missing piece of the jigsaw has yet to be traced".