Exclusive: Josie: Life at 18

- 02 July 2006;Used with kind permission of the Mirror

THESE are the photos Shaun Russell feared he would never see - his daughter Josie as an attractive, vivacious 18-year-old.

Her confident smile betrays no hint of the brutal hammer attack she miraculously survived 10 years ago but which killed her mum and young sister.

One picture shows college design student Josie at work, a pen in one hand, some fabric in the other and a notepad on her lap.

Another - among the first published since she turned 18 - shows her on a countryside outing, beaming at the camera.

Perhaps the most touching is of father and daughter at home, the wall behind them cluttered in pictures and postcards. Fun-loving Josie is wearing a star-spangled party hat, Shaun has a protective arm around her.

They are pictures that offer a rare glimpse into her quiet, dignified attempt to rebuild a young life ripped apart by tragedy - with the help of her devoted dad.

Now, however, Josie and Shaun, 52, are bracing themselves for a fresh ordeal, with murderer Michael Stone about to cast a shadow over their lives once more.

The one-time junkie, 45, has won legal aid in his bid to block a report on his history of mental illness before he murdered Josie's mother Lin and sister Megan and left her for dead.

Josie and Shaun want it published so lessons can be learned and future tragedies averted.

They also hope it can help them draw a line under their nightmare. But the killer's lawyers claim it breaches his human rights. One friend of the Russells said: "This is very distressing for Josie and Shaun. They are living in limbo. "Until this report is published, the awful events of 10 years ago can never be left behind. Josie has been through such a lot and Stone should give her the chance to move on."

Family lawyer Sarah Harman added: "Josie and Shaun have been hoping the report would be published for a long time now and the delay has caused them stress. They want it out so that people can learn how to avoid a dreadful tragedy in the future."

Jailed Stone, 45, had a long history of mental illness and convictions for violence, including a previous hammer attack.

In 1999 an independent inquiry was launched to look at the care and treatment he received in the years before the 1996 murders.

Stone, currently serving three life terms, initially agreed to co-operate with it, but changed his mind days before it was due out last December. This week he won permission for a High Court judicial review.

It won't be the first time he has put Josie and Shaun through the nightmare of a lengthy court ordeal.

Stone has always claimed his innocence but was convicted of double murder and attempted murder in 1998.

However, the conviction was quashed on appeal in 2001.

A retrial later that year again found him guilty and a second appeal failed in 2005.

Now he has told prison pen-pals he is planning to make a third appeal and take his case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Ms Harman added: "All they want is for Michael Stone to admit his guilt so that they can move on with their lives."

Josie has defied the odds in a bid to do just that since the bloodbath on a quiet country lane in Chillenden, Kent, in July 1996.

The youngster, then nine, sister Megan, six, and mum Lin, 45, were blindfolded, gagged and bludgeoned with a claw hammer.

Megan and Lin were killed while battered Josie spent five months in hospital with horrific head injuries.

She had multiple skull fractures and a 9in hole in her head, which damaged her brain tissue. Doctors covered it with a titanium plate but her recovery was slow and painful.

JOSIE was initially unable to speak and it was a year before she was able to recount the nightmare to relatives, helped by a speech therapist.

The South African-born youngster appeared at the Daily Mirror's Pride of Britain ceremony in 1996 and gave out Child of Courage awards at the event in 1999 and 2000.

There was a national outcry when the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority awarded her a paltry £18,500, but the sum was raised to £79,000 on appeal.

After she was discharged from hospital she and Shaun left Kent and moved to a village near Caernafon, North Wales.

By the age of 11 she had the reading age of a five-year-old and struggled at school. However, she would amaze teachers with her recovery. In 2004 she passed eight GCSEs, including As in Welsh and in Art & Design.

Headteacher Dewi Jones beamed: "Josie's success is one of remarkable achievement.

"During her time here, she has shown herself to be very talented and this strength has shone through in these results."

The teenager was much more modest, simply remarking on her grades: "These are all right."

Josie is now halfway through a college course and leads the hectic social life of a typical teenager.

She enjoys camping with friends, dating boys and is a keen swimmer, cyclist and horse rider.

There is also the touch of the young activist that her mum Lin would doubtless have approved of. Josie has campaigned for the Born Free Foundation animal charity and lobbied some of the world's leading politicians at the 2002 Earth Summit in South Africa.

Her father is also quietly rebuilding his life alongside her. He has found love again, with one of Lin's close friends, and his daughter is said to be pleased for him.

But friends know Stone's legal case could threaten that tranquility.

The killer's lawyers say they are happy for the study's conclusions and recommendations to be published, but not the confidential information on which they are based.

They also claim publication could deter offenders from co-operating with similar probes in future.

Shaun refuses to comment on the row. His daughter has put a nightmare past behind her - and he is determined to keep it that way.