Josie attends identity parade

Josie Russell, the schoolgirl who survived the Kent killing of her mother and sister which shocked the country last summer, has recovered enough to attend an ID parade. Police believe they may be on the verge of a breakthrough, says Kate Watson-Smyth.

Josie Russell was persuaded to attend an identity parade at Rainham police station in Kent at the weekend by police investigating the killing of her mother Lin and six-year-old sister, Megan, who were attacked as they walked home from school in Chillenden, Kent, 14 months ago. Kent Police would not reveal the results of the identity parade, but a spokesman said yesterday that they were now consulting with the Crown Prosecution Service.

During the attack in a narrow country lane Josie, 10, suffered appalling head injuries after being beaten with a hammer and spent months in hospital on the slow road to recovery. By January she was sufficiently recovered to return to school, and in May, she began to remember details of the attack and has been helping police piece details together and look at new lines of inquiry.

A Kent Police spokesman said last night that detectives hunting the killer were due to meet officials from the CPS later this week. They will examine whether the results can be used as evidence in any prosecution.

It is understood that Josie was accompanied by her father, Dr Shaun Russell, a former university lecturer, as she watched the parade from behind a one-way glass screen.

One of the nine men in the parade had previously been questioned by police about the attack before being released. Other witnesses, including a farm worker and a female motorist who saw a car pulling out from a dirt track near the scene of the attack are also thought to have studied the line-up.