In April last year Laura El-Hagrasi was reported missing from her Cliftonville home after failing to board a plane at Heathrow. The impression of the child was still there, as if he had been softly taken out,” Elizabeth recalled. Stone was proven to be in Medway four hours before the crime took place (he signed a timed receipt in a branch of Cash Convertors) and he did not closely resemble the photofit circulated by Kent Police, as described by a witness who saw a man exit the lane the murders took place in a car.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images Detectives initially did not suspect Constance Kent of killing her brother — attention focused on the nanny and the boy’s father.

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A 47-year-old woman, also from Coulsdon, has also been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. All five remain in custody.

The 33-year-old from Latvia was meant to be flying to Egypt with her husband and children and police enquiries showed she arrived at the airport. 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. 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. The judge at Maidstone Crown Court instructed the jury that if they did not believe Daley’s testimony, Stone should be acquitted. Yet it was there his cell neighbour, Damien Daley – held on charges of arson and robbery – claimed to have heard Stone admit to the crimes again. His testimony, would, eventually, see Stone jailed. Twice.Bellfield wanted to get it off his chest, but Bellfield said we couldn’t tell anyone. That it was just between ‘you, me and CCRC’. Within hours it was leaked to The Sun newspaper. As a result of it being leaked, Bellfield goes up the wall. He writes to Kent Police saying ‘it’s all a load of lies – I’m withdrawing it’ Richard Leivers – the Kent Police officer who saw the dead bodies and carried Josie Russell from the copse when he noticed she was still alive – speaks of the profound impact it still has on him all these years later. “Nothing,” he reflects, “could prepare me for what I saw.” Police arrested Gough on the hunch. Rumors swirled that she confessed — and named father Samuel Kent as her lover. But the nursemaid didn’t confess, and the police eventually released her. 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.”

Scotland Yard investigated. The public followed the case closely in the press. But the main suspect, 16-year-old Constance Emily Kent, refused to confess to the crime. The police eventually released her and young Francis’s death went unsolved. Anyone with information should call 999, quoting reference number 23-1922. For any other information that may assist the investigation call 01843 222289, quoting the same reference number. Constance Kent went down in history as a cold, calculating teen killer. But the truth of what happened in Hill House Road the night Francis Kent died may remain a mystery. When I came out of the appeals court the media were there,” says Stone, “and they shouted out ‘Michael’. I shouted out, right at the top of my voice ‘I’m an innocent man’ to reach the media. And if you look at my face [in still photographs] it looks like I’m going psychopathic or something – but I’m actually shouting ‘I’m an innocent man’.It was known as the Great Crime of 1860. On June 29, 1860, an unknown assailant murdered 3-year-old Francis Savile Kent in a brutal fashion. The area where the victim was assaulted was close to Tonbridge Park and a large number of residential properties. If you think you may be able to assist the investigation please don’t hesitate to call us.”

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. 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. The impact on the people involved in those first moments is both harrowing and clearly emotional all these years later. Michael Stone has been behind bars since he was first arrested in 1997Despite numerous appeals for information and multiple arrests, police have never been able to make any significant progress, leaving his family desperate for answers. 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. But the evidence remains elusive – the CCRC unmoved. Stone’s legal team insist they want exhibits from the murder scene re-examined, forensically. They believe it could result in DNA being identified which could prove the killer. Josie Russell won a Children of Courage award following her ordeal