JOSIE Russell, who survived a horrific hammer attack 12 years ago that killed her mother and sister, has spoken on the eve of her 21st birthday out about her ordeal.
The art student was nine years old when Michael Stone ambushed the trio in a lane in Kent.
Only now is she starting to feel able to cope with what happened and has met the police officers who investigated the case.
Stone is currently serving
three life sentences for the murders of Lin Russell, 45, and six-year-old Megan Russell, and the attempted murder of Ms Russell. Police who found their bodies thought Ms Russell was dead too, until one officer felt a faint flicker of a pulse.
She was taken to hospital and battled to survive despite her skull being smashed in.
Doctors were worried that the brain damage was so severe she would never be able to have a normal life.
More than a decade on, however, she owns a home, has a steady boyfriend and has won awards for her charity work.
A documentary on her incredible journey is to be shown on Tuesday and she has told how she prefers to look ahead to the future than dwell on the past.
She said: "What happened to me in the past, it can't bring Lin and Megan back. I've never really wanted to talk about it because I was only nine at the time, but now I think I'm ready to find out more about what happened to me and how it affected who I am today."
Her father Shaun was initially told he had lost his eldest daughter as well, such were the extent of her injuries, but she surprised everyone with her recovery and regained her speech, which she had lost as a result of the trauma.
The pair returned to north Wales, where they had lived before moving to Kent, and Ms Russell has remained there, now living in Bangor and on course to complete her final year of an art diploma.
However, they have never had a "proper conversation" about what happened that July day in Chillenden, near Canterbury.
Mr Russell said: "She was a young child and when she came out of it, she just wanted to put it behind her and get on with her life."
He has written a book about the tragedy, published in 2000 and entitled Josie's Journey, and his daughter has only now begun to read it.
The documentary, One Life: Josie's Journey, is another part of her attempts to find out more about what happened to her.
She said: "It's weird, I can't remember loads about either of them (her mother and sister]. It's mostly just memories from photos and it's like I want to go back to being seven because Lin and Megan were alive then and I was really happy.
"I wonder what Megan would be like now because she'd be 19 and I can't imagine it. I think Megan was more like Shaun and I was more like Lin, but I can't be sure because it's just things I think I can remember."
In the documentary, Josie also meets the consultant who assessed her when she was first admitted to King's College Hospital. Dr Marian Crouchman explains her injuries to her and describes her recovery as "extraordinary".
Dr Crouchman said: "I thought that I would be able to have a conversation with her, but that it would become very rapidly apparent that there were still quite major holes in her language development, and I'm pleasantly surprised."
Mr Russell, however, warns that there are lasting and serious effects.
He said: "She has done so well that people forget she did suffer a brain injury. She was damaged physically by the attack.
"It did leave her with a relatively serious impairment in terms of her ability in reading and writing, speech and language. People have to understand she has not come through this unscathed."
Police officers Edwin Tingley and Pauline Hobson-Smith, who spent over two years working with Ms Russell, described how they used ground-breaking techniques to piece together events and gather enough evidence to prosecute Stone.
Ms Hobson-Smith said: "We actually pushed the guidelines quite a bit and we wondered how we were expected to talk to her, get that information out of her.
"We were actually advised at one point – 'give Josie a pencil and paper and see what happens' – but at that time we knew Josie couldn't even hold a pencil let alone write anything down. So obviously there was a lot she still had to tell us."
Ms Russell, who turned 21 yesterday, said: "It's been really good filling in the gaps and meeting people like the doctor and Ed and Pauline.
"But I don't want to go to Kent again or talk about Michael Stone because there's no point. The only thing I do think about is why did he do it, if he did.
"I just want to think about the good memories of Lin and Megan and mostly about the future and now."
The full article contains 858 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
