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Tuesday 06 August 1996 23:02 BST
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Josephine Russell, the nine-year-old girl who witnessed the murders of her mother and sister, is beginning to remember details of the brutal attack, it emerged yesterday.

Four weeks after the attack near their home in Kent, in which her mother Lin, 45, and six-year-old sister Megan were murdered and Josephine received severe head injuries, a speech therapist is hoping to get Josephine talking again. Her father, Dr Shaun Russell, spoke of a "disturbing incident" when a woman walked past Josephine's hospital bed carrying a bag similar to that used by Lin. "She lunged for it and screamed the name of her dog Lucy, [who] was killed at the time of the attack," he said. Mrs Russell and Megan were attacked as they walked from Goodnestone primary school along an isolated footpath to their home in Nonington, near Canterbury.

Police say they are anxious to trace a man seen near the scene on the day of the attack. It may be months before Josephine is able to talk to detectives.

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