To think Jeremy Bamber might be innocent

[KimberleyClark]

Or that at the very least his conviction wasn’t safe and there needs to be a retrial? Ihe was convicted in 1985 of murdering his adoptive parents, sister and her twin sons at his parents’ farmhouse. It was at first deemed to be murder-suicide by the sister, Sheila Caffell, who was a diagnosed schizophrenic. Bamber had been on full life tarriff ever since and still protesting his innocence. I always assumed he was guilty until I listened to a podcast called Blood Family. There was a lot of evidence the jury didn’t hear, it seems the police mucked up the crime scene, his cousins had a financial motive for framing him and a police officer in the control room apparently took a 999 nonspeaking call from the farmhouse while Bamber was outside with the police, which would indicate someone was still alive at that point.

But nobody knows for sure when exactly he found out about the murders and when exactly he called Julie. I really don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest the flatmates were tired at that time of morning and got the time wrong, do you?

Thank you , yes I did not realise there was one of each so to speak, will watch it tonight as I haven’t seen it.

But it’s ‘developing crisis you have been called to help with’ rather than ‘something horrific has happened.’

So you’re saying he knew of some kind of crisis at the farmhouse just before he called Julie, that he didn’t know what had happened at that point?

You'd go straight to the farm - there's a rampage going on and you've told the police you will meet them there. You would call your partner later.

All of them got the time wrong?

No problem, the doc is really good and there’s also one on Sky Crime too. Fill your boots.

ok thanks ! i have sky crime, I’ve seen the Fred Dineage ‘crimes that shook Britain’ hopefully it’s a different one. Thank you

If Shelia had attacked her dad I’m sure there would have been scratch marks on him if she did have nails.

The NY podcast annoyed me in the end. When she talked to the cousin and asked him about getting DNA on the silencer he clearly was talking about contact DNA and not blood.
The idea that she could have been alive and shot herself whilst the police were outside and didn’t know as it wasn’t ’that loud’.

Im sure they can’t assess the case on how evidence on 2025 standards on evidence gathering, which is what they seem to want to do. Policeman wouldn’t have had training on that stuff. Yes it was a balls up, but if you start applying that how many other murderers would have to be released.

Well the phone woke them up. And like myself when woken up I look at the time. They gave statements to this effect.

So yes the time he phoned is very clear. The only confusing thing was whether it was right before or right after he phoned the police.

But either way it was at exactly when he claimed his father saud his sister was going Loopy with a gun, so in my opinion a huge big fluttering red flag.

Ill agree to disagree with respect, as this case is a strange one for sure.

I think I saw part of the first episode but wasn’t that interested. To be honest it’s not a case I’ve ever been interested in, but the TNY podcast caught my imagination. I’ll have a look at the ITV drama too, thanks for the recommendation.

If he’s been told ‘your sister’s gone mad with a gun’ he doesn’t know whether she has killed anyone yet or is going to.

Well according to his own testimonial his sister was running amok with a shotgun, I wouldn't have taken it as a chance to have a chat with my girlfriend

He knew what had gone down so he was dragging his heels

I think it was just two? As for Julie, she was hardly the most credible of witnesses.

Also, just noticed that one of the flatmates - Douglas Dale - first statement was that the call was at 3.00 but later claimed it was “about 3.30”.

My old alarm clock ran ten minutes behind my mum's and the old clocks in my house in the eighties all did😃

Three of them testified that Jeremy rang around that time. Ive no love for Julie but her friends have no reason to lie.

It was STILL an ongoing emergency situation and he'd either phoned or was just about to phone the police. It went on for hours after that before they knew what had happened.

Hardly appropriate for other calls at all.

Totally agree. If it was in the day and age of mobile phones and he phoned her on the way to the farm, fair enough. But you've just had that call from your Dad (which definitely didn't happen) and then you call the police to meet you there and then you bloody well hightail it over to the farm where you've been told your sister is 'going berserk' with a gun. Of course you do.

And he was driving about ten miles an hour!!

seeing the scene and size of Neville Thera. O way Sheila did it

also shooting herself twice - it’s almost unheard off not least because of the pain and distress of the first shot - she would need to reload too apparently - the way the gun is leaning it’s so staged

Yes very good point about how he was not 'racing to the scene'!

It's impossible to shoot yourself twice in the way that the defence suggested - she was tiny too as you say.

That’s odd that Douglas Dale gave three different versions of the time when Bamber called.

Are people getting their info from the 2020 ITV drama? I haven’t watched that but am aware of a lot of facts from reliable sources.

I seem to remember there was thought to be movement in the house while the police and Bamber were outside. I can't remember the details though.

I’m watching the channel 4 documentary at the moment and the driving the car slowly and Shelia’s clean feet really stick out for me.
i told DH about the car and his face dropped. The woman from the New Yorker was so desperate for him to be set free, clearly ignoring all these bits of information.

Well to be fair the 2020 series was based almost entirely on the book written by Carol Ann Lee which is a very detailed and comprehensive summary. It’s not just dramatised from the writer’s room.

it was inspired by that book, but the writers would naturally have looked at other sources.

I haven't yet read the 17,000 word New Yorker article, have you? But Heidi Blake worked on it for eight months and I'm sure it would have been fact checked thoroughly but maybe she did miss stuff.

The clean feet might simply be explained by the socks nearby.