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White House Farm - The Bamber Murders. Jan 8th ITV 9pm

859 replies

Dogleg · 30/12/2019 21:04

Is anyone else planning to watch this six part series? I vaguely remembered the killings and on seeing this advertised have now lost hours to reading up about it online and have also downloaded a book about the case. I’m really looking forward to this one!

www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-12-25/itv-drama-white-house-farm/

OP posts:
LordOfTheWhys · 08/02/2020 20:28

I wonder how premeditated it was. Perhaps he took the gun to shoot rabbits so people knew he had held the gun that night, and so he could say he left the gun and the magazine/cartridges out. If the gun was where it should have been in the cupboard it didn't fit JB'S story that Sheila had some kind of psychotic break and started waving a gun about.

TheTruthAboutLove · 09/02/2020 00:22

I’ve spent tonight watching the first five episodes and I honestly can’t believe there are people out there who still think JB is innocent. As previous posters have alluded to, I believe he thinks he’s innocent as he’s convinced himself of it - and he’s that much a pathological liar and narcissist that he believes his own lies.

The JM part hugely reminds me of the Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr situation, a woman completely under a mans spell and I’m actually happy she had the strength to eventually realise what JB was and come forward as without her it looks like it would have fell apart. There was so many holes, if it was a hitman JB would’ve made sure he had an alibi which he didn’t, the silencer and Sheila’s height as well, Neville and the wounds and also a hitman would be efficient. I don’t think it would take 25 shots to kill five people if you’re a hitman.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing how it ends on tv, but JB should never ever be released. His behaviour was utterly outrageous as soon as they died, thank goodness for Anne and her family!

DuckWillow · 09/02/2020 08:46

Brett Collins (JB’s) friend from New Zealand has given some comments to The People today. He says he initially believed in Jeremy’s innocence but stopped believing him with time and reflection. He says he buried his initial doubts as he didn’t want to think his friend could have done it.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 09/02/2020 10:34

I have just got to the bit in the Carol Ann Lee book about the wetsuit being found at the farm. Interesting as I had always assumed the wetsuit thing was completely made up by Robert Boutflour.
I wish I knew more about it - who found it and when? Was it examined for damage? (It would potentially have protected Jeremy in a struggle, don't you think?) What is Bamber's explanation of why it was at the farm?
In other words, it could be either evidence against him or part of a massive fit-up, and it seems weird so little is said about it (unless CAL will say more later in the book).

LordOfTheWhys · 09/02/2020 10:44

That article was interesting Duck especially that JB said there was stuff going on but wouldn't say what it was. It actually made me think nothing was going on and that JB was being deliberately vague because he couldn't think of something bad enough that would justify mass murder. Leaving it open, meant people could fill in their own ideas of awfulness. If something awful had been going on, he seems the type who would have told everyone.

ageingdisgracefully · 09/02/2020 12:01

Has the series finished yet?

I'm reading the book and reached the part where the trial is beginning.

Don't want to spoil. Smile

DuckWillow · 09/02/2020 13:19

Was reading Carol Ann Lee's FB page. She's had a lot of trolling and abuse from some of JB's more vociferous supporters.
JB saying he only wrote to her "5 or 6 times"."

But check out the photos she has put up of the letters and there's loads. Some just a few pages and others around 20 pages long.

He wrote to her on and off for three years before deciding he had nothing more meaningful to say. Naturally much of it was around appeal and what points he was appealing on.

LordOfTheWhys · 09/02/2020 13:22

I guess the tv series is prompting lots of people to read CAL's book and that doesn't suit JB since the facts aren't on his side. To maintain his support, he needs a degree of gullibility and a lack of knowledge of the facts.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 09/02/2020 13:30

Some of his supporters are clearly awful people. Trudi Benjamin tweeting proudly about her insulting nickname for Julie Mugford shows just how unpleasant they can be. I hope the bonkers supporters don't harass the family and Julie directly.

SouthWestmom · 09/02/2020 18:29

Last episode is on Wednesday.

LordOfTheWhys · 09/02/2020 23:19

I guess Wed will mainly be the court case.

FlamingoAndJohn · 09/02/2020 23:32

To lighten the mood, did anyone else notice that the journalist they tried to sell the pictures to was Angelos Epithemiou?

SouthWestmom · 10/02/2020 06:55

I wonder how they will cover Taff , if he will just not feature

VivaDixie · 10/02/2020 12:42

Late to the thread as i have been binge watching over the last week.

My overriding observation regarding Taff and his motives for disregarding the DC throughout, is that it is a shocking indictment of how the Police viewed people with MH problems at the time. I have a close family member who was a PC in the 80s and he still has a staggering disregard for those struggling with MH. I honestly think it was a case of 'she was unwell [he would have used a more offensive term] so she must have done it'

Monkeybunkey · 10/02/2020 12:58

To lighten the mood, did anyone else notice that the journalist they tried to sell the pictures to was Angelos Epithemiou?

Yes! I thought it was him but then didn't watch the end credits to check!

AppleJane · 10/02/2020 19:28

What happened to the other dog?

IIRC, one dog lived in the house (the mother's dog) and one lived outside, presumably in a barn.

Wonder what happened to it and if it barked on the night of the murders.

LordOfTheWhys · 10/02/2020 19:39

In the TV series, both dogs were barking when the police arrived because JB pointed out something must be wrong or his dad would have come out for the dog barking.
iirc one of the dogs was rehomed. Obviously the other one was put to sleep.

AppleJane · 10/02/2020 21:27

Is there any reason (other than the 'blood' found in the silencer) why JB couldn't have committed the murders with the silencer off? I'm thinking he knew the dogs would bark and warn someone was around rending the silencer pointless. Dogs are likely to bark at night even if they knew him.

ShesGotBetteDavisEyes · 10/02/2020 21:45

But why would he not use the silencer? Surely he used it to have more chance of shooting everyone before they woke up - I think he shot the boys first so he would’ve wanted to increase his chances of not waking Neville and June before shooting them too.
Maybe he wasn’t bothered about the dogs barking - maybe he gave them food to quiet them - they knew him after all so surely wouldn’t get too worked up.

LordOfTheWhys · 10/02/2020 21:51

I'm not sure the dogs would have barked at JB. Our friends have guard dogs. They don't tend to bark at the family!

I keep wondering what happened in Sheila's room that made JB refuse to go into it when he went back to WHF after the murders ... has anyone read any theories on that?

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 10/02/2020 21:51

The sound moderator (wrongly called a silencer) would have made the gun more unwieldy which would matter in a confined space like a house. Moreover, it wasn't designed to silence the gun and apparently makes little difference to the sound to the human ear - it is designed for the difference it makes to the sound for rabbits and smaller creatures so it's less likely to startle them.
It makes more sense to not use it than to use it.

ShesGotBetteDavisEyes · 10/02/2020 21:58

Lord my impression of his reaction to sheila’s room was that it was faked to make it look like he didn’t know what had happened or where? Maybe I’m wrong but that was my thoughts.

LordOfTheWhys · 10/02/2020 21:59

Ah, I never thought of that but yy that could be it. You're obviously more cynical than I am ShesGot Grin

ShesGotBetteDavisEyes · 10/02/2020 22:03

I’m not up to that bit in the CAL book yet but certainly the way it was played in the tv programme, I think, was to suggest yet more “acting” on JB’s part.

AppleJane · 10/02/2020 22:29

Okay how about this scenario:

The murders were committed by JB pretending to be Sheila.
He thought he had meticulously planned every last detail to get away with the ‘perfect’ crime.

He did not use a silencer because Sheila would not have. He did not confess the murders to JM. In fact, he used her as an alibi of sorts by calling her earlier in the evening and then early the next morning, placing him at home.

The silencer/moderator evidence was planted.
The police pressurised JM to elaborate her statement and fed her information.

Imagine the torment for a narcissist who knows he was found guilty on ‘evidence’ that he knows is fake but can’t say how he knows it is fake. Hence why he is driven relentlessly to appeal the verdict. Right verdict, wrong evidence.