Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
CONVICTED THE SCENE THE GUN I was with cops while a ‘victim’ was still alive...
Brief: Evidence being withheld
JEREMY Bamber has spoken from his prison cell to again insist he did not murder his family in a farmyard bloodbath 35 years ago.
And the convicted killer claims new evidence shows there was still life inside the house while he was outside speaking to dozens of police – which he hopes will clear his name.
His lawyers say officers did not enter White House Farm, where his 61-year-old parents Nevill and June, sister Sheila Caffell, 26, and her twin sons Nicholas and Daniel, six, were butchered, for nearly four hours after arriving, amid fears someone was alive inside, possibly with a gun.
Speaking from his cell in Wakefield, West Yorks, Bamber said: “It is the ultimate alibi that I was in the company of dozens of police officers when it was clear that a person or persons were alive in the house who I am convicted of murdering.”
He claims schizophrenic Sheila murdered her sons and parents.
But author Carol Ann Lee, who exchanged regular letters with Bamber for her book Murders at White House Farm, insisted she has no doubts about his guilt.
She said the overriding piece of
JEREMY Bamber’s lawyer Mark Newby wants prosecutors to disclose evidence he claims would undermine the conviction.
He has issued judicial review proceedings against the CPS, alleging it refused to release documents, as ordered by courts.
It is also claimed Essex Police was told three times to disclose relevant material, but has failed to.
evidence was a gruesome crime scene photograph, which has never been published, which showed the murders were committed by somebody “extremely adept with a gun”.
Ms Lee added: “Sheila didn’t, she was also on medication for her illness, which made her uncoordinated.”
Bamber’s girlfriend Julie Mugford also told police he planned the slaughter in a bid to get his hands on the family inheritance and had phoned her, saying: “Tonight’s the night.” The fresh claims from Bamber’s legal team come as the 1985 murders are being portrayed in the ITV drama White House Farm, starring Freddie Fox as the mass killer.
They will form part of an appeal bid in a submission to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Bamber’s lawyer Mark Newby claims the new evidence is “strong”.
Detectives maintained everyone in the farmhouse at Tolleshunt D’arcy, Essex, was dead by around 3.30am.
Bamber, who lived in nearby Goldhanger, met officers at the scene at 3.50am. He stayed with them until he was taken away at 9am.
But his legal team now say a rifle was spotted in an upstairs window by two separate gun police at around 7am, meaning someone in there was alive. Bamber’s lawyers said also in the new evidence are logs showing a firearms team as being “in conversation with a person from inside the farm” at 5.25am. And that a 999 call was made from inside at 6.09am. Documents seen by the Mirror show a BT operator connected police to an open line at the farm at 05.50am, meaning the handset must have been put back on to make the 6.09am call.
When officers eventually broke into the home they heard a noise upstairs, believing it may have been a person.
On inspection, everyone was dead. But Bamber’s team claim the noise could have been Sheila killing herself.
The gun was found on her body. Ballistics expert Bruce Jones claimed the .22 rifle would not have been loud enough for police to “associate its noise with a shot”. Other evidence shows windows may have been opened after 3.30am and lights turned off between 4am and 5am.
Mr Newby said: “I haven’t received evidence that contradicts it, I can’t say anything other than it was Sheila. Things shouldn’t have happened at those times if it was Jeremy.”
Bamber, who was 24 at the time and later jailed for life, criticised Fox’s portrayal of him, claiming “it is nothing like me”, and he was able to “make things up for dramatic effect”.
He said: “I am concerned ITV are now cashing in on the tragedy.” ITV insisted it did “meticulous research”.
Essex Police said appeals have “not found anything to suggest Bamber was wrongly convicted”.