The case of Jeremy Bamber “bears all the hallmarks” of a miscarriage of justice, according to the lawyer who overturned the wrongful conviction suffered by Andrew Malkinson.
64-year-old Bamber is currently serving life behind bars for the murder of his sister Sheila Cafell, 28, her six-year-old twins Daniel and Nicholas and his adoptive parents Nevill and June Bamber, both 61. The four died in a bloody shotgun shooting at an Essex farmhouse, known as the White House Farm murders, in August 1985.
Appeal lawyer Emily Bolton, who helped free Mr Malkinson after 17 years in prison, says in a new Channel 5 documentary exploring Bamber’s case that she believes “history is repeating itself” with many pieces of “particularly potent” evidence coming to light with jurors in Bamber’s trial did not hear.
View 9 ImagesBamber is now 64(Image: PA)
“This evidence should have been in front of the jury – and it was not. For that reason, the conviction must be quashed,” Ms Bolton, director of the non-profit Objection, which highlights injustice, said to The Mail on Sunday.
Bamber has always maintained his innocence and the documentary explores new evidence, never-before-seen documents and fresh ballistic tests to ask whether he could have been the victim of one of the UK’s worst miscarriages of justice. Among the evidence reviewed in the new doc are never-seen-before letters from Ms Cafell that suggest she was suicidal at the time of the killings.
View 9 ImagesAndrew Malkinson, who spent 17 years in jail for rape(Image: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire)
In one letter, Ms Cafell wrote to her mother: “The Sun newspaper, the police are going to be in touch soon and get this whole dirty mess cleaned up. As soon as this is dug up and the public know then my darling mummy, with my babies and me go to our rest.”
The letter was deemed illegible by Essex Police and not disclosed to the defence team on the case, according to the documentary. Former police detective and investigative journalist Mark Williams-Thomas says: “She was very troubled. Five months prior to the murders she was admitted into hospital with psychosis.”
View 9 ImagesNeville and June Bamber(Image: Collect Unknown)
Dr Sohom Das, forensic psychiatrist, confirms in the documentary that Sheila was on medication for schizophrenia and schizo affective disorder and the erratic nature of the letters, which read like a suicide note, are consistent with that diagnosis. He says: “She had started hearing voices that told her she was somebody else and she had this sense of paranoia.
“She believed she could somehow project evil on to others, specifically on to her twin sons. And she believed that they wanted to have sex with her and also commit violence.”
View 9 ImagesSheila Cafell with twins Nicholas and Daniel(Image: Collect Unknown)
In the letters Sheila writes: “It’s a very messy, dirty business. As soon as this is dug up and the public knows, then my darling mummy, with my babies and me, go to our rest.” Expert analysis highlighted in recent reports also concluded that no silencer was on the gun that killed Sheila.
Philip Walker, director of the Jeremy Bamber Innocence Campaign, says: “Jeremy knows he’s innocent – it’s the driving force that’s kept him going through 41 difficult years. He’s hopeful this new evidence will be enough to bring this back to court.”
View 9 ImagesWhite House Farm at Tolleshunt D’Arcy, near Maldon, in Essex(Image: Press Association)
Philip says: “The central plank of the case was built around the moderator, and we now know with absolute certainty from four very distinguished pathologists, and a very well-known firearms expert that there was no moderator on the gun.”
Ballistics expert Philip Boyce examined the gunshot wounds on Sheila’s neck and found no evidence of scorch marks that a silencer would leave at close range. It has also been discovered that the family owned many silencers, and Jeremy’s uncle Robert Boutflour also had the same blood group as Sheila – the jury was never made aware of this.
View 9 ImagesPC Chris Whiddon during a press conference at Essex Police Headquarters, holding the .22 rifle and silencer(Image: Press Association)
Mark says: “If you look at it with a proper analytical approach, the evidence tells you that none of it stacks up.” There is also crucial evidence from firearms officers that not only was the silencer left in a drawer for days by police, but there was astonishing crime scene interference from the senior detective at Essex Police.
PC Neil Davidson alleges: “Chaos reigned wherever DI Ron Cook trod. We used to call him Bumbling Ron for a reason. He was a clumsy sod. He was a nightmare.” He claims that Cook picked up the Bible and put it back in the wrong place.
View 9 ImagesBamber and girlfriend Julie Mugford at the funeral of three members of his family a year before he was convicted of their murder(Image: Press Association)
Philip says: “In 2002, the Court of Appeal drew huge inferences of the Bible placed next to Sheila’s shoulder in an unnatural position, implying it had been placed there. Now we know it wasn’t there, it was actually about 18 inches from her waist on the right hand side.” There are also claims that the second gunshot to Sheila was caused by an accidental discharge of the rifle, cementing a suicide theory.
Bamber’s legal team plans to submit a report demanding that the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) review their original objection and refer the case. Philip says: “The documentary highlighting the evidence will help. There is no doubt that public pressure is one of the main reasons that miscarriages of justice get overturned. This is the longest-running miscarriage of justice in English legal history.”
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View 9 ImagesBamber in 2002(Image: PA)
Responding to the allegations, Essex Police refer to the fact that several appeals and reviews have concluded that Bamber is guilty, while the CCRC says they are working to consider additional matters raised in his application. The Mirror has approached for further comment.
Jeremy says: “Even today we believe that we’re going to win and I hope we do, and I believe that we will, but it just seems that there are ever more hurdles to overcome.”