Introduction
In this article, I will outline three key reasons to cast doubt on Jeremy Bamber’s supposed guilt. Firstly, I will cover the position of the Bible next to Bamber’s sister, Sheila Caffell, and how its unnatural position was not a result of Jeremy Bamber positioning it in order to frame his sister, as argued at trial by the prosecution.
Secondly, I will cast doubt on the evidence of the blood in the silencer belonging to Sheila Cafell, which was, undoubtedly, the key piece of evidence that resulted in the jury convicting Jeremy Bamber of the killings.
Thirdly, and most importantly, this article will highlight the 999-call made from within the farmhouse at 6:09am, which highlights the fact that there was still somebody alive, whilst Jeremy Bamber was outside the property with the police, meaning that he could not possibly be responsible for the deaths at Whitehouse farm.
Each of these points will aim to expose flaws in the prosecution’s case against Jeremy Bamber and highlight major gaps into the investigation surrounding Jeremy Bamber’s involvement regarding the killings at Whitehouse farm.
Moving of the Bible
In their attempts to portray Jeremy Bamber as the killer of his family members at Whitehouse farm, the prosecution claimed that he tried to frame his younger sister, Sheila Caffell, for their deaths by attempting to frame her death as a suicide after having killed her other family members beforehand.
One key prosecution argument regarded the unnatural position in which the Bible was found next to Sheila Caffell’s body. Photographs taken at the scene of the crime appear to show that there was a Bible placed by Sheila's right shoulder.
The prosecution argued that this was an unnatural position for the Bible to have been placed if Sheila was the last person to touch it.
In all fairness, the placement of the Bible, as depicted in the photographs besides Sheila Caffell’s shoulder, does seem to be unnatural if she was to have been the last person to move it.
However, the awkward placement of the Bible next to Sheila Caffell’s shoulder has an alternative explanation, as opposed to being the result of Jeremy Bamber attempting to frame his sister’s death as a suicide.
According to Heidi Blake, in The New Yorker, in recently discovered records, several doubts were raised amongst members of the firearms squad who were initially present on scene at Whitehouse farm. Records state that an officer initially present on the scene recalled the Bible being found at Sheila Caffell’s waist, not by her shoulder.
Additionally, when Blake spoke to Detective Inspector Sergeant Neil Davidson, who was the deputy of the lead crime-scene officer at Whitehouse farm, he himself admitted that he and lead crime-scene officer, Ron Cook, had moved the Bible from its initial position to examine it before photographs were taken. In their attempts to place the Bible back in its original place, Cook moved the Bible beside Sheila’s right shoulder.
As a result of this admission by D.I. Neil Davidson, the Bible would not initially have been found in exactly the same place as depicted by crime scene photographs. Rather, it was likely found initially at Shelia Caffell’s waist, as has been claimed by firearms officers initially present, which is a much more natural position if Sheila was indeed the last person to touch the Bible.
Thus, the argument presented by the prosecution that Jeremy Bamber was a calculated killer, who deliberately attempted to frame Sheila Caffell’s death as a suicide, by placing the Bible next to her right shoulder to avoid suspicion of himself being the perpetrator simply does not ring true.
Rather, the unnatural position of the Bible should, instead, be deemed a result of a poor policing response to documenting the crime scene. The admission by D.I. Davidson to Heidi Blake casts enormous doubt on Jeremy Bamber’s alleged attempt to frame his sister’s death as a suicide.
The Bible being reported to have been initially discovered in a much more natural position by her waist, before being moved, makes it much more likely that Sheila Caffell’s death was, indeed, the result of suicide, and not a result of Jeremy Bamber killing her and framing her death.
This admission by D.I. Davidson raises a lot of doubt as to Jeremy Bamber’s alleged role in being the perpetrator of the Whitehouse farm massacre. This doubtfulness of Jeremy Bamber’s role in the killings at Whitehouse farm also confirmed by D.I. Davidson himself, who admitted to Blake that he would not be surprised if it was later held that Jeremy Bamber was not responsible for the deaths at the farmhouse.
Silencer
On 10th August 1985, upon a personal inspection of Whitehouse farm, David Boutflour, a cousin of Jeremy Bamber, his father, Robert Boutflour, and sister, Ann Eaton, claimed to have found a silencer hidden in a cardboard box containing ammunition in a cupboard under the stairs.
Strangely, after discovering the silencer, they held onto it for a further two days, before finally handing it over the police for inspection.
Upon examination of the silencer, scientists were able to recover a flake of dried blood found inside the internal baffles.
Importantly for the prosecution, the blood type found on the flake was a match for Sheila Caffell. Further tests were conducted by experts, which concluded that Sheila Caffell would not have been able to reach the trigger of the .22 Anschutz rifle if the silencer were attached, as it would have been too long for her to reach the trigger.
Thus, it was concluded that the blood found on the silencer resulted from a back spatter from the wound on Sheila’s throat.
The argument of the prosecution, therefore, was that, if the blood type matching Sheila Caffell’s was found on the silencer recovered from inside the farmhouse, it would not have been possible for Sheila to have committed suicide, as she would not have been able to reach the trigger of the rifle if the silencer were attached to it.
Thus, the prosecution claimed that Jeremy Bamber must have shot his sister, before removing the silencer off of the weapon, in order to portray her death as a suicide.
Such was the vital importance of this piece of evidence, that when deliberating the case, the jury queried whether the blood found on the silencer was a ‘perfect match’ for Sheila Caffell.
The judge, Maurice Drake, assured the jury that it could not have come from any other person. Within 20 minutes, the jury returned with their verdict, convicting Jeremy Bamber on a 10:2 majority for the killings of his family members at Whitehouse farm.
The evidence of Sheila’s blood type on the silencer, with the jury assured by the judge that it could not have come from anybody else was surely a key factor in enabling them to reach their verdict to convict.
In 2019, The Guardian revealed that a week before Jeremy Bamber’s trial, the head of biology at Huntingdon Forensic Science Laboratories wrote to Essex Police, noting that the blood on the silencer could have come from either Sheila Caffell or Robert Boutflour.
This letter was not disclosed to the defence before the trial. This letter clearly contradicts the direction from Judge Maurice Drakeford that the blood on the silencer could only have come from Sheila.
Had this important letter been disclosed to the defence before the trial took place, it would have allowed Jeremy Bamber’s defence team, to raise doubt regarding the veracity of claims from the prosecution, as well as from the judge, that the blood on the silencer could only have come from Sheila Caffell.
The disclosure of this key evidence regarding the blood found on the silencer may have been key in the jury deciding not to convict Jeremy Bamber for the killings. Thus, the lack of key pieces of evidence, including this letter casting doubt on the blood on the silencer belonging to Sheila played a key role in Jeremy Bamber being convicted.
Had this evidence been disclosed to the defence, and brought up in trial to contest the prosecution’s argument, the jury may have changed their outcome in convicting Jeremy Bamber, given that the judge’s direction that the blood belonged only to Sheila resulted in them returning with a verdict within 20 minutes.
The non-disclosure of vital evidence before the trial, such as this key evidence regarding the blood in the silencer, is an injustice to Jeremy Bamber. Its inclusion in the trial may have played an important role in swaying the opinion of the jury to not convict.
999-call made at 6:09am
What is, perhaps, the most compelling piece of evidence falling in Jeremy Bamber’s favour in demonstrating that he was not the perpetrator of the killings at Whitehouse farm comes in the form of a 999-call made from within the farmhouse at a time when Jeremy Bamber was outside the farmhouse, alongside gathering numbers of Essex Police officers.
Scotland Yard records show that there was a 999-call coming from Whitehouse farm at 6:09am. The fact that this record exists indicates that there must have been somebody alive inside the farmhouse to have been able to pick up the phone and dial 999, whilst Jeremy Bamber was outside with the police.
An Essex Police officer, named Nicholas Milbank, was responsible for monitoring the open line coming from inside the farmhouse.
A statement was produced by detectives assigned to investigate this phone call, which was believed to come from Nicholas Milbank himself.
According to this supposed 'statement’, Nicholas Milbank apparently had heard nothing on the other end of the line until Essex Police officers entered the farmhouse.
However, very strangely, Nicholas Milbank’s signature was typed onto the document, and he had not personally signed it. This obviously means that Nicholas Milbank himself did not give any statement to Essex Police, and this ‘statement’ should be disregarded.
Moreover, the accuracy of this ‘statement’ was completely contradicted by Nicholas Milbank himself when contacted by Heidi Blake of The New Yorker.
According to Heidi Blake, Nicolas Milbank recalled hearing muffled speech, as well as other noises coming from within the farmhouse, such as the possible opening and closing of a door, or potentially the moving of a chair.
Nicolas Milbank himself admitted to Heidi Blake that he thought based off of these noises he had heard that it was obvious that somebody was still alive inside the farmhouse at 6:09am.
Crucially, this was at a time when Jeremy Bamber himself was surrounded with Essex Police officers outside of the farmhouse.
Logic dictates that if there were signs of life inside the farmhouse at 6:09am, Jeremy Bamber could not have possibly been responsible for the killings.
Thus, the entire case against Jeremy Bamber collapses. If Jeremy Bamber had killed his family members at Whitehouse farm, how could a 999-call have been placed from within the farmhouse when he was accompanied by numerous Essex Police officers outside the farmhouse?
Additionally, Nicholas Milbank confided to Heidi Blake that he had no recollection of ever giving a statement regarding his version of events of the case.
This false statement issued in Nicolas Milbank’s name is a prime example of an attempt by Essex Police to cover-up what actually happened at Whitehouse farm.
What is clear, is that Nicholas Milbank himself needs to give an accurate statement of what he heard at 6:09am from inside the farmhouse, which he personally signs himself.
Given that he appears to still be employed by Essex Police, it should not be difficult for Essex Police to contact Nicholas Milbank in order to give an accurate statement of what he actually did hear at 6:09am coming from inside the farmhouse.
And yet, at the time of writing, zero attempts have been made by Essex police to retrieve an accurate statement from Nicholas Milbank.
Conclusion
It is clear that Jeremy Bamber’s conviction for the Whitehouse farm murders is riddled with inconsistencies, non-disclosure of very important evidence at trial, and the mishandling of the crime scene.
The misplaced Bible, the doubtful evidence regarding the silencer, and the 999-call made from within the farmhouse together combine to cast major doubt on the prosecution’s case against Jeremy Bamber.
Yet, with all of this in mind, Jeremy Bamber has so far languished in jail for the last 38 years for gruesome crimes that he may not have committed.
By Marcus Hopkins
Final year Law Student, University of Bristol
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