Jeremy Bamber ‘Knellered’ Part 2 – the test for Dame Vera Baird

Dame Vera Baird. Interim Chair, CCRC

After over four years of supposed careful deliberation the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has issued a Provisional Statement of Reasons (PSOR) rejecting four of the ten grounds that Jeremy Bamber hoped would result in his case being referred to the Court of Appeal. The four grounds were effectively the strongest arguments submitted and had been prioritised by the Jeremy Bamber Innocence Campaign (JBIC).

One of the grounds was Issue 2 – The telephone call from Nevill Bamber.

The prosecution said that Jeremy Bamber telephoned the police at 03:26 am on 7^th August 1985. However, wording on the documentation used for recording the “distress call” indicated to many observers that it was Nevill Bamber who called the police at 03:26 and that Jeremy Bamber called the police at 03:36. If it was Nevill Bamber who called the police at 03:26 the prosecution would have to conclude that Jeremy Bamber had no time in which to murder his father.

In March 2021 the CCRC were asked to consider the following points:

“There is a concrete evidential basis to support the proposition that a call was made by [Neville (sic) Bamber] at 03:26am. This call was logged by Mr Bonnett, who recorded the details. This resulted in a message being passed over the police radio at 03:30am. [Mr Bamber] then called the police at 03:36am, resulting in PC West telephoning PC Saxby at 03:37am.

The jury were accordingly misdirected that PC West had mistakenly written down the wrong time. Essex Police had every motive to ‘bury’ the call made by [Neville Bamber]: namely that revealing it would have undermined the police and prosecution case and given [Mr Bamber] an alibi in circumstances whereby they had decided that he was responsible. The result was that [Mr Bamber] was deprived of an alibi, seriously prejudicing his defence.

The evidence that [Neville Bamber] made a phone call at 03:26am casts doubt upon the safety of the convictions.”

The CCRC commented:

“Whether Neville Bamber had telephoned Mr Bamber was the third important question identified by the trial judge. The timing of the various telephone calls

a: Neville Bamber to Mr Bamber,

b: Mr Bamber to the police, and

c: Mr Bamber to Julie Mugford was considered in detail at trial. #

The CoLP investigation also considered the timings of various telephone calls. The likely time of Mr Bamber’s call to Julie Mugford was raised as a ground of appeal before the Court of Appeal. No reason was found to consider Mr Bamber’s conviction unsafe on that basis.”

In responding to Issue 2, the CCRC pursued a desktop exercise trawling through previously considered documents before rejecting the idea that Nevill Bamber telephoned the police and once again the CCRC has failed to conduct any investigations that could have resolved the issue conclusively. There are some simple enquiries that could probably resolve the question of the telephone calls beyond dispute, if the CCRC was willing to make a few telephone calls themselves.

For nearly forty years two policemen have remained silent about what they witnessed on the morning of 7 August 1985. These two men are PC1902 Paul Stanley Cracknell and PC1930 Robin Raymond Norcup. They have, in effect, been ‘disappeared’ by Essex Police, their crucial involvement in the case of Jeremy Bamber erased, because they know the truth about who telephoned PC Michael West at Chelmsford Police Station at 03:26 that morning.

Nevill Bamber still alive at 03:26 destroys the prosecution case against Jeremy Bamber, so have Cracknell and Norcup have been removed from the scenario? They are never mentioned in accounts of events at White House Farm (WHF) – the police promote the fiction that PS Bews and the CA7 patrol car were the first responders. When Detective Chief Superintendent James Dickinson conducted a review of the case in November 1986 he failed to mention PC’s Cracknell and Norcup in his report and possibly did not even speak to them. His report gives the impression that PC West was on his own in the Control Room at Chelmsford Police Station and that PC West only despatched one police car to WHF, whereas two police cars were sent initially. The Court of Appeal, in 2002, made no mention of Cracknell and Norcup. The two officers have literally disappeared from the story of WHF.

PC’s Cracknell and Norcup left Chelmsford Police Station at 03:33 to attend White House Farm in police vehicle CA5. They were the first policemen to be sent to the farmhouse, directed there by PC Michael West. Cracknell and Norcup were standing in the Control Room at Chelmsford Police Station when PC Michael West received a telephone call at 03:26. I believe that it is inconceivable that Cracknell and Norcup did not discuss the telephone call with PC West, and surely he asked who had called him? The two young police officers, who would now be in their mid to late 60’s could very easily be interviewed by the CCRC and asked what they recalled about the conversation.

All official accounts of what occurred at 03:26 are incomplete, whether by accident or design. It is obvious that if Cracknell and Norcup had witnessed a conversation between PC West and Jeremy Bamber at 03:26 then they would have given evidence in court to that effect and there would have been no doubt then that Nevill Bamber was dead at 03:26. Indeed, such evidence would have been conclusive and irrefutable.

Likewise, PC Myall who was one of the crew of CA7, the second police car to go to WHF. Myall remained silent for nearly forty years about a conversation he had post-trial with Detective Superintendent James Dickinson where documentation indicates that he outlined that he had a telephone conversation with PC West at 03:37 while Jeremy Bamber was being kept on ‘hold’ by PC West[1]. This corroborates the contention that Jeremy Bamber telephoned the police at 03:36 – meaning that it was Nevill Bamber who made the 03:26 telephone call.

As a result of not speaking to police officers Cracknell, Norcup and Myall the CCRC has drawn a number of erroneous conclusions and dismissed Issue 2 incorrectly.

The CCRC has said that it has not identified any new evidence that causes it to reconsider the conclusions it reached in 2012. It has concluded that is no real possibility that the Court of Appeal would accept that the logs, the statements, and/or the suggestion that Nevill Bamber spoke to Malcolm Bonnett directly, impact on the safety of Mr Bamber’s conviction.

Well, having conducted a flawed investigation, they would say that wouldn’t they? When are the CCRC staff going to realise that documentation and desktop reviews of ancient Court of Appeal judgements are no substitute for speaking to people directly involved in a case.

When will they realise that documents get forged, amended and otherwise manipulated to tell a story that suits the prosecution?

For goodness sake, CCRC, speak to people who were directly involved, even if it leads to uncomfortable conclusions – that is what the CCRC were established to do in 1995 and it is about time they started to act.

This article provides further evidence that there is a great deal for Dame Vera Baird KC to correct at the CCRC, starting with an organisational culture that is not interested in finding out the truth if it aids an applicant.

She should insist that her staff request to interview Cracknell, Norcup and Myall immediately and pursue all avenues to establish the truth about the 03:26 telephone call, anything else will amount to dereliction of duty.

By Bill Robertson

Bill Robertson has researched alleged miscarriages of justice for around 20 years and advised on several cases, including the most recent application to the CCRC by Jeremy Bamber.

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References

[1] This indicates that CA7 did not leave Witham Police Station at 03:35, which the CCRC relies upon. CA7 could not have left Witham Police Station while Myall was speaking on the telephone to PC West.