Jeremy Bamber

[JamesW]

It seems hard to get any agreement on the facts in this case.

According to Meatus:

"Bamber was at the farm before the police and waiting for them."

According to the published judgement of the Court of Appeal:

"PS Bews, PC Myall and PC Saxby drove from Witham Police Station passing the appellant in his car on their way to the farm. He was travelling at a speed very much slower than their vehicle."

[JamesW]

Meatus quotes at length the evidence of Dr Hugh Ferguson in this case, although it's interesting to note one additional line of Dr Ferguson's evidence which seems to have been omitted from the Meatus version:

"When told on 8 August 1985 that Sheila Caffell had killed her parents and children and then herself, Dr Ferguson said this did not fit "his concept" of his patient. He did not feel she was someone who would actually be violent to her children or towards her father"

[JamesW]

As Meatus said above "in cases like this there are so many false things that people claim to be true."

Meatus himself comments that "Sheila's bloodstained nightdress and bloodstained bedding and carpets were burned by the police!"

There is no mention in the Meatus version of events that the police burnt these items on Jeremy Bamber's request. The police have always said it was a specific request by Jeremy Bamber to have these items burnt and this has never been contradicted. Even Jeremy Bamber's own website does not contradict the police statements that it was Bamber who wanted the item's burnt.

[JamesW]

What is truth?

According to Meatus there are "reports of officers retreating from the door of the house as shots were fired".

According to the published judgement of the Court of Appeal, after arriving at the farmhouse the police heard no sound whatsoever "save for the barking of a dog".

[JamesW]

On the matter of Sheila Caffell's hands:

According to the Meatus version of events "her post mortem showed traces of lead on her hands".

The Court of Appeal tells a rather different story: "Sheila Caffell's hands and forehead were swabbed. Extremely low traces of lead were detected when the swabs were examined. Such levels being consistent with the levels found from the handling of every day things around the house. The scientist Mr Elliott gave evidence that if Sheila Caffell had loaded eighteen cartridges into a magazine he would have expected the hand swabs to have revealed appreciably higher deposits of lead."

[JamesW]

Another matter.

It is stated in the Meatus version of events that "The bible found with Sheila was never examined".

The published transcript of the appeal court says otherwise: "The Bible found by Sheila Caffell's body, belonged to her mother and was normally kept in a cupboard to the right of her bed. It was examined for fingerprints. Many belonged to June Bamber and there were a small number of insufficient detail for comparison, save for one which appeared to have been made by a small child".

[JamesW]

Another Meatus claim.

It is claimed by Meatus that "only 1 officer a DC Jones (Not to be confused with DCI "Taff" Jones) thought that Bamber may be guilty".

This claim is directly contradicted by police ?sergeant Chris Bews, who met Bamber at the farm on the night of the tragedy. Bews said: ?He seemed rehearsed and ready for every question. I felt deep down there was something going on.? Sgt Bews said both he and his colleagues were suspicious of ?Bamber?s calm, collected ?manner considering the atrocities he must have feared had occurred. One thing he found strange was that Bamber had phoned ?Chelmsford ?police station direct. He added: ?Even kids at primary school are taught to dial 999 in an ?emergency.?

[JamesW]

More from the Meatus version of events:

"A police log timed at 3:26 am on 7 August was entered as evidence at the trial, but it was not shown to the jury, or seen by Bamber's lawyers until at least 2004. It discusses a telephone call made that night to a local police station. According to the defence team, the call was made by Nevill Bamber. The log is headed "daughter gone berserk," and says: "Mr Bamber, White House Farm, Tolleshunt d?Arcy?daughter Sheila Bamber, aged 26 years, has got hold of one of my guns." It adds (referring to a call to police known to have been made by Bamber;): "Message passed to CD by the son of Mr Bamber after phone went dead." It goes on to say: "Mr Bamber has a collection of shotguns and .410s," and it includes the telephone number 860209, the number at the time for White House Farm. The final entry says: "0356 GPO [the telephone operator] have checked phone line to farmhouse and confirm phone left off hook." The log shows that a patrol car, Charlie Alpha 7 (CA7), was sent to the scene at 3.35 am. If this did indeed log a telephone call from Nevill Bamber, it would confirm Bamber's story."

What Meatus doesn't tell us is far more interesting. Meatus fails to inform us that the police only logged one call that night regarding the Bamber farmhouse and Jeremy Bamber admitted making it. Since the police records showed only one call on the matter it follows that Nevill Bamber did not call the police. If Jeremy Bamber made the only call that the police received on the matter then it couldn't have been Nevill Bamber calling.

The statement made by Meatus that the log wasn't "seen by Bamber's lawyers until at least 2004" is not strictly factual. It was given to Bamber's lawyers at the time along with all other police documents in the case. Of course Meatus can always argue that they may have received it in 1985, but didn't actually look at it until 2004.

[JamesW]

The window???

The Meatus version: "They all approached the house together were they all saw a figure at the window with a gun"

The police version: ?At one point we thought we saw someone moving in the house but, when we checked, it was the moon?s reflection in the window.?

[JamesW]

Quicker or not?

Meatus version: "Bamber also explained to the officers outside that he had dialled the local police station and not 999 as he thought it would affect the time the officers arrived, ie he thought they would come quicker from the local police."

Polive version: "When asked why he had not dialled 999, the appellant said he did not think it would make any difference to the time it would have taken for the police to arrive."

So Meatus says that Bamber "thought they would come quicker from the local police" but the police say he told them the opposite, that "he did not think it would make any difference".