Notorious killer Jeremy Bamber is pinning his hopes on fresh photographic evidence to secure his release from jail – almost 40 years after his conviction for wiping out his entire family in a case that stunned the nation.
Bamber, now 64, was caged for life in 1986 after being found guilty of the cold-blooded slaughter of his adoptive parents Nevill and June, both 61, his sister Sheila Caffell, 28, and her six-year-old twin boys Daniel and Nicholas at the family’s White House Farm in Essex.
At his trial, he insisted Sheila – who suffered from schizophrenia – had turned the gun on her loved ones before taking her own life.
But prosecutors rubbished his claims, arguing that a silencer recovered from the crime scene contained traces of her blood, and she was too short to have killed herself with the rifle with it still in place, proving she couldn’t have fired the fatal shots.
Now, Bamber’s legal team believe they have photographic proof of a second silencer, which they say was examined by police at the time but never disclosed to the defence – a revelation that could blow the Crown’s case apart, reports The Mirror.
Bamber’s lawyer Mark Newby said: “The whole foundation of the prosecution’s case was that there was one silencer, and it was used to stage the scene. If there were two silencers, that calls everything into question. This is crucial new evidence.”
Prosecutors at the time alleged Bamber crept into the farmhouse in the early hours of August 7, 1985, and massacred his family using a rifle with a silencer attached. During a ferocious struggle with his 6ft 4in farmer dad Nevill, they claimed the silencer scraped against a mantlepiece, leaving behind red paint and a speck of blood matching Sheila’s type.
They insisted there was only ever one silencer in the case – supposedly discovered three days later by Bamber’s cousin and handed to police. But Bamber’s team now say newly uncovered images prove another silencer was in police hands on the very day of the killings.
“This case was built on the existence of a single silencer,” said Newby. “But records show two silencers with different exhibit numbers and different amounts of blood and paint evidence. It appears these were merged into one key piece of prosecution evidence.”
One photo, dated October 1985, shows a silencer wrapped with a piece of material. Another, taken just after Bamber’s conviction, shows a silencer without tape. A third image from 1999, used in DNA testing for Bamber’s failed 2002 appeal, shows a silencer with yellow tape embedded into it.
A former forensic investigator, Jacqueline Chapman, said that due to the fingerprint testing process used at the time, it would have been “impossible” to remove and reattach the tape – meaning two silencers must have existed.
Bamber’s legal team say newspaper reports from 1985, including a front page from the Daily Mirror, also prove police claimed to have retrieved a silencer on the day of the murders – before the one used in court was found.
His lawyers argue that if the jury had known about the second silencer, the entire prosecution case would have collapsed.
Mark Newby added: “It’s been more than 20 years since Jeremy’s last appeal. The Court of Appeal needs to look at this new material properly.”
Bamber, writing from behind bars, insisted: “From day one, I have said this case involved two sound moderators. The photos and newspaper articles back that up. This cannot be ignored.”
Essex Police, however, remain steadfast, saying: “Bamber murdered five people in cold blood, including two children. Multiple appeals and reviews have confirmed his guilt. We will continue to comply with all legal requirements.”
Now, as the Criminal Cases Review Commission considers this fresh evidence, the question remains – could these bombshell photos finally set Britain’s most notorious family killer free?
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