K L Ross

I feel we could all take a leaf out of Jeremy Bamber's book

Jeremy and I were born in the same year and I believe it is this common link which has heightened my interest in his incarceration. I'm sure I’m not alone in saying I have often pondered the highlights, landmarks and even lowlights of life which have forged my path and shaped me into the character I am today, and at the same time wondered what Jeremy Bamber would have achieved if his life in the outside world hadn't been so cruelly taken from him. How many of us who have read or been involved in miscarriages of justice have felt utterly saddened for the innocent victims of circumstance. How many of us have shed a tear for the 'lost years' which can never be replaced, I have and I do. As a mother myself, I know for a fact I would be crippled if this had happened to my son and would consider my life well and truly over. Trust me when I say I am not a weak woman in any shape or form, quite the opposite as I am about to explain.

Jeremy had served three years in prison when I moved to London and joined the Crown Prosecution Service as a Legal Secretary to the Head of Branch. During 7 years service I have attended meetings with officers from New Scotland Yard and heard accounts of crimes so heinous they would shock and sicken most people. I have prepared case files for court and trawled through endless reports from psychologists and psychiatrists and have completely understood the traits, characteristics and personality disorders which make criminals, murderers and rapists carry out such horrific, appalling crimes. I have studied photographs of dismembered bodies, dug up or dragged out of rivers. I’ve seen photographs of bodies which have been battered and tortured and old ladies who had been raped and murdered. I’ve had to look at sickening photographs of a child swung by her feet and smashed off every wall in her bedroom. I have attended Crown Courts and have had murderers and hardened criminals stare me in the eye. Imagine being 'eyeballed' at the same time as listening to the gory details about how 'he' strangled his girlfriend and propped her up in the passenger seat of his car and drove her around London whilst revelling at the shocked reaction from passersby. Drawing on all this experience and knowledge, if you were to ask me "does anything you have seen or read lead you to believe Jeremy Bamber fits the description of (a) a cold blooded murderer or (b) a psychopath?" then my answer would be emphatically "NO. Jeremy Bamber is nothing like the people I’ve come across."

Scott Lomax has recently written a piece about the internet and how it has aided prisoners with their fight for justice, I have found the internet has certainly been the most informative tool to keep abreast of such high profile cases such as Jeremy’s' and which has strengthened my interest in criminology. It was through the internet which allowed me to become more involved in my support to join the campaign to free Jeremy for the crime I believe he did not and would not commit. Only recently I took the plunge and started to correspond with Jeremy (as do two members of my family). Who can relate to the excitement of reading a great compelling book which has gripped you so much you can’t wait to jump into bed at night to pick it up. Well, Jeremy writes with the same qualities which can make you laugh and cry all on the same page! From this correspondence I am gathering together jigsaw pieces which form the picture of a man with great resolve and honesty. It is a true testament of his strength of character how he can fight tirelessly to see justice prevail and that through his darkness he still maintains a great sense of humour. I feel we could all take a leaf out of Jeremy Bamber’s book which would make us all better people. If you asked me "Is Jeremy Bamber your friend?" I would reply "No, I haven’t earned that privilege!"