L Harworth
My attention was first brought to the Jeremy Bamber case by a friend who was reading a book about him. 'Evil Almost Beyond Belief.' She finished it and said, "Oh my god you have to read this". When I had finished I was astounded. Not because the book was full of grisly content and the dreadfully sad story about the killings of two little six year old twins, their mum and grandparents. No, all that aside I was stunned Jeremy Bamber had ever been found guilty for the crime.
There was a programme on recently showing new evidence that could prove Jeremy is innocent. I found this very interesting, remembering his conviction was strongly based upon the use of the silencer, in fact it was crucial. The prosecution said there could be no way Sheila's arms were long enough to reach the trigger and shoot herself with the silencer on. So it must have been Jeremy.
The new firearms proof showed the gun was fired without the silencer. Which kind of changes everything, doesn't it? You would think so, but in the world of Jeremy Bamber and the awful tragedy which befell his family and him on that dreadful night, truth really is stranger than fiction. Really, no one could make it up.
Back to the programme. So the firearms evidence was good, really good but for anyone watching with no prior knowledge of the case, it wasn't enough. The way images of Sheila and the kids were constantly beamed out, it still made me think, no one would believe she did it, she looks like an angel. All anyone with a heart would see were those gorgeous little kids and their beautiful mother and feel sadness and confusion. How could she have done such terrible things to her own family? In 1985 a jury were asked to decide that too. But they had a choice. Who did it, Jeremy or Sheila?
In 1985 it really was inconceivable that any mother would kill her children, let alone this beautiful, slender, fragile woman and this was the deciding factor. What the jury didn’t know was that Social services had previously made arrangements for fostering the children. The relatives had denied that Nevill and June were ever discussing fostering for the boys. The jury didn’t know about the statements withheld by police such as that of Dr Ferguson who stated that if she was presented with the option of losing her children to foster care she may have become angry and vitriolic. The state of Sheila’s mental health was played down as the court could not prosecute Sheila but had to focus on Jeremy prosecuting Jeremy whose guilt would depended on Sheila’s innocence. It is true that Sheila should have had the children removed from her care for their own safety after the injuries sustained and noted by social workers, she was suffering from delusions that the kids were the devil and they wanted to have sex with her and were going to kill her. This is just touching on Sheila's back story but it gives an insight into the reality of what was really going on in the lead up to the tragedy. It enlightened me and was one of the main factors in my deciding Jeremy was innocent.
We all know these days that mothers do kill, in fact it's quite common and people with schizophrenia are very dangerous, to themselves and those around them. I wish someone would make a programme showing Sheila's true story and while they're at it they could tell about the Boutflour’s too.
The Boutflour’s, Pargeters and Ann Eaton are Jeremy's relatives who inherited everything from his parents estate after his conviction. They are also the amateur sleuths who found the silencer, which officially happened a few days after the tragedy, it now transpires, that it could have been more like a few weeks - yes, a few weeks AFTER the police had finished processing the crime scene and found no such silencer. After it was decided Sheila was responsible, it was a murder/suicide, case shut. How could it be possible, that after thorough searches of the house, no silencer was found? Where was this crucial evidence? Was it buried deep in the back garden, stuck cunningly inside a carved out oak tree, beneath the floor boards? Where on earth did Jeremy hide it? This evidence that would convict him? Err... it was in the gun cabinet M'lud. Ta dah! Yes, the Boutflour’s had 'discovered' this crucial evidence right under their noses, in the very place one would expect a silencer to be. Yes, we are asked to believe that Jeremy Bamber is not only 'Evil beyond belief.' but dumb almost beyond belief as well. And why on earth doesn't anyone think it's odd that the very same family moved into White house farm afterwards and still live there today? With the same bloodstained wallpaper and lampshades. What sort of person would want to live in a house like that? Odd persons with something to hide that's who!
Oh and these amazingly adept sleuths also said they 'discovered' scratches on the Aga, obviously made by said silencer during Jeremy's struggle with Nevill in the kitchen, although no such paint scratches/marks were found at the crime scene and do not exist in earlier crime scene photos. They only turn up later, miraculously, along with that silencer. Yeah, the one it has now been proven wasn't used at all. Funny that.
Let's not forget Jeremy Bamber was convicted ultimately on the evidence given not only by The Boutflour’s and the silencer, but by Julie Mugford, his girlfriend at the time of the 'murders.'
Julie Smerchanski (nee Mugford) was somewhat the jealous, possessive type. She was an ordinary looking girl from a working class background who had managed to secure a place in teaching college and snag herself a well to do boyfriend, a very handsome boyfriend she was struggling to hold onto. Julie was incredibly jealous of any other woman who went near Jeremy and he being the consummate flirt did not help matters. Julie, by her own admission, once tried to smother him with a pillow, telling him 'If I can't have you no-one will.' Hmm, what better way to ensure your lover never touches another woman than to have him banged up for life? Hmm...interesting.
When she discovered Jeremy had cheated on her with a friend weeks after the funeral and he dumped her, she suddenly ' broke her silence' and calmly trotted down to the cop shop and told police Jeremy had hired a hit man to carry out the murders of his family.
First she said he paid a hit man, this was disputed when the man in question knew nothing of it and had an alibi. So then she changed her story and said suspected he did it himself. Let me ask , what woman would lie in bed with a man who tells her he is going to murder his entire family? You would have to be some sick weirdo to continue to see a man who told you he planned to murder his parents, sister and two little nephews! Julie was/is a schoolteacher, a young woman who had spent lot of time with the children and the Bamber family. How could anyone keep quiet about that and continue to be with a man who would do such a thing? It is inconceivable to me, unless she herself is 'Evil beyond belief.'
Then I ask myself, if what she said was true, surely this would also make her an accessory to the murders? She could have prevented it all, yet she chose to keep quiet? Why did the police not charge her? The answer is simple. They didn't believe her, and upon reading the back story, neither do I. I also know if I was an evil murderer and the only person who knew what I'd done was my really jealous, possessive girlfriend, the last thing I'd want to do is piss her off by shagging her best friend then dumping her! Now that would be really dumb! Hell hath no fury....
It is here we get to the incredible story of how Jeremy supposedly, did it. He rode his mothers bike in the dark through marshes and lanes in super human time, murdered everyone, rode back, dumped the wetsuit he must have been wearing to stop him being covered head to toe in blood, (so it was said) hid it, burned it or buried it. Whatever he did with it, no trace of clothing, wet suit or otherwise was ever found, despite thorough searches of Goldhanger and the surrounds. He then got washed and changed and then managed, somehow, to arrive back at Whitehouse farm to meet the police, who he had rang to alert, about twenty minutes prior! (incidentally twenty minutes would have been just enough time to wake up, get up, throw some clothes on and drive to the farm after his father had rang him in the wee hours to alert him Sheila had a gun and was going mad.
Back to dear Julie, and we also discover she had charges pending against her which would have ruined her chances of a career in teaching. These charges were quashed in light of her giving evidence for the prosecution. She also cut a very lucrative deal with the News of the World for 25000. An absolute fortune then, but the story would only run if Jeremy was convicted. Blood money anyone?
I could go on for hours saying why I believe Jeremy is innocent. I could talk about phone call logs found recently that showed a call made from White house farm by Nevill Bamber to the police station telling them 'My daughter has got a gun and was going berserk.' I could detail the 100 minute lie detector test Jeremy passed, or the 27 years the poor guy has been banged up for, during which he has fervently denied his guilt, spending each day searching for evidence to clear his name. He has stated that even if he is given release based on the trial being unfair, it won't be good enough for him, he wants to be exonerated for the terrible crime he did not commit. I know that he wants his name cleared. Because for Jeremy Bamber, that is all that really matters. He loved his family, not a day goes by he does not miss them, think about them and is driven on to clear his name for them.
Because Jeremy does not want to be remembered as the man who slaughtered his family in cold blood, as the man who is 'Evil Almost Beyond Belief.' And it is at this point I realise that book had the wrong title. It should have been called 'Stitched Up Almost Beyond Belief.'