Did Jeremy Bamber murder five members of his adoptive family in a frenzy, or was he falsely imprisoned?
Did Jeremy Bamber murder five members of his adoptive family in a frenzy, or was he falsely imprisoned?
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Overview
Did Jeremy Bamber murder five members of his adoptive family in a frenzy, or was he falsely imprisoned?
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780752496306 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | The History Press |
| Publication date: | 08/01/2008 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 256 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
| Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Jeremy Bamber
Evil, Almost Beyond Belief?
By Scott Lomax
The History Press
Copyright © 2013 S.C. LomaxAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7524-9630-6
CHAPTER 1
The White House Farm Tragedy
Please come over. Your sister has gone crazy and has got the gun.
(The words allegedly spoken to Jeremy Bamber alerting him to the situation at White House Farm)
When Police Constable Michael West picked up the telephone at Chelmsford Police Station, just before 03:20 on the morning of 7 August 1985, little could he have known that he would be involved in one of the most controversial cases in British criminal history.
The caller identified himself as Jeremy Bamber, of 9 Head Street, Goldhanger, and, in a concerned, worried manner, immediately told the officer the reason for his call:
You've got to help me. My father has rang me and said 'Please come over. Your sister has gone crazy and has got the gun.' Then the line went dead.
Bamber told West that his sister, Sheila Caffell, had psychiatric problems and that there were a number of firearms within the family home, named White House Farm, which is located in the village of Tolleshunt D'Arcy, three miles from Goldhanger. West contacted a colleague, Malcolm Bonnet, who worked as a civilian member of staff in the Information Room at Essex Police Headquarters, by radio, to request a vehicle attend the scene. When he resumed his conversation with Bamber, West could sense the increasing concern in the caller's voice, with Bamber asking why it was taking the police so long to address his worries. At the end of the conversation Bamber was asked to meet the police at White House Farm, because there was already a police car in the general area of Tolleshunt D'Arcy and so it was easier to meet at the farm rather than for Bamber to be picked up.
It should be pointed out from the outset that at trial it was claimed Jeremy Bamber lied about receiving a telephone call in the early hours of 7 August. In 1985 there were no records available to show when calls were made. However, for now it is important to read what Bamber claims occurred before discussing the tragedy.
It is a fact that Sheila Caffell had 'gone crazy' numerous times over the years before August 1985. However, on these occasions Social Services and the family had always been able to resolve the issue without having to involve the police. It is indisputable that Bamber had been contacted in the past to help deal with Sheila, and that the police had never been needed. As the alleged call had been abrupt, and a gun referred to, however, Bamber was concerned and so he tried to call his father back twice, but both of his attempts were met with the engaged tone. Unable to make contact with White House Farm, Bamber phoned Chelmsford Police Station as a precaution. He claims the reason he did not dial 999 was that he feared the possible consequences of the arrival of police cars with their lights flashing and sirens in use. Bamber was unsure if the situation necessitated a police presence and did not wish to make what was perhaps a manageable situation into a dangerous one. He realised though that the presence of one or two police officers could possibly be of use in calming Sheila. However, he admits, 'Of course in hindsight this tactic seems daft but I was not to know how things were to develop.'
After telephoning the police Bamber contacted his girlfriend, Julie Mugford. He claims he did so because he was unsure as to whether or not he had taken the correct action by involving the police in what he believed was simply a domestic incident without violence. He was concerned that he might cause embarrassment if the police arrived at the house only to find that no threat had been posed. Although his girlfriend had tried to reassure him by telling that there was nothing to worry about, Bamber was still concerned and, after grabbing a jumper, he drove from his cottage to White House Farm.
Whilst driving towards his parents' home a police car (Charlie Alpha 7) travelling to the same destination overtook Bamber. It was claimed at trial, by one of Bamber's cousins, that Bamber was a 'very, very fast driver.' It was therefore asked why he was driving so slowly that he could be overtaken, particularly if he feared for the lives of his family. However, Bamber has responded to this by saying he was driving at the maximum speed limit and that it was the police who were exceeding that limit, which sounds a plausible explanation. After all, do not the police normally travel beyond the limit when responding to calls where it has been said firearms might be used? It would have been rather embarrassing for Bamber to drive above the speed limit, to be seen to do so by the police who he knew would be on the same road, and arrive at the farm only to find that such haste was unnecessary. Bamber could not know that his family were in danger and he had only called the police as a precaution.
It is easy to use hindsight and say that he should have driven faster. However, if innocent, how could he have known his family would be killed? It is all too easy to say what people should have done but, without being in that particular situation, how can we possibly judge whether or not a person reacted in a natural manner? The same argument can be presented to those who criticise Bamber for not having dialled 999. Bamber says that if the emergency services had been required, Ralph would have contacted them himself and the fact he did not suggests at that point in time the situation had not developed to be so serious that outside help was required. It should be considered that Police Constable West at first seemed reluctant to help Bamber and even afterwards was slow to respond. Therefore even the police originally did not consider the situation to be an emergency during the early stages of the call.
Jeremy Bamber arrived at the junction of Pages Lane, which is the lane leading up to White House Farm, and Tollesbury Road soon before 03:45, shortly after the first police officers to attend the scene had arrived. The police believed Bamber arrived between three and four minutes after their own arrival, which may or may not be an accurate reflection of the time. Unless the officers looked at their watches, there is no way they could appreciate the amount of time that had elapsed and they were not even asked about the time until a number of weeks had passed. Studies have shown that people naturally overestimate periods of time.
The police had parked ten yards in from the road and were waiting for Bamber to turn up. Bamber parked his Vauxhall Astra nearby and walked over to meet the officers, Sergeant Christopher Bews, Police Constable Stephen Myall and Police Constable Robin Saxby. During a brief conversation with Bews it was agreed they should drive near to the farm cottages, approximately two hundred metres from White House Farm, and park their vehicles at that location. After doing this, Bamber accompanied Bews and Myall on a walk up to the farmhouse, whilst Saxby remained in the vehicle to man the radio.
The lights upstairs and in the kitchen of the farmhouse were switched on, but the rest of the house appeared, from the outside, to be in darkness. British Telecom would later, at 03:56, carry out a check on the telephone line within the farm. The check confirmed there was a telephone off its hook and therefore the telephone line was open and could be used to monitor what was happening within the building. At that moment in time nothing could be heard other than the distressed barking of the family pet, a shih-tzu dog named Crispy. However, soon after approaching White House Farm Bamber, Bews and Myall saw a figure moving within the building, inside the upstairs main bedroom. At this point in time, fearing that a siege situation was unfolding, they all ducked behind a hedge, and then ran two hundred metres up Pages Lane, to where the vehicles were parked, in order to assess the situation.
Bamber was asked again about his father's call, to which he gave the same response as he had when speaking with Police Constable West. He also provided details about his sister's mental health issues. Sheila's state of mind will be discussed in the following chapter but it is important to say here that Bamber told the police that his sister suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and that she had not been taking her medication. On both counts, as will be shown, he was telling the truth. Sheila had, at the end of March that year, he explained, been discharged from St Andrew's Hospital in Northampton, where she had been undergoing treatment.
He added that there had been an argument the previous evening, which he thought might have upset Sheila and caused her to react in such a way that she might pick up a gun. Even so, Bamber did not believe his sister would commit a crime. Instead he thought that she would only use it as a scare tactic, whilst upset.
Bamber gave details about the guns within the house; as on most farms there were a number of firearms inside, including rifles and shotguns. Bamber recalled having loaded an Anschutz .22 calibre rifle on the previous evening whilst working at the farm. He told how he had seen some rabbits, earlier in the evening, beside the Dutch barn so he took the gun to shoot at them if they were still there. However, upon returning to the barn he could not see any rabbits and so he did not fire the rifle. Instead he claimed he placed it on the settle in the kitchen, leaving the box of cartridges beside the telephone. It was common, habitual behaviour, he claimed, for guns to be kept around the house because normally Sheila Caffell and her children were not staying.
Bamber was asked to draw a map of the interior of the building, indicating the positions of doors and windows and labelling where each individual slept.
The head of the family, Ralph Nevill Bamber, was sixty-one years old when he met his death. He is frequently referred to by his middle name, Nevill. I shall, however, refer to him as Ralph because this is how he is referred to by all of those I have corresponded with. A farmer and local magistrate, Ralph had amassed a considerable wealth for himself and his family. A number of businesses had been established and acquired, although the Bamber family did not, in some cases, own the whole company, instead owning a significant share. The Bamber estate was worth, in 1985, approximately £438,000 (at today's value it would be a multi-million pound mini business empire). As Ralph was a local magistrate he did not want his daughter's illness and erratic behaviour to be publicised for fear of the family name, and his reputation, suffering as a consequence. This is one reason why the police had never before been contacted; Ralph liked to keep the problems in the family wherever possible.
It was in 1949 that Ralph, a former RAF fighter pilot, married June Bamber, the daughter of a wealthy farming family, and the following year they took up a tenancy at White House Farm. June was also sixty-one years old at the time of the White House Farm tragedy. She was a deeply religious woman to such an extreme that she too had required psychological help.
Ralph and June Bamber, who were unable to have children of their own, had adopted both Jeremy Bamber and Sheila Caffell from the Church of England Children's Society. Sheila had been adopted in 1958, at the age of seven months, and was twentyeight years old in August 1985.
A former model nicknamed 'Bambi', Sheila had married Colin Caffell in 1977, although their marriage had broken down and they had divorced in May 1982. The couple had twin sons, Nicholas and Daniel, who were six years old at the time of their deaths. Sheila and her sons had, on 4 August, moved into White House Farm to stay for a week.
After assessing the situation it was deemed necessary to order the presence of members of the Tactical Firearms Unit, who arrived at the scene at approximately 04:58. Shortly afterwards, whilst outside the building, Bamber told Sergeant Douglas Adams, one of the firearms officers, of the importance of his family, 'What if anything has happened in there? They are all the family I've got.'
Those who lived near to the farm were instructed to remain indoors whilst more firearms officers arrived at the scene. It was decided that no action should be taken until daylight and so, despite the sun having risen nearly two hours earlier, it was not until 07:30 that the police used a sledgehammer to batter down the door and gain access to the building. Four armed officers charged in whilst being covered by colleagues who remained outdoors. The remains of a massacre greeted them.
Ralph Bamber's body was found downstairs in the kitchen. He was positioned on his favourite chair; face down in a coal scuttle. It seems almost without doubt that the killer moved Ralph's body into this position because he was perched on the end of the arm of the chair, which had been turned upside down. He was wearing his pyjamas when he had been shot eight times. There were two wounds to the right side of his head and two at the top of his head, which together must have caused an immediate loss of consciousness if not immediate death. Additionally there was a wound to the left side of his lip and a further wound located at the left part of his mandible, which had caused serious fracturing of the jaw, his teeth and had also caused damage to tissue in his neck and larynx. There were also gunshot wounds to the left shoulder and a grazing wound above the left elbow. The two injuries to his left arm would have completely prevented it from being used in any way. The six wounds to the head had been caused when the rifle had been only inches from Ralph's head. The injuries to his shoulder had been sustained when the rifle was fired from a distance of at least two feet. There were only four spent cartridges in the kitchen, suggesting Ralph had been shot elsewhere before making his way to the kitchen. There was a cartridge on the stairs leading to the kitchen, which shows that he had been shot from this location, and also three cartridges in the main bedroom, which could not be attributed to the other victims. It would seem that Ralph was therefore shot in the main bedroom and then fled to the kitchen where he was killed. At some stage, for reasons that will probably never be known, Ralph's pyjama bottoms were pulled down to his knees.
Other injuries upon Ralph's body included black eyes and a broken nose, bruising to his cheeks, lacerations to the head, bruising to his right forearm, bruising to his left wrist and forearm and three circular burn type marks on his back. The injuries were considered consistent with him having been struck by a long blunt instrument, quite probably the rifle used in the shootings.
The telephone, which was located in the kitchen, was off the hook and so it seemed that perhaps Ralph had made a telephone call for help, shortly before being shot, or that his assailant had taken the phone off the hook so that the line could not be used.
June Bamber was located upstairs, in the main bedroom. She had been shot seven times; once as she lay in bed and six times as she moved towards the bedroom door in her attempt to escape. Two of the wounds were to the head, with one shot having been fired between the eyes. These would have caused almost immediate death. It is possible that when shot between the eyes, the rifle had been in contact with June Bamber. Although this would later be deemed unlikely, it is certain that the shot was fired from very close range.
The twins had both been shot in the head as they lay in their beds; Daniel had been shot five times in the back of his head and Nicholas had been shot three times. It was assumed that both had died in their sleep. Four of the five injuries sustained by Daniel had been caused when the rifle was within one foot of his head. The wounds inflicted on Nicholas were fired from a much closer range and it is possible they were contact shots. This was unnecessary violence perpetrated by someone with hatred for the children or by someone with diminished responsibility.
Sheila was found on the floor of the main bedroom, beside her parents' bed. Sheila's own bed had not been slept in that night. She had sustained two gunshot wounds to the throat; post-mortem examination confirmed that she could have been alive and conscious for a period of time after receiving the first wound. This wound had been created when the rifle muzzle was within a distance of three inches, but it had only penetrated the soft tissue. It was the second shot that killed her, by causing significant injury to the base of the brain, when the muzzle was in contact with Sheila's throat. Sheila had no defence injuries and therefore it was unlikely she had fought with, or even put up any resistance against, any attacker. This is unusual given that she was shot whilst on the floor; therefore if she died at the hands of another individual she must have cooperated fully. However, in the opinions of those who saw Sheila's body it appeared to be a case of suicide, for her fingers were clutching an Anschutz .22 semi-automatic rifle, which lay on her chest.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Jeremy Bamber by Scott Lomax. Copyright © 2013 S.C. Lomax. Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Glossary of Terms, Names and Places,Introduction,
Chapter 1: The White House Farm Tragedy,
Chapter 2: The Mind of Sheila Caffell,
Chapter 3: The Official, and the Unofficial, Investigations,
Chapter 4: Jeremy Bamber,
Chapter 5: The Prosecution's Argument,
Chapter 6: Sheila and Firearms,
Chapter 7: Was There a Motive?,
Chapter 8: Julie Mugford,
Chapter 9: The Blood in the Sound Moderator: Irrefutable Proof of Guilt?,
Chapter 10: The Windows,
Chapter 11: A Break-in at the Osea Road Caravan Park,
Chapter 12: A Violent Struggle in the Kitchen?,
Chapter 13: June Bamber's Bicycle,
Chapter 14: The Telephone Call,
Chapter 15: Police and Prosecution Malpractice?,
Chapter 16: Proof of Innocence?,
Chapter 17: Conclusion: 'Justice Will Be Achieved',
A Timeline Indicating the Sequence of Important Events in the Case,