I found a quote
“ They called the note with the numbers and letters a suicide not, it is that note that was found on her bedside table and described as 'illegible'.”
Also a reference to when jones mentioned there was a suicide note in th COLP interview.
That’s been known about for a while .
During the Stokenchurch enquiry, on 6th August 2002, retired DS21 Stan Jones was interviewed by DCI Jeanette McDiarmid and DI Paul Brown. This was in relation to the kitchen telephone at White House Farm. During the discussion, he said:
Jones: “What you've got to remember is, it wasn't five murders it was four murders and a suicide, which throws a completely different picture on it. Because things wouldn’t be treated the same as a murder scene.
McDiarmid: Yes
Jones: “You don't go hunting for things if you've got four murders and a suicide if you've got someone saying I’ve just killed myself you don't start searching cupboards upstairs, you don't start searching cupboards in the other rooms, because you've got a note saying I've killed myself so it was treated as four murders and a suicide, completely different.
In terms of the case constructed against Jeremy, Jones’ statements are of major significance in demonstrating Jeremy’s innocence. Jones was clearly saying that the police had possession of a suicide note and they knew it was a case of four murders and suicide. Needless to say, neither police officer picked up on this or questioned him further on this subject.
If the Stokenchurch investigators had been competent and diligent they would have realised immediately that Jones had admitted to something of major consequence in Jeremy’s defence. What did they do? They changed the subject entirely; the next question to Jones was, “The point I’m trying to establish if you have knowledge of anybody…using any of the phone (sic) inside the house”.
One could be generous and suggest that the police officers were unaware that the crucial issue surrounding the entire case was whether Sheila Caffell killed her family before killing herself, but it really seems very unlikely that any police officer would not know that was a pivotal issue. Therefore, a conscientious police officer keen to establish the truth would have probed Stan Jones further on the issue. For example, which suicide note? What did it say? What happened to it? Why was it not made known to Jeremy’s defence lawyers? Who made the decision to deny the fact of its existence?
Essex Police knew that there was a note next to the bed in Sheila’s room. DS 640 Eastwood recorded the existence of these notes and stated they had been given to DCI Jones at Chelmsford Police Station after the murders although it does not state by whom. Scenes of Crime Exhibit list states:
“DRH/42 Note On bedside table Sheila Caffell’s room DC 1470”
The notes seized by DC 1470 Hammersley may or may not have been the same as the suicide note referred to by Stan Jones – it is quite likely that Jones was referring to another note. Indeed, it seems probable that he was referring to a different note because the note mentioned by Jones was specifically clear and immediately understandable as a suicide note, sufficient to persuade all the police officers present that it was a case of four murders and a suicide. As a result, they didn’t even bother to look in cupboards – it must have been pretty convincing, perhaps more so than the ones removed by DC Hammersley which were subsequently dismissed as illegible even though they could be read and understood with a little effort. The existence of the note would also explain why DS Jones encouraged the burning of forensic evidence and got Jeremy to authorise this.
When DS Stan Jones was interviewed by Metropolitan Police officers as part of the Stokenchurch investigation he revealed information that should have merited further exploration; highly significant in terms of Jeremy’s defence. The Metropolitan police officers ignored the suicide note information and it is clear that far from seeking the truth, the Stokenchurch officers merely went through the motions of pretending to mount an investigation.
The idea that is promulgated by Essex Police, that there has never been anything to suggest that Jeremy was wrongly convicted is disingenuous to say the least. For what emerged from the Stokenchurch enquiries was a carefully orchestrated subterfuge whereby the truth was avoided, keeping Jeremy in jail for a crime he did not commit. To borrow a phrase from Donald Tusk, there should be a special place in hell reserved for people like DCI Jeanette McDiarmid and DI Paul Brown who have enjoyed their freedom for the past 18 years while knowing that their actions kept an innocent man in prison.