From Roger Wilkes:
Arlidge moved on to the evidence of the soldier, James Richards, who shared digs with Julie Mugford and had given evidence about Jeremy saying he hated his parents.
Jeremy denied saying this, but agreed it was the sort of thing that young people might say when complaining about their parents.
Jeremy’s voice had now dropped to a whisper, and both the judge and Geoffrey Rivlin had to ask him to speak up so that the jury could hear.
The judge was particularly anxious to hear more from Jeremy on the subject. Why should James Richards come to court and swear that Jeremy had said, with vehemence, ‘I hate my f..king parents’? The judge’s intervention seemed to silence Jeremy Bamber. ‘He said that you said it two or three times,’ the judge reminded him. ‘That is what he said,’ Jeremy agreed. Mr Justice Drake was not satisfied. ‘Can you explain to the jury why you think that man should come along and give that evidence to this court if it is not true?’ Jeremy paused. ‘I can only surmise, my lord, that people’s recollections of such events have been changed because of the way I have been portrayed in the newspapers, because he is a friend of Julie’s, and he doesn’t know me that well. Really, I don’t know the reasons why people do this. I wish I did,’ he added. In fact, Jeremy agreed with Anthony Arlidge that everyone who had been asked about him had lied.
‘Arlidge picked up the point that, throughout his evidence, Jeremy had indicated that certain witnesses were lying about their conversations with him, or their recollections of those conversations. Speaking of his uncle, Robert Boutflour, Jeremy said it was ‘very dangerous’ to guess at why he might not be telling the truth. As for James Richards, and the conversation about hating his parents, he was simply mistaken. The conversation had happened long before, and Richards had been influenced by the charges against him and the adverse publicity. The judge tried to short-circuit the point. ‘You think that the allegations and publicity against you have affected them?’ ‘Well, I’m sure it has,’ Jeremy replied. The judge asked if he had any comment on the other witnesses. Jeremy said he thought there were only two people who were actually lying: Julie Mugford – who had just made up her story – and Robert Boutflour.
With that, Anthony Arlidge proceeded with his questions. At length he came to the night of the murders, and the episode in which Jeremy had taken the loaded .22 Anschutz to shoot some rabbits. On his return, and not having fired a shot, he left it in the kitchen.
A dangerous thing to do? suggested Arlidge.
Yes, Jeremy agreed, and he now wished he hadn’t done it.
‘Just think about it for a minute. How long do you think it would have taken you to carry that gun and that magazine and put them in the den and gone out the back door?’
‘Yes,’ Jeremy replied quietly, ‘I wish I had done it now.’
‘How long would it have taken you?’
‘Well, minutes really. Seconds. Not very long, minutes.’
‘Seconds?’ ‘Well.’
Arlidge sensed his quarry tiring. ‘Thirty seconds, you could have done it, couldn’t you?’ The answer was little more than a mumble.
‘Maybe I could have done it, yes.’ Then a pause. ‘I was being lackadaisical,’ he added, as if to himself.
‘Pardon?’ said Arlidge, ‘You were being lackadaisical?’ Silence. ‘You are whispering now,’ observed the judge.
“Sorry,’ murmured Jeremy Bamber.
‘Everything plays on . . . hangs on every word, my lord.’ ‘You were reducing your answer to a whisper,’ the judge repeated.
‘It was something to myself, my lord.’ Arlidge pressed home. ‘You said, “I was being lackadaisical,” didn’t you?’ No answer. ‘Didn’t you?’
‘That is what I said to myself, yes.’
But Jeremy’s original explanation for leaving the loaded gun lying around was that he was in a hurry to get back to the field for the combine. Jeremy agreed he was in a hurry, adding that he still should have put the weapon back in the gun cupboard.
‘But I didn’t know what was going to happen, did I?’
‘You are not telling the truth about it, are you?’
‘That,’ Jeremy Bamber replied softly, ‘is what you have got to try and establish.
