Bulletpath article.

[Adam]

Why do you disbelieve he would walk?

Too long. Too tiring.

He had a bike.

[ILB]

Too long. Too tiring.

He had a bike.

It's not long though for a fit healthy guy is it.

[Adam]

It's not long though for a fit healthy guy is it.

It is. A 140 minute round trip via The Sea Wall he would certainly need to sit down on the park bench.

[Adam]

Wilkinson's 16 minutes per mile walking The Sea Wall route sounds reasonable.

However his 8 minutes per mile cycling is too slow.

[ILB]

He can just walk the road way.

Baseball cap scarf etc

[Curiosity]

A much better and sharper aerial view of the farm track linking WHF and BHF from mapcarta.  Zoom in using your mouse wheel or the + sign bottom right.  Then change the view to Satellite by clicking on the wavy flag in the top left corner -

https://mapcarta.com/W248138154/Map

The actual farmhouse whose frontage faces South, is to the East, which is now hidden from the farm track by hedges (and possibly was in '85 too); those buildings with the same label to the West are for working in or barns for machinery storage/livestock.

https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/IOE01/11178/14

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/413125

I think Bamber could easily have sped along the unmetalled track on his bike in the middle of the night without being seen or heard from BHF.  In his Astra, possibly but not so much.

[Steve_uk]

A much better and sharper aerial view of the farm track linking WHF and BHF from mapcarta.  Zoom in using your mouse wheel or the + sign bottom right.  Then change the view to Satellite by clicking on the wavy flag in the top left corner -

https://mapcarta.com/W248138154/Map

The actual farmhouse whose frontage faces South, is to the East, which is now hidden from the farm track by hedges (and possibly was in '85 too); those buildings with the same label to the West are for working in or barns for machinery storage/livestock.

https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/IOE01/11178/14

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/413125

I think Bamber could easily have sped along the unmetalled track on his bike in the middle of the night without being seen or heard from BHF.  In his Astra, possibly but not so much.

How far is it from Brook House Farm to White House Farm? Where would the yellow, sulphurous mud have been accumulated and I wonder why Robert Boutflour couldn't find evidence of fresh bike tracks?

[Curiosity]

How far is it from Brook House Farm to White House Farm? Where would the yellow, sulphurous mud have been accumulated and I wonder why Robert Boutflour couldn't find evidence of fresh bike tracks?

Using mapcarta's own scale, roughly 3,600 ft or 7 tenths of a mile between them. Mud from any water-filled depressions along the way presumably. Bike tracks hard to distinguish days after the event on a well-compressed gravel road driven over daily by cars, tractors and other heavy vehicles.

[Adam]

Doubt anyone would recognise Bamber cycling the BHF route.

Someone would have to be outside at 1.00am - 3.00am just to see a cyclist. Doubtful in GH.

Or someone would have to be looking through there window at 1.00am - 3 00am. Although some of the properties are a long way from the road so unlikely to see a cyclist at night. 

There was no street lighting and he could travel quickly on the perfect terrain of roads.

He could put head gear on.

If someone did see him, the worst that could happen is over a month later he says he remembered seeing a man on a bike on the 7th August. This could be challenged by the defence.

Security cameras could be more of a problem for him.

[Adam]

Obvious why the prosecution said he cycled The Sea Wall - it passed no properties.

If the prosecution said he cycled the BHF route, the defence could counter by saying no one saw him & no security cameras recorded him.

[ILB]

Cant fault the prosecution for using the sea wall theory and I can see why they did even though I dont believe so.

Via the road route, Walk, car, or cycle I dont believe personally he would have been identified. I would wager probably 98 percent of people would have been in bed at the material time. I dont believe nobody would have rushed to the window to see the car leave etc etc. But in terms of visual on the chance he was. Being on foot or cycling offers more chance of a positive ID than the car.

The biggest risk for him would have been a police patrol car clocking him while they were on duty. A man out at that time is seen by the police as being up to no good.

Other than that only foxes or cats would have clocked him.

[ILB]

Doubt anyone would recognise Bamber cycling the BHF route.

Someone would have to be outside at 1.00am - 3.00am just to see a cyclist. Doubtful in GH.

Or someone would have to be looking through there window at 1.00am - 3 00am. Although some of the properties are a long way from the road so unlikely to see a cyclist at night. 

Unlikely to see a car or on foot either.

Seems many believe the car engine will wake up the neighbours and they will jump out of bed and run to the window.

[ILB]

To me the defence couldnt put much on the point " about nobody seeing him "

It was a heartbeat style village. Not picadilly circus.

[ILB]

Security cameras could be more of a problem for him.

Doubtful to be honest but at the same time not 100 percent sure either way.

If anything I would have expected a farm premises like WHF to have them, what with expensive agricultural machinery and farms being prone to burglaries.

[Adam]

Wilkes's book says the judge does mention The Sea Wall in his summing up.

Repeating what Julie testified - he planned to leave his car at home & cycle The Sea Wall to avoid being seen.