A timeline of Sheila's life
1957 Sheila is rejected by her birth mother.
1957 Adopted by June and Nevill at a few months old.
1957 That photograph in which June's chilling, possessive smile and Nevill's
detachment from this seem to set the pattern for Sheila's life.
1957 June can't cope as a mother, is hospitalised with a breakdown
1957 Was Sheila placed in foster care - with a 'third mother'?
1957 June becomes a religious fanatic - a symptom of her illness - preaches
constantly. 'Her arms hanging down by her sides', June is a cold,
judgemental mother. She sets unattainable standards of conduct for her
children. Is she setting them up to fail and to remain dependent?
1960s/70s Unsurprisingly, Sheila becomes a disturbed child - she's expelled from two
schools.
1970s Sheila fails at secretarial college - can't hold down work.
1970s Sheila does a modelling course, yet fails to become model.
1974 Sheila, aged 17 begins seeing Colin, aged 21, a more worldly wise
Londoner.
1974 Colin takes those pornographic photos of 17 year old Sheila
1974 Sheila is rejected as the 'devil's child' by her adoptive mother, June.
1974 Aged 17 or 18, unmarried Sheila becomes pregnant.
1975 Aged 17 or 18, Sheila moves in with Colin - to get away from her family? -
she also becomes pregnant again.
.
1975 Sheila miscarries.
1977 Sheila & Colin are pressured and cajoled into a shotgun marriage, partly
with a sticky web of financial inducements - which come at a very high
price?
1978 Sheila has violent episodes - e.g. punches her hand through a window on
21st birthday - a signal of what's to come.
1978-80s Sheila self harms - I've read in Shaw - evidence of this?
1977 Miscarriage 2
1978?? Miscarriage 3??
1979 The twins are born.
1979 Sheila and Colin's marriage breaks up, Sheila is left with 4-5 month old
twins. Colin takes a new partner.
1979 Sheila, unable to cope, is assigned a social worker and child minder.
1979-85 Sheila is so depressed and self obsessed that she rarely speaks to her
children. The twins have accidents due to this - Nicholas's fall from taxi
1981 Sheila begins to see Freddie - dependent on him for money and support,
yet she cuts him dead at other times. Sheila still loves only Colin.
1981 "Sheila had a very quick and violent temper...[she'd] lose over the
simplest of things" (Freddie's statement)
1982 Sheila and Colin divorce - Colin has joint custody of twins.
1982 Sheila is moved to Morshead Mansions flat by her parents - an expensive
liability Sheila cannot afford - another thread in the sticky web of
dependency and control.
1979 Sheila lives on benefits plus parental financial support.
1979/80s Sheila is left financially dependent on her manipulative parents: an
expensive flat, expensive private mental health care and loan support.
Do these killing kindnesses keep Sheila immature and in child like
dependence on June and Nevill?
Yet Sheila still has the apparent freedom of living in London.
1979/80s Sheila is unable to find a proper new partner and happiness as Colin
has done.
1983 Nicholas is hospitalised after falling from a taxi because Sheila was too self
obsessed to notice.
1983 Sheila has her first breakdown, is hospitalised for 3 months
(threatens suicide?). As Freddie stated: this 'breakdown was coming on
for some time, Nicholas's accident was last straw'.
1983 June and Nevill are so ashamed of Sheila's illness and its implications for
their social standing that they're determined to conceal it. They even
conceal it from family.
Does the veil of secrecy thrown across Sheila's mental illness by her
parents intermesh with the Bamber's sticky web of control?
1983-85 Sheila becomes a religious fanatic obsessed with the devil, just like
June.
Perhaps Sheila wasn't wrong in feeling herself possessed, but merely chose
the wrong culprit?
1985 Mch? Freddie's statement: Sheila has a psychotic episode and becomes
'like someone possessed'. She's violent, abusive, punches walls and
herself. Freddie is terrified for the safety of everyone in the flat.
1985 Mch Sheila has another breakdown - she believes she, the twins and
family are possessed by the devil, that the twins are capable of raping
and harming her, that exorcism alone could stop this.
1985 Mch Sheila is diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic and is prescribed the
antipsychotic drug, Haloperidol.
1985 Sheila meets her birth mother for the first time - a very positive experience
1985 Mch-Aug Care and custody of twins is removed from Sheila 95% of the time
1985 July Sheila's Haloperidol is reduced by 50% - dangerously at odds with
guidance that the drug should not be reduced by more than 10% at
one time and the results monitored prior to any further reduction.
1985 Aug 1? Sheila shows the effects of Haloperidol withdrawal. the Nurse's
statement: Sheila looks unkempt and disturbed at a party, behaves
oddly - it's clear she's schizophrenic and obsessed with Colin.
1985 Aug 2? Sheila appears at 2nd party looking stunning, except for her wild,
staring eyes. Ignores twins, unable to help, all she seems interested in
is getting Colin's attention.
1985 Aug 4 Colin takes Sheila to WHF, on the way he rejects her final attempt
to reconcile with him and her children
1985 Aug 6 June and Nevill, seeing the effects of Sheila's Haloperidol withdrawal
and her worsening mental health, tell Sheila they want Sheila and the
boys to move near them and the boys fostered there, so that they can
provide support.
Sheila's flat and lifestyle is paid for by her parents, she is in a hopelessly
weak position to refuse to comply.
A move near her parents would mean:
Living near her manipulative mother
Her twins coming under June's control and influence
Complete loss of her autonomy and freedom
A total change of her lifestyle
Sheila recalls only too well how controlled life is with June nearby
A return to the misery of her childhood
Worst of all: it would mean moving away from London and Colin
Yet Colin's totally rejected her
What is she to do?
1985 Aug 6 Already suffering the destabilising effects of Haliperidol withdrawal,
Sheila's panic stricken reponse to this demand places her under
intolerable stress. She first objects, then does what her parents do:
conceals her fears and withdraws into herself. Barely replying to her
aunt on the phone. Sheila goes to her room. There, gripped by panic
attacks, her mind fragments,
Following hours of increasingly deranged panics, poor Sheila has
the severest psychotic hallucinations she has ever had, similar to
those that Freddie described, yet worse:
Sheila no longer recognises her family. Her voices tell her that they're
all devils and that she must save the boys and herself by carrying out the
exorcism herself.
