The silencer, hand swab, and scratch marks on the aga, Conspiracy...

[Nuala]

"When the muzzle of the firearm gets next to or is in contact with the target, hot gases escaping from the muzzle at high velocity will typically rip, tear, shred, and/or melt the material of the target.  A very intense deposit of gunshot residues will be found around the margins of a contact or near contact entrance hole.

There have actually been cases where a hard contact gunshot (muzzle pressed hard against the victim) caused the residues to blow through the wound tract in the victim and be deposited around the inside of the exit hole of the victim's clothing.

Gunshot residue is normally a combination of gunpowder residues and lead residues.  I say normally because some newer ammunition is virtually lead-free.  More and more ammunition manufacturers are using lead free or low lead propellants because of the toxicity of lead.

Gunpowder residue can contain unburned gunpowder particles, partially burned gunpowder particles or the carbonaceous soot from completely burned gunpowder.  The image below show a bullet hole surrounded by gunpowder particulate residue

Modern smokeless gunpowder, and black powder, contains nitrate compounds.  Black powder normally contains a combination of potassium nitrate (75%), charcoal (15%), and sulfur (10%).  Smokeless powders can either be single based or double based.  Single based gunpowder will contain nitrocellulose (cellulose hexanitrate) as its main ingredient.  Double based gunpowder contains nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin (glyceral trinitrate) as its base.  Some triple-based powders are also now available.

When either of these types of gunpowder burns the residue left behind will be in the form of a nitrite-based compound.  Nitrite particles when emitted from the muzzle of a firearm will strike a nearby target and either be imbedded in the target's surface or leave a deposit of nitrite residue.

Lead residues will be in a vaporous or particulate form and can come from a couple sources within a discharged cartridge.  The most common source is the primer.  Primers are used to start the ignition process in cartridges and commonly contain lead styphnate, barium nitrate, and antimony sulfide compounds.   However, some newer primer compounds are being used that are lead and/or barium free.

Cartridges containing lead based primers, when ignited, produce a vaporous cloud of residue that is expelled from the muzzle of the firearm.  Additional vaporous lead residues can be produced when the hot gases pushing a lead bullet down a barrel melt lead from the base of the bullet.

A third form of lead residue will be in a particulate form.  Particulate lead residue comes from minute lead particles that are shaved from the sides of a lead bullet as it travels down the barrel.  Lead particulate has more mass than vaporous lead and travels greater distances.  Also, gunpowder particles can be coated by the vaporous lead residues and leave what appears to be a lead particulate deposit upon striking the target."

Complicated, isn't it?

http://www.firearmsid.com/a_distancegsr.htm

[Nuala]

"The amount of lead residue emitted from a gun can vary slightly from shot to shot.  Fouling in the barrel from previous shots can slightly increase the amount of lead residue emitted from one shot to the next.

As described above, gunshot residue can be deposited on articles of clothing when in close proximity to a discharged firearm.  But will it stay there?  In most cases the answer is yes.

The various elements contained in gunshot residue are not readily water soluble and clothing left exposed to the elements will not usually diminish the residue deposits.  Other factors such as heavy bleeding and rough handling of the garment can cover up or dislodge some residues.  This has to be taken into consideration when conducting all such examinations.  The garments must be promptly collected, allowed to air dry, and packaged in a way that will minimize contamination.

The clothing submitted to the laboratory will be examined to determine if a pattern of gunshot residue is present and there are a number of examinations conducted to aid in this determination.  Click next below to learn more."

 

[guest154]

With a gun, or shooting a gun? How does the fact that she may or may not have held a shotgun for a picture 9 years previously assist with the theory that she was familiar with the rifle purchased in 1985?

And a good enough aim to hit people with every bullet and not miss.

[Nuala]

And a good enough aim to hit people with every bullet and not miss.

As I've posted elsewhere, the official website states:

"The family were all killed at close range, the furthest shot away was 3 feet, she couldn’t have missed."

[Patti]

We must remember that not all the shots were on target, to kill immediately. The risk of shots like that could is that the shooter risked being over took. The shots were all over the place. I doubt anyone could have missed at such close range. Like Keira said most were very close shots, but when you actually look, the shots were, shoulders, legs, arms and head.  Not nice...none of it...

[elphick]

For some reason I thought I'd also seen a picture of Sheila on the shooting holiday holding a gun. But then I probably made that up.

embarrassingly, having given this some thought, i think i had seen a picture of Kate Middleton rather than Sheila. Sorry.

[Bridget]

Bridget look on you tube, the rifle is so easy to use. Also look at the new evidence documentary and you will see how easy it is too load and use....I wouldn't tell you lies about it...But when I watched it once, I would be confident to load it, flick the recoil and pull the trigger....All this talk about not being able to use that rifle is poppycock......she was 27 years old.  She had been around guns all off her childhood life....it's ludicrous to suggest she had no idea how to use them....

I think you are twisting what was said about Sheila and guns. The point has never been that it was impossible for her to have used the gun. It was that she was unfamiliar with guns and therefore unlikely to have chosen to use one, and unlikely to have been able to use one so proficiently and without getting overpowered. Remember also that she is said to have had poor co-ordination, which would make loading the magazine and refitting it to the rifle more difficult for her than for you and I.

What does 'flick the recoil' mean?

[lookout]

We must remember that not all the shots were on target, to kill immediately. The risk of shots like that could is that the shooter risked being over took. The shots were all over the place. I doubt anyone could have missed at such close range. Like Keira said most were very close shots, but when you actually look, the shots were, shoulders, legs, arms and head.  Not nice...none of it...

Hi Patti,,,,yes,the shots were typical of a frenzied and disturbed person,,,and because the rifle was only for use on small animals,,,Sheila would have known that, and unless she literally " pumped " the bullets out,  it wouldn't have had the desired effect.

P.S.Notice that " mental " problems have come to the fore,thank goodness. Though we've advanced with treatments,medications,etc,still not enough is done to research the subject. It still remains a " hidden " illness simply because it isn't visible like most illnesses and a lot of people are suffering in silence,particularly new mums,who after the birth of their babies are sometimes too busy or pre-occupied to recognise the changes that they're going through. Symptoms if left can lead to more serious problems,as in Sheila's case,so start "treating themselves " with various substances to " feel better ".
It's not their faults because they can't understand what's going on in their bodies.

[susan]

Hi lookout  I agree the shots fired that night at WHF were frenzied shots from a person totally out of control a premeditated murdered would have used a shotgun one shot to the head would have been enough.  I don,t think for one moment the murders were planned at all they happened because something sparked something off in the mind of the perpetrator of these horrendous murders.

[bloggs and son]

As I've posted elsewhere, the official website states:

"The family were all killed at close range, the furthest shot away was 3 feet, she couldn’t have missed."

Plus shots in the arms of the victims that have been interpreted as hits and meant to terrorise or torture the victims may be misinterpreted and should rather be viewed as "misses"?

[bloggs and son]

I think you are twisting what was said about Sheila and guns. The point has never been that it was impossible for her to have used the gun. It was that she was unfamiliar with guns and therefore unlikely to have chosen to use one, and unlikely to have been able to use one so proficiently and without getting overpowered. Remember also that she is said to have had poor co-ordination, which would make loading the magazine and refitting it to the rifle more difficult for her than for you and I.

What does 'flick the recoil' mean?

Recoil is what you get when you fire a gun. But there would be hardly if any recoil with a .22 pistol or rifle. I've fired a .22 pistol and I hardly noticed any recoil. You are more likely to get recoil from a .22 pistol. It is only as you get to the higher calibre guns that you tend to get significant recoil.

[Bridget]

Recoil is what you get when you fire a gun. But there would be hardly if any recoil with a .22 pistol or rifle. I've fired a .22 pistol and I hardly noticed any recoil. You are more likely to get recoil from a .22 pistol. It is only as you get to the higher calibre guns that you tend to get significant recoil.

I know what recoil is, I was just wondering what 'flick the recoil' means?

[lookout]

Hi lookout  I agree the shots fired that night at WHF were frenzied shots from a person totally out of control a premeditated murdered would have used a shotgun one shot to the head would have been enough.  I don,t think for one moment the murders were planned at all they happened because something sparked something off in the mind of the perpetrator of these horrendous murders.

Hi Susan,,you're quite right. No way was it pre-meditated. In part,there were random and mis-fired shots,,just like someone who was let loose with a rifle.
I still can't help feeling for that poor sick girl,because she obviously didn't realise at the time what she was doing. A victim of her own illness. One can't imagine what was going on in her mind.

[lookout]

It should,by rights,have been an open and shut case.

[bloggs and son]

Hi lookout  I agree the shots fired that night at WHF were frenzied shots from a person totally out of control a premeditated murdered would have used a shotgun one shot to the head would have been enough.  I don,t think for one moment the murders were planned at all they happened because something sparked something off in the mind of the perpetrator of these horrendous murders.

I'm not sure if a shotgun would be the chosen weapon of an assassin? But I would think that they would have used a larger calibre weapon because a .22 would not effect a clean kill of a human being unless strategically placed? These wounds on all the victims were headshots. But it is unsure if those headshots were delivered before the body shots or after, except of course in the case of the twins? Which shots were all to the head and suggest overkill as if someone wanted to make sure they were dead so as to spare their suffering? Italics mine as it is only a suggestion.