Bews, Myall and Jeremy, all saw someone who was alive inside the main bedroom, which caused Bews to return to the patrol car parked up in Pages lane, where he passed a situation report about what he had just seen, requesting that the firearms be deployed to the scene, which is what occurred. The fireams team did not just turn out to investigate a trick of light, they attended because what Bews told the control room, warranted dealing with...
It doesn't matter who said what to whom on the telephone, what matters most is that at the time police told Jeremy that all his family had been killed, he automatically presumed police had shot them when they forced thier way into the farmhouse.He had evrry reason to believe that until police actually went into the premises, that everyone was still very much alive. He had been talking to his father on the phone and knew he was alive, and because his father had not said anyone had been shot, why on earth should he think everybody else must be dead? Futhermore, tge behaviour of the police at the scene conditioned his mind to thonl that spmeone was alive inside the premises, becaise the police were negotiating with them by various means, and Jeremy must have thought that whatever was being spoken about was what was preventing the police from going into the premises...
Could well have happened like this though? Shortly before 05.25, a challenge was issued using a loudhailer to anyone inside the property.
The wireless operator pre-empted events and recorded “Firearms team are in conversation with a person inside the farm”. However, the call to persons inside met only with silence. The wireless operator updated the log at 05.29 – “From CA7 – Challenge to persons inside house met with no response”
Additional firearms officers arrived at 06.45 and were greeted by Sergeant Bews. Fresh on the scene, PC Woodcock from the Firearms Training Department was told by his colleagues that a siege was underway and a young woman with mental health issues was presumed either to have killed everyone or to be holding them hostage. Whatever had taken place, there had been no response from anyone in the farm at any time, and because of this the group were preparing to force entry into the property. If anyone was thought to be alive or holding hostage they would have let Jeremy talk to them or brought in negotiators first and foremost there was children in there, they could not risk storming in, because they had no response they prepaired forced entry. The phone lines were open all that was heard was the dog barking.
Inspector Montgomery and Police Sergeant Adams put together the raid team, consisting of PCs Collins, Delgado, Woodcock, Hall, Alexander-Smart and acting Sergeant Manners. The team, working from a plan of the building sketched by Jeremy, divided the property into “White”, “Green” and “Black” zones. Woodcock was nominated to break down the rear door using a sledgehammer. Collins and Delgado lined up on one side of the door. To their right was the kitchen window. Collins peered inside and reported seeing the body of a woman.
The door gave way when Woodcock pounded it several times with the sledgehammer. As the armed officer led the others into the property, he turned into the kitchen and saw the same person witnessed by Collins, obviously dead. In fact it was not a woman but 61-year old Nevill Bamber. A chair was on its side to the left of an Aga oven, and Nevill’s corpse was sat awkwardly on one edge of the backrest. He was slumped forward with arms at his side and his head fully inside a silver-topped bucket – in fact a coal scuttle. Blood had run thickly down the sides of this hod. The body was facing the window Collins had looked through, and all that was visible of Nevill’s head was a dishevelled shock of grey hair. This was why Collins had mistaken farmer Bamber for an old woman.
With Collins having stated over his police radio that he’d seen a woman in the kitchen, and Woodcock now reporting the body of a man, the wireless operator made the following entry at 07.37:
“one dead male and one dead female in kitchen”.
The error was insignificant in itself, but when Bamber obtained a copy of the log in 2005, he quickly sought out anything that could be represented as an inconsistency and manipulated to support his claim that he’d been framed for the crime.
After dealing with emergeny services myself, here is an example of communication error, i have had a small camping gaz cylinder explode and slightly injure a male, that involved first response 2 ambulances 2 fire engines 1 paramedic and this is when i climbed in the trash bin air amulance helicopter arrived having told the operator it was the smallest of gas cyliners and everything is under control not once but 3 times? The chief fireman asked me were is the gas tank? Try giving a statement then read it again when it comes back to you about a month later?
