The police were anxious to find out where five of the 25 bullets fired in the shootings had originated from, since Jeremy had told police that on the evening of 6th August how he had got a brand new box of 50 bullets, and how he had proceeded to load them into the guns ammunition magazine. DCI Jones quizzed Jeremy about how many rounds he put into the magazine on that first occasion, and he told him that he loaded the ammunition magazine until it was almost full, or full, and that he did not kniw how many bullets had already been loaded into the rifle before he took possession of it. Jeremy did not know at that stage if there was also a round in the breech of the gun, as well as additional rounds in the magazine before he put any new rounds into the guns magazine, and go out lookibg to shoot rabbits at the rear of the barn...
In any event, when police counted the loose bullets tipped out on the kitchen worktop, they found a total of 29 rounds, and another solitary one, nearby, making a total of 30. A new box of ammo' contained 50 rounds, so using the powers of deduction, DCI Jones was able to deduce that 20 rounds were missing from the box...
A total of 25 shots had been fired, 20 bullets missing from the box, from where did 5 additional rounds come from?
Jeremy told DCI Jones that these additional 5 rounds must have already been in the gun before he got a new box of 50 and loaded new rounds into the gun, leaving the farmhouse to go looking for rabbits at the rear of the barn...
Police were satisfied with this explanation...
The 30th bullet was still in the wet (the plastic tray that bullets sit in inside a cardboard box is a wet) So when he tipped the tray out but 1 didn't fall out. 29 were beside the tray and 1 still in the tray so that is where the 30 number comes from.
His story to police on the day of the murders and the following day was that he took an empty magazine and loaded it and wasn't even sure if he loaded it all the way because he was in a rush to get to the rabbits before they could run away. If the magazine had been loaded already he would have had no need to take the tray with him. He said sought out bullets because it was empty so he grabbed a tray and he wanted to load it fast so spilled it out to be able to grab them faster and he loaded 8-10 rounds.
http://jeremybamberforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,1091.msg33765.html#msg33765In September under questioning he said he loaded 5-10 rounds inside the magazine again he wasn't sure if he loaded it to max capacity because he was in a rush.
At certain times he tried to make it appear that he wasn't sure how many bullets the magazine held saying that it might have held only 8 rounds he wasn't positive to try to make it appear he didn't take part or surely he would know the weapon's maxiumum capacity. Other times he admitte dhe knew it held 10 so this suggests deception on his part.
At trial the prosecution asserted the claim he loaded the gun in advance was likely made up and that the story he had gotten the gun to shoot rabbits is not credible for a variety of reasons including not being known by anyone to shoot rabbits or animals in general. But their major claim he staged the scene and was lying was the fact that 30 bullets remained and depending upon how many had been in the box only 23-25 bullets should have remained if his claims were true.
The defense did argue that 5 rounds were in the gun already but in his statements he made it clear it had been empty and that he was in a rush to load it before the rabbits could run away. If it had bullets in it he would have ran out immediately not to have dropped the clip to load it to capacity. He wasn't even sure whether he loaded it to capacity he said it had between 5-10 rounds after he loaded it and and ran out but they already had left.
For ther eot have been 5 rounds alreayd and him to drop the magazine to load 3-5 more doesn't comport with the claim he made of it being empty or the claim of his urgency. He would not have sought out bullets if it had some inside he would have jsut ran outside. Epseically if he didn't mind it having only 5 inside. His statement was it had betwene 5 and 10 when he ran out he wa sin a rush so might not have loaded it to capacity.
The defense argued his memory must have been faulty and it must had already had 5 rounds in the magazine. This doesn't seem to fit at all though with what he was suggesting.
It also doesn't fit how people say the gun was usually stored by Nevill- empty. The las known user said it had been left empty.
It doesn't seem reasonable for him to be in a tremendous rush yet fetch bullets to top off the magazine
and not only forget it had bullets and he simply topped off the magazine but to claim he wasn't sure if the gun had more than 5 rounds or not when he ran to shoot the rabbits.
Nor does it make sense though to be in a rush and yet go put the gun near the door, go load the magazine in the kitchen in front of Sheila. The story sounds extremely contrived.
The argment it had 5 rounds in it and that he forgot it wasn't empty doesn't make sense, he would have just used the gun with 5 rounds if he was in the rush he claimed. But he wans't known to shoot rabbits and seeing them outside that late is doubtful anyway. Sometimes he claimed he saw other times heard which is even worse. Not wanting to use the suppressor and scope makes little sense either and finding the gun without them attached even less sense.
His claim Nevill took the scope and suppressor off frequently was contradicted by others and indeed makes little sense.
He also originally stated he hadn't used the gun the week prior to taking it out to shoot rabbits. The last known user said he left it with the scope and suppressor attached and empty.
This prompted Jeremy to change his story and he claimed he repeatedly used it the week prior to the murders and each time he retrived the weapon it was in a different state, sometimes the accessories were attached other times they were not and that Nevill would have been the one taking them on and off. This is not credible, there would be no reason to remove the accessories especially the scope because then the rifle would need to be zeroed before it could be used. The testimony that Nevill did not remove the acessories by others was credible his wasn't.
Expecially in light of the fact he changed his testimony and claimed he used it simply to try to contradict statements by Anthony, the last known user, about the state of the rifle in the closet though he told the truth when he didn't know it would be an issue and only made up this lie when it was necessary.
The prosecution's position is much stronger than the defense in my opinion and the opinion of many including the jury most likely. Many do not find Jeremy's claims credible and see this as evidence he staged the bullets and made up the story to suggest:
1) Sheila would know how to load it because she saw him
2) Though Sheila would not go seek out the gun and bullets they were sitting out so she had no need to seek them out, they were sitting out in the open for her to grab out of anger
3) to establish the gun didn't have the suppressor and scope attached while sitting out because they would likely have been attached and he figured his claim would result in no one wondering why Sheila would remove the accessories.
The only reason to remove the scope would be for close quarter shooing like the murders and removing it would be evidence of planning and intent hence this cover story.
The suppressor was removed and put away and the cover story invented to conceal its use because It was too long for Sheila to kill herself with.
So the cover story and planting of the rounds served valuable purposes that demonstrate a framing attempt.
