I understand what you are saying but from his statements there is contradictory statements - I used to leave my gun at WHF and no mention of removing it - and then in 1991 I did not used to leave my gun at WHF - so how do we know he is telling the truth about removing the bolt? Also my question is why was it worth so much compensation ( trust me for the UK at that time ) it was a lot of money just to retract that the gun was in the house and possibly used.
Why did he not mention removing the rifle until 1991 ?- because we could quite fairly assume that his rifle was on the property. If it could not be used then what was the point of saying that in 1991?
The article was written after his updated statement to police. So the paper knew he stated he took the whole rifle home with him before the murders.
The erroneous impression one might have gotten from his initial statements was that the gun was there without the bolt during the murders.
In order to claim the gun could have been used the paper needs evidence the gun including its bolt was there at the farm during the murders.
They had no source for such a claim though. They had a statement saying the gun was not there at all and another that implied it could have been there during the murders without the bolt. The later statement was to elaborate on the first and provide greater detail. Either way there is no basis to suggest the gun coudl have been used. You would need evidence or at minimum a claim by someone else that the gun including its bolt was there during the murders.
Then you have a basis for printing the claim. That is why you see papers attribute charges to specific people that way those people are the ones who get charged with defamation if the claims end up being BS. Plus then the readers can evalute the source of the claims.
Why it came up in 1991 is simple. There were charges made that there was wrongdoing done in the case so there was an investigation into the case and they wanted all witnesses to elaborate to the best extent possible to try to clarify everything so the investigaros could determine if there had in fact been wrongdoing.
One of those clarifications was that his shotguns were always stored there but his rifle typically wasn't. He left his rifle his second to last visit to WHF though he took the bolt with him but took the whole gun home after his last visit which was a week before the murders. Police wanted more detail so he provided it to them.
He coudl have provided the same information verbally to police in 1985. The problem with statements is that when writing things down people cut corners. That is one reason why statements should be taped. Taping statements also makes sense because then you can prove what they did or didn't say and can even understand context. You can see if someone is being lead or what.
That is why courts want witnesses, so that both sides can make sure the witness clarifies things to the extent desired by either side.