When Police Sergeant Christopher Bews arrived at Pages Lane around 03:48 on 7th August 1985 he already knew that shots had been fired inside White House Farm (WHF). Instead of approaching the farmhouse, which was around 200 yards away, he instead set about establishing a perimeter and stationed one police officer, PC Saxby, at the police vehicle CA7.
Unless PS Bews had information about the siege taking place inside WHF this action made no sense. His first priority should have been to find out what was going on inside the Farmhouse and rescue the inhabitants.
An additional factor is that the crew of CA5, which left Chelmsford police station at 03:30, took around 50 minutes to make a 15 minute journey. Something caused them to stop speeding to WHF; the most likely reason being the receipt of information confirming that shots had been fired inside the farmhouse. That information did not come from Jeremy Bamber. So where did it come from?
The withdrawal of 3 Force Support Unit (FSU) vehicles from an assignment in Colchester at 04:04, before the Essex Police HQ Information Room had received any situation report from officers attending WHF – indicates that information regarding a “shooting incident”(as it was described by A/Insp Targrass) was known to the police before 04:04.
For the police to know of a shooting incident prior to 04:04am, someone from within WHF must have made contact with the police, or vice versa. That person could not have been murdered by Jeremy Bamber; it follows that the same person was later murdered by someone other than Jeremy Bamber and at least two people were alive inside WHF at 4am.
Neither were killed by Jeremy Bamber.
In addition, there are numerous firm indications that the police knew that a siege situation existed at WHF and that police officers, from 03:45 onwards, prepared for a siege and made no attempt to rescue the inhabitants of WHF.
It is unknown as to what specific information caused Essex Police to deploy armed police officers to White House Farm (WHF) at 04:04 on the morning of 7th August 1985. Neither police officer involved in discussions with Chief Superintendent Harris, who gave the order to go-ahead with the issue of firearms, made a witness statement in relation to the decision. Neither A/Insp Brian Targrass at Chelmsford Town police station or Inspector Maureen Scollan made a witness statement about the decision to request armed officers to attend the Farm. Chief Superintendent Harris has also given virtually no indication as to the content of his discussions with any police officer prior to him seeking the approval of the Assistant Chief Constable, Mr Simpson to deploy armed officers.
What is obvious, from the necessity to seek approval from an Assistant Chief Constable, is that the issuing of firearms was an extraordinary event and would only be requested in extreme circumstances.
Around 4 am an incident that was reported initially as an innocuous domestic disturbance became an armed siege. Nothing that Jeremy Bamber told the police at 03:36, and nothing that the police saw between 03:36 and 04:09 supported the request for armed police to attend WHF. So why did Inspector Maureen Scollan decide that an armed response was appropriate at 04:04?
The information upon which Harris and Simpson acted is of crucial importance to establishing the truth about the WHF murders/suicide. Unfortunately it has never been divulged; however, we can speculate with some degree of certainty.
It has been assumed for nearly thirty years that the decision to deploy armed police officers to WHF stemmed from a report made by PS 36 Christopher Bews, around 04:10, who was one of three police officers who first attended the Farm. It is convenient for Essex Police to promulgate this myth, a practice that Detective Chief Superintendent Dickinson continued in his error-riddled report into Essex Police blunders in investigating the WHF murders and the suicide of Sheila Caffell. This assumption is incorrect.
By continuing to obfuscate over this issue, Essex Police and the prosecution authorities are engaged in a cover-up designed to keep an innocent man in prison. The cover-up is calculated to hide the fact that the Police knew that there was a siege situation at WHF prior to 4 am; this knowledge came from information that could only have arisen via a telephone call either from the police to WHF or to the police from within WHF from someone who Jeremy Bamber clearly could not have killed.
If the decision to deploy armed police to the Farm was made after receipt of alternative information to that provided by PS Bews then we need to identify the likely sources of that information. There are a number of possibilities:-
1. Monitoring of an open telephone line at WHF by British Telecom
2. A telephone call to police at Witham from within the Farm
3. A 999 telephone call to police at Chelmsford HQ from within the Farm
4. A telephone call from the police to WHF resulting in information being given to the police indicating that a firearm had been discharged – a “shooting incident”
5. Telephone or radio communications between police officers not reported or otherwise known
What is suggested by the evidence below (see list below) is that the actions and behaviour of the ‘first responders’ is highly indicative of the police being aware that a siege scenario existed at WHF by 03:45. Of course, for a siege to be in progress one or more people had to be alive inside WHF at 03:45 which means that Jeremy Bamber is innocent, as he has said all along.
All of the following indicate that a siege was known to be taking place; there was no rescue attempt.
CA7 parked 200 yards from Farm
No blue lights/siren at Farmhouse
JB drawing detailed floor plan
JB compiling a list of weapons
Failure to approach Farmhouse
Failure to try to gain entry
Failure to shine a torch
Failure to call out or challenge
PC Saxby remaining in CA7
CA5 50 minutes to arrive at WHF on a 15 minute journey
FSU recalled from ED before firearms were authorised by Chief Superintendent Harris
Deployment of a dog-handler - QZ5
FSU went to CD rather than WHF which was nearer - they knew they had to collect firearms before PS Bews had made any survey of the scene
?
As often happens in a case of this nature, the police officers who could provide Jeremy Bamber with an alibi have remained mute. Police officers who received information that would have been crucial to Jeremy’s defence have been ‘shielded’ by the Prosecution and not called upon to make witness statements.
These officers, Inspector Maureen Scollan and Sergeant Brian Targrass, plus one other officer based at Witham police station, have said nothing about events between 03:30 and 04:00 on 7th August 1985. If these police officers told the truth Jeremy Bamber would be a free man. Additionally, a civilian employed in the Essex Police HQ Information Room has also kept vital information to himself. Mr Malcolm Bonnett, if he told the full story, could also provide evidence to ensure Jeremy Bamber’s release and pardon.
Considering that the police were responding to what was described as a “distress call” the crew of CA7 behaved in a strange manner on the morning of 7th August 1985. They left Witham police station at 03:30 and drove at an average 50 mph to Pages Lane near White House Farm (WHF), a journey of 12 miles. During the journey their speed must at times have been between 65-70 mph. They hurried to the scene of the murders with their blue light flashing; but upon arrival they did absolutely nothing.
If their witness statements are accurate they parked their car 200 yards from the Farmhouse and simply sat and waited for other police officers to arrive. It would be another 35 minutes before two more unarmed officers joined them (CA5). It was an hour and 15 minutes before the first armed officers came along. The crew of CA7 showed no interest in approaching the Farmhouse and it is debatable whether they would have approached the Farmhouse at all had Jeremy Bamber not arrived on the scene.
Even after Jeremy met the crew of CA7 they did not even consider approaching the Farmhouse for another 10-12 minutes after arriving in Pages Lane. Clearly, something happened while they were on route to change their mission from one of rescue to one of containment. They ostensibly arrived in anticipation of a siege.
The only thing that could have happened was a radio message telling them that events inside WHF indicated that there was a siege taking place. Perhaps the radio message even told them about events occurring inside the Farmhouse being monitored over an open telephone line, or that Nevill Bamber had been in contact with Witham police station, or police had called WHF.
A strong indication that PS Bews knew he was dealing with a siege came from his own mouth when he spoke to a newspaper in 2010. Bews said ““When we arrived he was very keen for us to go in but there was no way we were entering if there was any chance someone with a gun was inside”. Well, PS Bews can’t have it both ways. If he was so convinced (as he claims) that Jeremy had killed everyone in the house he had nothing to fear by entering – he would only have discovered five dead bodies and a yapping dog. Instead he cowered behind a hedge and ran away from the scene – obviously because he knew Sheila was inside with a gun.
Let us consider first the fact that CA7 stopped, by their own account, just 10 yards into Pages Lane, about 200 yards from White House Farm. They were supposed to be responding to a ‘distress’ call. Why stop so short of the Farmhouse? They could not possibly have seen what was happening at WHF from where they halted. According to PS Bews they stopped so that they could wait for back-up police vehicles. How did they know whether there were any coming? Presumably by radio transmission if indeed they knew that any other police vehicles had been sent.
It is evident that PS Bews and his colleagues had developed a strategy while on route to WHF. Ordinarily, for the kind of incident that they were attending, this would have involved driving their car into the Farm courtyard and all three officers walking up to the front door to try to gain access. PC Saxby had been to the Farm on a previous occasion so he knew where to go. While they needed to be cautious, there was no overwhelming threat to the police officers based on what Jeremy Bamber had reported to PC West. Thus, the strategy to stop 200 yards distant from the Farm had to have been formulated while CA7 was on route. It had to be based on information received by CA7 between 03:30 and 03:45. Where did the new information come from?
Based simply upon what Jeremy Bamber had told PC West it would have been more logical for CA7, lacking any information about the safety or wellbeing of the occupants of the Farm, to have driven directly to the entrance of the Farmhouse. What could they hope to ascertain from 200 yards distance?
When CA7 arrived at Pages Lane around 03:45 PS Bews appears to have done precisely nothing to assist the occupants of White House Farm (WHF). He behaved exactly as if he had given up on saving any of the occupants and was already in ‘siege mode’. In his witness statement of 16th August he states that:-
Due to the nature of the reported incident we were also awaiting the arrival of other police units.
In the context of the original telephoned report from Jeremy Bamber of a reported incident that was perhaps nothing more than a domestic dispute at WHF, this statement is simply incorrect. According to police records there were no other police units despatched except CA5, which took a leisurely 55 minutes to drive to WHF and did not arrive there until 04:23. In fact, Bews commented himself that he did not know what kind of situation he was going to find and for all he knew the incident could be a hoax. Given that the whole thing could have been a hoax, he needed to prioritise establishing the true circumstances – but he didn’t do this.
Is Bews suggesting that during his journey to WHF he had been told that other police units were also speeding to the Farm? If so, he was misinformed. CA7 were at that time on their own and there is no recorded information available to suggest that Bews was not aware of this. Taken at face value Bews simply had to know that no other vehicle, other than CA5, was responding immediately to the domestic dispute at WHF. On the other hand, the leisurely pace of CA5 ,containing PCs Cracknell and Norcup, as they dawdled along to the scene suggests that they were fully aware that a siege was occurring and, as they were unarmed, they perhaps thought that they could not really offer much assistance. How else can their tardiness and lack of urgency be explained?
What Bews appears to be suggesting is that while on route to WHF he was informed that further police vehicles would be sent to WHF; these additional police units could only be from two possible sources (a) Maldon police station and (b) Colchester, where the FSU was loitering. The fact that Bews was expecting other police vehicles to attend means that some undisclosed information had been received at HQ or Witham and was being acted upon.
Perhaps, as seems very likely, Bews was expecting other police officers to attend WHF – as a result of information that has never been disclosed by the police.
Bews statement can be interpreted in a different manner. He said:-
Due to the nature of the reported incident we were also awaiting the arrival of other police units.
It could well be that he is referring to an entirely different ‘reported incident’ that was relayed to him by radio message while CA7 was on route to the Farm. It is entirely feasible that the reported incident was that of Sheila Bamber shooting at someone, either June or Nevill. In fact, this statement explains why PS Bews did nothing after he arrived at Pages Lane. He was indeed just awaiting the arrival of other armed police units, plus a police dog.
PS Bews could have acted to save the Essex Police a considerable sum of money by enquiring of Nevill or June if everything was all right. At the very least one would expect him to ring the doorbell or knock on the door. But he didn’t do anything, which is highly suggestive that he already knew what was happening inside the Farmhouse.
One of the reasons why emergency vehicles have two-tone horns and blue lights is to reassure distressed people that help is imminent – to encourage them in a desperate situation to hold out for a little while longer. How reassuring would it have been for Nevill or June to have heard in the distance a police car siren as s/he tried to protect themselves? Two-tone horns and blue lights would also have distracted Sheila Caffell, or even perhaps brought her to her senses. CA7 remained silent.
There were plenty of options for gaining a close look at the Farmhouse safely, for example, placing the police car between the Farmhouse and themselves, they could have crouched behind the car for protection.
If the police had not seen anyone in the grounds of the farm or in the Farmhouse itself the obvious thing to do would be to proceed cautiously towards the ground-floor windows, shining a torch so that anyone inside would know that s/he was approaching. PS Bews could also presumably try calling out ‘Police!’ or ‘Come out with your hands up!” something of that nature to see if there was any reply.
PS Bews said that they saw the light on in the kitchen. How did he know that the family were not sat around the kitchen table having a cup of tea and chatting about how Sheila had given them a nasty fright? Is that not quite a likely scenario after a domestic dispute?
It is worth considering what PS Bews training had told him to do. The oath of office makes the priorities very clear, “It is the duty of police officers to protect life and property, preserve order, and prevent the commission of offences and where an offence has been committed, to take measures to bring the offender to justice”.
In that order. It is emphasised firmly at police training school that the preservation of life was the most important aspect of the oath and detection of crime was the least important aspect.
What was it PS Bews duty to do? If he had been mindful of his duties he should have been taking measures to protect/preserve life irrespective of his own personal safety. In 1985 a police constable was expected to take considerable personal risk to protect the public and some Officers died doing that.
So PS Bews should have been trying to see what had happened and trying to find a way in to the building. Finding the doors locked s/he should have smashed a window and gained entry.
PS Bews had a number of options open to him even if he and his colleagues were unarmed. They could easily have turned on the blue flashing light of the patrol car and tried to distract Sheila Caffell. There was a situation inside the Farmhouse which, in theory, consisted of a number of persons who could be rescued from their ordeal. Bews and his colleagues could have diverted Sheila Caffell sufficiently that one or more hostages might have escaped. Perhaps, had they driven their police car into the Farmhouse front yard with a blue light flashing they could have panicked Sheila Caffell into running away from the house, or give rise to some other means for the police to enter the house and affect a rescue. Bews was supposedly not to know who was still alive inside the Farmhouse.
Instead, eventually Bews and PC Myall let Jeremy Bamber take the lead in approaching the Farmhouse. They left PC Saxby in the police car; this was their pre-determined strategy. This in itself is highly significant. It seems clear that for one police officer, waiting and receiving radio messages was considered a more important task (for PC Saxby) than rescuing anyone left alive in the Farmhouse. This can only be because PS Bews knew that a siege situation existed.
Before considering what PS Bews did, or rather failed to do, let us pause to consider how illogical it seems to leave PC Saxby in the police car. In theory, there was nothing for him to do. The only person who could possibly have provided the crew of CA7 with any information was Jeremy Bamber and he was with PS Bews and PC Myall. If we are to believe the police, they had no other information and they had no other possible source of information. So why did Saxby remain in the car?
One highly probable reason is that the police at Witham or HQ had been in communication with the occupants of WHF while CA7 made their way there. PC Saxby was waiting for further information. Consider that PC 1990 West recorded that at 04:42 BT made a check of the WHF telephone line and found it to be engaged. Thus, quite possibly, someone from outside, i.e. a police officer, was speaking to somebody at WHF. While PC 1990 West recorded that the phone was ‘off-the-hook’ there was no way that he could actually have known that. ‘Engaged’ would sound just the same to a BT Operator, perhaps the choice of terminology is not accidental.
Given that CA5 abandoned their attempts to hurry to WHF and CA7 left PC Saxby at their car and PS Bews made no attempt to approach WHF, the most likely explanation is that the police spoke to someone within WHF around 03:42, just in time to alert the occupants of CA7 before they arrived at Pages Lane at 03:45. This appears to be the only logical reason why PC Saxby stayed in the vehicle; he was waiting for any further developments, otherwise he would have been sat there twiddling his thumbs with nothing to do except admire the scenery.
Further support for the contention that the police spoke to someone inside WHF around 03:42 is evidenced by the fact that, again in theory, we are led to believe that neither PC West or Malcolm Bonnett made any attempt to telephone WHF between 03:26 and 03:56. This is unbelievable. For half-an-hour, when nothing else seemed to be happening, they want us to believe that they did nothing. In reality, given that both men had the telephone number for WHF at 03:26, they would surely both have tried to telephone the Farm several times. Yet neither man mentioned this in his witness statement. Surely, if Bonnett and PC West made repeated attempts to call WHF and received no response they would have said this in their witness statements? Somebody made contact by telephone with the occupants of WHF around 03:42, when Jeremy Bamber was on his way there to meet up with CA7.
So, Jeremy Bamber did not murder that person or persons.
