Sunset is not the same as darkness. It ain't the tropics here. It remains light sometimes for quite a while after sunset. Although 10 o'clock it probably was dark in August. When the nights draw in they do so pretty fast as a rule. It will mean of course that if Jeremy did want to shoot rabbits he probably didn't need the rifle sights because they wouldn't do him any good anyway?
It doesn't have to be pitch black out to make his claim ridiculous. His claim he heard them was outright absurd. But seeing them by the barn form the window as the sun was going down isn't that much better. Even if he saw them he would have to get the gun fast to have any chance of aiming at them. If he was not known to do such at normal hours of the day why would he for the first time in his life decide to grab a gun to go try to shoot at them then?
He assumed police would never learn he didn't shoot rabbits and just believe it was habit for him. But we know better. We also know his claim Nevill offten removed the scope and moderator were nonsense, in fact there is no evidence Nevill even used it Jeremy wanted the gun Nevill was no longer interested in target shooting and used .410s to shoot vermin. Other than Jeremy using the gun to shoot targets to get proficient with it and Anthony using it when he visited there is no evidence of use which would explain why it looked brand new to Anthony.
He also clearly staged the 30 bullets, the notion the killer got 5 bullets from the closet to use instead of using all 25 bullets from the supply in the kitchen is not credible.
He clearly lied about the gun not fitting in the closet with the scope and moderator attached to come up with a bogus reason why the moderator was not on the gun when he claimed he took it to shoot the rabbit. That ended up being proved false and worse the last known user said the gun had been put away with the moderator and scope attached. The police did the classic setup. They got Jeremy to go on record. Jeremy went on record and stated he had last used the gun more than a week prior. They they said well the last known user Anthony said it fits with th emoderator in the closet and that he both found it with the scope and moderator attached and put it away with them attached so you should have foudn it with the moderator attached. He promptly changed his story and claimed he and Nevill repeatedly using the gun the week before the murders and that Nevill sometimes would take the scope and moderator off before putting it in the closet but at other times would not.
It makes no sese for Nevill to keep taking the moderator and scope on and off and there is no evidence he did so. There is no evidence to suggest he used the weapon ever let alone daily as Jeremy was suggesting. If they used it daily and kept taking the scope on and off it would not look brand new it would have scratches and if he used it daily why did he tell police initially he had not used it up to a fornight before the murders?
Jeremy used the gun with the moderator attached and then put it away to conceal he had done so. That is the only reason who would make up the lie the gun did not fit with he moderator attached so lacked it when he got it to shoot rabbits and left it out without the moderator. Once that lie failed he changed to claiming Nevill frequently removed it after use and frequently removed the scope as well.
Why did he avoid telling the truth about the moderator and scope being left attached always? Obviously because he didn't want the to know the moderator had been used and once admitting he removed the scope right before the murders would look extremely suspicious since the only reason to remove it was for close quarter shooting.
