Thanks for your opinions and advice but I'm not the defence. Even the police themselves issued (then retracted) statements to the press about a silencer having been found on the day of the murders. I'd be amazed if you were proved right about there having only been one silencer as per found by the relatives, in the manner in which they claim etc. Not just amazed - literally stunned. I've not heard about the defence finding microscopic traces of her blood though. That is interesting if true.
Your lab theory is interesting.
Why would there be 2 moderators at WHF? Worse yet why would they need to replace one with another?
If they wanted to plant evidence they would have no need to plant it in 2 different moderators.
There are no records at all of a second moderator only the change in designation to DB and then DRB. The same changes took place for the telescopic sights which changed to DB/2 and DRB/2.
The first moderator turned in to the lab was turned in on the 8/13/85 so if they had actually collected a moderator on 8/7/85 what happened to it? Why would they fail to include it on the sheets where they detialed the items they took from the house on 8/7/85? Why do the police insist no moderator was found? If they wanted to doctor one they would have doctored it but again lacked motive and the skill and knowledge to doctor it to the point where it would have reflected the blood ultimately removed.
There are documents on this website from DR. Lincoln which discuss his findings when he tested the moderator. The 2002 Appeal decision also discusses his findings. I will quote from the decision:
"In dealing with this evidence, the defence were limited by the evidence available from their own expert. They called no such evidence at trial but the material that they had obtained pre-trial has been disclosed in the course of this appeal. The defence had instructed Dr Patrick Lincoln, whose expertise in such matters was well known. On 29 April 1986, he visited the forensic science laboratory and examined the relevant material.
He carried out tests on all seventeen baffles. The first eight plates all gave weak or very weak positive reactions for blood. There was no blood clearly visible to the naked eye and Dr Lincoln concluded that "such findings could be consistent with an item having been previously swabbed by a forensic scientist to remove blood stains for testing". The other nine plates "did not produce any evidence for the presence of blood". He agreed with Mr Hayward's conclusion that the combination of blood groups revealed in his testing of the inside of the moderator could have come solely from Sheila Caffell but did not come from any one of the other individuals."
So on August 13, 1985 the lab documented the blood on the moderator and tested it to determine if it was human. It was determined to be human and the police were notified of this August 14, 1985. They were also notified that paint was found on it.
They went to WHF the evening of the 14th to see if they could figure out where the paint came form and that is when they took the paint samples from the mantle.
Cook spent the rest of August trying to find prints on it. The fact there was human blood in it suggested it was used in the murders because no other humans were know to be shot with the gun it went to. Since it was in the closet put away that means the killer removed it after use. So the hope was the killer's prints would be found. I was superglue fimed even to try to detect latent prints. After all those efforts failed they finally turned it over to the lab to have the blood type tested.
In addition to the blood that had been previously been tested to determine whether it was human blood or not, the lab found a flake of blood in between baffles 1 and 2 and blood that was dried onto each of the first 5-7 baffles. The lab personnel never wrote down which baffles the blood ceased at. By the time they testified they could not remember the exact amount. They said at least 5 and one thought it extended to the 6th baffle another the 7th. The lab scraped all the visible blood from the baffles and also removed the flake. There was no visible blood left in the moderator.
The tested the flake and some of the blood that was removed from the baffles. What happened to the blood they never tested? Not enough information has been publicly released to know. The flake of blood as well as the blood from the baffles that they tested registered as group A blood. The flake also had an enzyme AK1. June and Sheila both had group A blood but while Sheila had AK1 June had AK2-1. AK2-1 is much hardier than AK1 so if AK1 survived so should AK2-1 have survived. Since no AK2-1 was present that suggests is was only Sheila's blood.
Lincoln found miscropic traces on the 1st 8 baffles. That means either the lab personnel were off by 1 when they tried to remember how far the blood extended or only minute amounts of blood traveled that deep. Lincoln tested the blood and it likewise was group A blood.
Lincoln agreed with the prosecution expert that it could only be Sheila's blood and that there was not a chance of it being blood for more than one person. That resulted in the defense not using him. The prosecution expert admitting it was a remote possiiblity that the blood was June and Nevill's was better than his own expert was willing to say he had written off the chance entirely.
So there was visible blood removed by the prosecution from the first 7 and possibly the first 8 baffles, microscopic blood removed from the first 8 baffles by the defense, a flake of blood trapped between baffles 1 and 2 and a small amout of blood near the opening (which they removed to test whether it was human) plus some blood on the exterior (which was not typed just tested whether it was human).
Drawback is a stream of blood. It sprays inside to a certain point than stops. It won't spray more than several inches inside. Because it is a spray it will project drops onto each successive baffle until it loses momentum. It is a jet spray so is able to get to baffles beyond just the first couple. Nothing but a spray will account for reaching the first 8 baffles. If you pour it then it will fall inside all the way down the middle to the back or until hitting a baffle and and then splash.
In order for the blood that was found inside to have been planted it would require using a device to spray blood inside. I don't know if an atomizer would work or not it might not be able to project it far enough inside. A spray bottle might not either. You would need to test to see what kin dof distribution it would cause inside to use them. Basically it would require testing spray devices until you find one that could deposit blood on the first 8 baffles.
If you can find something that can accomplish it then you have find proof someone
1) knew Sheila died from a contact shot
2) knew all about drawback and the implications of the contact shot resulting in drawback
3) knew how to mimick drawback using the device mentioned and had access to it
4) had access to Sheila's blood or group A blood with AK1 and knew this is what Sheilz had,
5) had motive to plant the blood
6) had opportunity to plant the blood
7) something to suggest the person actually did plant it
the person removed the blood from the muzzle of the weapon or was able to get someone else to remove it
Jeremy's trial team was not stupid the above is a tall order and that is why neither his trial lawyers nor even his appellate lawyers were able to assert the blood was planted.
I don't see any way at all that it would be possible to doctor the evidence without the lab orchestrating it and doing most of the work.
For the lab to have planted it on 8/13/85 though it quite far fetched. Yet that is the day it arrived and they detected human blood. While Mike and other like to suggest that in September police doctored the moderator and told the fmaily to lie and pretend it had blood when they found it, clearly it did have blood when turned over because there is documentary evidence proving the police were notified on 8/14/85 of the findings of human blood and paint.
You basically had to have someone plant blood just to try to get someone to think it was used and then someone else to do an adequate planting job in Septmeber and also removing the blood form the rifle and concealing it. That is th eonly way a planting coudl have been acocmplished. Ther eis of course no eivdence to suggest that happened.
