Familiar Portrait?

[maggie]

I think we have to ask ourselves why did Colin portray her that way?

he wrote the book after he knew JB had been convicted - so why bother ?

I felt quite uncomfortable about his portrayal . But why would he lie ? And why even would he write the things he did . And the letter .

Was he influenced by sheilas perception ? Or his childrens? Rather than the truth?

Hi Jan, I have not read the book, one reason being that I have always felt it was a very personal and emotional book written to help Colin to heal rather than a factual account.    I certainly don't know the answer to your question but there are various possibilities as you have shown.

[susan]

I think we have to ask ourselves why did Colin portray her that way?

he wrote the book after he knew JB had been convicted - so why bother ?

I felt quite uncomfortable about his portrayal . But why would he lie ? And why even would he write the things he did . And the letter .

Was he influenced by sheilas perception ? Or his childrens? Rather than the truth?

Jan I have asked myself the same questions and it is so obvious the way Colin talks of June  that he disliked her intensly and he did say she was not the person local people thought she was i.e. kind and caring and gentle.  Now why would he make this up he had no agenda at all.

[Jane]

I think we have to ask ourselves why did Colin portray her that way?

he wrote the book after he knew JB had been convicted - so why bother ?

I felt quite uncomfortable about his portrayal . But why would he lie ? And why even would he write the things he did . And the letter .

Was he influenced by sheilas perception ? Or his childrens? Rather than the truth?

Cause and effect, Jan. We ALL experience people differently according to our and their agenda. I think, without a doubt, that Colin was influenced by what Sheila and the twins said about June. He wasn't lying. He was talking about his experience of her and telling the truth as he saw it. As we all do.

[Jane]

As none of his fellow employees were asked and none of you were there, go out for a walk or something! You might as well ponder about whether or not he laughed maniacally while he was in the shower or perhaps sang a selection of songs from the shows! Who cares

I guess it's all part of what gets discussed on a discussion forum.

[lookout]

Desire comes in many forms, Lookout. We all need a modicum at least to prevent us being brain dead. Jeremy probably had more than most. He desired good clothes and as YOU noted, fine wines. He cared enough about his appearance to colour his hair -I'll bet he couldn't go past a mirror without admiring himself. He liked good hotels and expensive holidays. In fact there was NOTHING that Jeremy desired that could be called common or garden. It all required money which was the thing he desired above all. I don't know who is the slob you keep talking about.

Not so much a slob,but a lazy blighter,as in Claire Powells book,nothing short of dynamite would get him shifted. Both his parents despaired of him at times and more or less told him to pull his socks up.
I suppose it was the high-living,boozing and drugs which left him unable to gather himself together. A lot of " mornings after ".

[Alias]

None of us know what goes on behind closed doors in other families. Neighbours and wider family may have seen June as a kind lady, but that does not have to be the truth. I don´t know how she was, but as susan says, Colin had nothing to gain by talking so badly about her, on the contrary, he made himself look bad saying that if Jeremy hadn´t killed June, he would have!!!
Something must have been wrong in that family for the son to have turned into a mass murderer and the daughter mentally ill.

I know that my teachers thought my mother was a intelligent, beautiful, cool, calm collected lady, in fact they were quite in awe of her. They had no idea of the degree of dysfunction going on in our home. My sister and I were good pupils, no problems in school, but we lived through hell at home with a mentally ill mother. No one could tell.

[lookout]

I don't remember childrens parties being mentioned at WHF. Or the children inviting their little school friends,or friends/visitors calling regularly. Even some of the extended families hadn't been or seen anyone for quite some time and they weren't a million miles away. Not the type of family that you could call on speck. I think this is why June preferred to be out at the church amongst those she knew and who knew her,rather than entertain in her home. But we don't know the real relationship that any of them had with their relatives,a little on the frosty side I'd suspect.
Latterly,June had still been visiting her GP or the psychiatrist,so wouldn't have relished entertaining anyone.
I wonder if Jeremy ever knew or realised how Colin had felt about June.
I thought it odd that June went to one of Sheila's friends to drop off a Bible ? Was it meant as a hint to the friend that she was leading Sheila astray,so to get cracking and read Psalm number whatever ?

[Jane]

Not so much a slob,but a lazy blighter,as in Claire Powells book,nothing short of dynamite would get him shifted. Both his parents despaired of him at times and more or less told him to pull his socks up.
I suppose it was the high-living,boozing and drugs which left him unable to gather himself together. A lot of " mornings after ".

Rather sweeping statements, don't you think. from a woman who didn't know him at the time and didn't get her information from his parents. Name me parents who, at some point, HAVEN'T told partying young to "pull their socks up."  Lazy here is relative. He certainly seems to have had had energy in plenty for doing those things he enjoyed and it seems that Jeremy may have preferred "high living, boozing and drugs" AND the accompanying "mornings after" to the monotonous and mundane of life on the farm. Sadly without the latter, he would have been unable to finance the former. Desire can be a fertile breeding ground for outrageous thoughts.

[Jane]

None of us know what goes on behind closed doors in other families. Neighbours and wider family may have seen June as a kind lady, but that does not have to be the truth. I don´t know how she was, but as susan says, Colin had nothing to gain by talking so badly about her, on the contrary, he made himself look bad saying that if Jeremy hadn´t killed June, he would have!!!
Something must have been wrong in that family for the son to have turned into a mass murderer and the daughter mentally ill.

I know that my teachers thought my mother was a intelligent, beautiful, cool, calm collected lady, in fact they were quite in awe of her. They had no idea of the degree of dysfunction going on in our home. My sister and I were good pupils, no problems in school, but we lived through hell at home with a mentally ill mother. No one could tell.

One "truth" isn't necessarily the WHOLE truth. It's about cause and effect. We react to different stimuli in different ways, ie, when someone addresses us in a way in which we feel neither confronted nor attacked we are more likely to respond similarly.

Colin was saying it how he experienced it. A view which had to have been coloured by how he remembered the twins -clinging to him and pleading with him not to make them stay a WHF and his own guilt about having left them there. His words, regarding June, are undoubtedly angry, but given the tragedy, are they balanced?

It can't be denied that Sheila and Jeremy were probably -in secret- a disappointment to June. I feel qualified to say this because of the numerous times my mother told me I was a disappointment to her and wasn't AT ALL what she had wanted and planned for -not that my permission was ever sought, she assumed I owed her and would acquiesce out of gratitude. I think it reasonable to assume that June had planned for her children to be carbon copies of her and Neville, partly because that was her only frame of reference, partly because her breadth of vision was limited to how her sister's children were, and partly because her world moved silently from season to season and generation to generation with little change. It was safe. Or should have been!

I am truly sorry that you felt unsupported at school. It sounds as if you and your sister would have felt  isolated with your problem.

[lookout]

Rather sweeping statements, don't you think. from a woman who didn't know him at the time and didn't get her information from his parents. Name me parents who, at some point, HAVEN'T told partying young to "pull their socks up."  Lazy here is relative. He certainly seems to have had had energy in plenty for doing those things he enjoyed and it seems that Jeremy may have preferred "high living, boozing and drugs" AND the accompanying "mornings after" to the monotonous and mundane of life on the farm. Sadly without the latter, he would have been unable to finance the former. Desire can be a fertile breeding ground for outrageous thoughts.

Which really begs the question as to where he got the energy from after having slogged-it for 16/17 hours harvesting on the day,finishing in the evening of the murders,to have " returned,full of energy,to break-in as he allegedly did,and hurtle round the farmhouse bashing and shooting everyone ?" Travelling by bicycle too.
Makes me feel breathless just thinking about it.

[David1819]

Which really begs the question as to where he got the energy from after having slogged-it for 16/17 hours harvesting on the day,finishing in the evening of the murders,to have " returned,full of energy,to break-in as he allegedly did,and hurtle round the farmhouse bashing and shooting everyone ?" Travelling by bicycle too.
Makes me feel breathless just thinking about it.

He had a £500,000 inheritance motivating him, that's where he would have got the energy from

[guest154]

Which really begs the question as to where he got the energy from after having slogged-it for 16/17 hours harvesting on the day,finishing in the evening of the murders,to have " returned,full of energy,to break-in as he allegedly did,and hurtle round the farmhouse bashing and shooting everyone ?" Travelling by bicycle too.
Makes me feel breathless just thinking about it.

You make him sound like an old man. He was a young guy in his prime.

[lookout]

You make him sound like an old man. He was a young guy in his prime.

There are plenty of young men today who act like " old men ".Takes them all their time to put one foot in front of the other.What about the " workshy " ones ? That's been going on for years,as well as those who don't get up until gone lunchtime. If Jeremy could have got away with it,he too could have joined that army of slobs.

[Jane]

Which really begs the question as to where he got the energy from after having slogged-it for 16/17 hours harvesting on the day,finishing in the evening of the murders,to have " returned,full of energy,to break-in as he allegedly did,and hurtle round the farmhouse bashing and shooting everyone ?" Travelling by bicycle too.
Makes me feel breathless just thinking about it.

C'mon Lookout. Recall the time when you did a day's slog at whatever -it's all relative- and felt you couldn't even lift a cup to your lips. the prospect of an exciting night out and a quick splash, change of clothes and a bit of lippy and if you weren't ready to party hard, you must be the only one who wasn't. Added to which, your job probably carried much more in the way of responsibility than did Jeremy's.

 Harvesting was only for a limited period so he didn't work those hours on a regular basis. It's possible that partying helped him forget what he had to do to earn enough to party. I think that night he'd have been fuelled by the desire to never again have to and the realization that he would have it all.

[lookout]

He had a £500,000 inheritance motivating him, that's where he would have got the energy from

I don't think so. Jeremy would have been the type that anything under a£million wouldn't have been worth it.