As can be seen from the posts in this thread, David1819 has claimed to have unearthed new evidence, of a forensic nature, which supports the defence case. As David1819 has explained he sent details initially to Andrew Hunter, with a view to the material being reviewed by Jeremy Bamber's legal team.
There have been claims of an imminent breakthrough since the rejection of the last application to the CCRC and the subsequent Judicial Review, but understandably there has been increasing scepticism in the absence of any detailed information about this.
In view some of the posts above, understandable in the circumstances, casting doubt on David1819's claim, he contacted me and asked if I would be prepared to review the material he had prepared, in confidence, and give him my opinion of it. I agreed and received the material, reviewed it and gave David1819 my assessment. David1819 then agreed that I could post my overall opinion of his work, without at this stage disclosing the details. I am happy to do that and I agree with David1819's firm view, backed by the advice of Andrew Hunter, that Jeremy Bamber's legal team should review it and it should only be made public subject to their approval.
The material sent to me by David1819 is in the form of a report, which includes images and diagrams as well as text. It is well written and well presented. It analyses an important part of the evidence in the case, using methods not applied previously. Although he accepts that he is not an expert in the relevant field, he has researched published works by experts in the field, quoting relevant extracts in support of his conclusions. He has also studied relevant photographs and made calculations and measurements using techniques which to me seem appropriate.
David1819's conclusions support the defence case on this issue and specifically counter conclusions reached on this by the Court of Appeal in the 2002 appeal.
I am not an expert in the field involved and clearly for this to be presented to the CCRC as part of new submissions David1819's report and conclusions would have to be reviewed and validated by a suitably qualified expert. However, I can see no reason to doubt the conclusions reached and have given david1819 my view in more detail.
If the report is validated the question is whether it could form the basis for the CCRC to refer the case. For various reasons, hard to explain without giving more information than I am able to here, I believe it does satisfy the requirement that it is new evidence, not available at trial. The key question is whether it is on its own sufficient to enable the convictions to be overturned. I am very cautious about this as I believe the CCRC have now set a very high bar in this case. Certainly this would form a valid ground of appeal, but ideally it should be joined with other grounds. I am no longer in the loop as far as Jeremy Bamber's legal team are concerned, and have not been since Simon McKay ceased acting, but I do know of grounds not included in previous submissions which would have been included had the CCRC referred the case to the Court of Appeal on the last application. I also understand that other work has been undertaken or is contemplated which may lead to additional grounds, but I have very limited knowledge of this.
I am sorry not to be able to give more detail but I hope members will understand why this is not possible at this stage. I will say however that David1819 was genuine in his claim to have discovered something new and important and that he has approached this in a serious and careful way.
