What makes Bamber innocent?

[mike tesko]

(23), The principle chemical elements found in the swabs from the testees' were lead and bromine, together with smaller amounts of other elements...

(24), An XRF finding, under the circumstances, of a particular element, e.g. 'lead', does not show that metallic lead is present. The element may be present in substance that is chemical compound formed by the element with other elements - lead bromide or a lead carbonate, for example. Elliot's evidence (118F) that 'these peaks are indicative of metal lead' is open to misconstruction...

[mike tesko]

It's great seeing the supporters scrambling around making such valiant efforts to blame Sheila for the murders, after all, it was always going to end this way, it had to be Jeremy or Sheila.

Luckily there isn't a shred of evidence which points to Sheila being the culprit and loads of forensic evidence which clears her of any culpability whatsoever. 

Dream on...

[mike tesko]

(25), The hands of the testees' had not been sampled before the experiment; hence there is no scientific evidence on which the possibility may be excluded that the lead and bromine were present already. Elliott made the assumption that no detectable lead would be present because there was no known proceeding contact of the testees' with lead metal (117D). However, trace amounts of lead are commonly encountered, and microgram amounts such as those in this case could be picked up unwittingly. A microgram ('ug') is a millionth of a gram...

[mike tesko]

(26),  In a scientific experiment of the present kind, the levels of the relevant substances at the strategy and finish of the experiment should be validly established - effectively, the result should be a difference based on two actual measurements, and not based on the difference between an assumption and a measurement. Elliott's stated opinion, that he would expect the hands of a person loading cartridges  into the rifle to bear appreciable levels of lead,rests on an untested assumption...

[mike tesko]

(27), In the Lab' notes are recorded the quantities of lead on the testees' swabs as between 3 and 15 micrograms, the larger amounts being present on the right hands. On the Sheila Caffell swabs the quantities were approximately 1 microgram. In the absence of any information on the reproduceability of the results or on the quantities usually encounter amongst the Lab' staff, the results are not interpretable in relation to the data that have been published from studies of lead contamination of hands under various circumstances...

[mike tesko]

(28),  Given that the ammunition used in the recent Brookes' experiments was representative, the lubricant coating the bullets was of a waxy consistency. Unless the coating became damaged, the coating would have prevented a direct contact between the bullet lead and the hands of a person who loaded the bullets into the magazine...

[mike tesko]

(29),  ( from Lab' notes, many more XRF spectra were run than are included in the available documentation. It would be of interest to see them if they still survive.)...

[mike tesko]

(30),  According to Elliot's evidence, the bromine (strictly speaking, 'bromide') detected in the swabs from Sheila Caffell and from the testees' was a contaminated due to the liquids used in the swabbing (transcript, page 126B). This is unsupported by the XRF spectrum from the blank control sample. There is no significant response attributable to bromine in the spectrum...

[mike tesko]

(31),  A likely source of bromine traces in a forensic science Laboratory is photographic processing. However, the finding would be accompanied by a finding of silver, whereas none is evident in the XRF spectra. Actual bromine has some limited use as a laboratory reagent...

[mike tesko]

(32),  It has been known, at least since 1979, that an association of bromine with lead is indicative of residues from the combustion of leaded petrol ( a chemical compound of bromine was present in leaded petrol). Particles containing lead and bromine have been regularly encountered on hand swabs and clothing in firearms residue casework. The finding in the present case of both elements in all of the hand swabs, except the blank control, is the expected consequence of contaminations of this sort. So far as I am aware there is no published study with which the results can be directly compared; but, from casual observations made in casework, petrol residue traces are ubiquitous...

[mike tesko]

(33), On a qualitative basis the results from the testess' and from Sheila Caffell are not significantly different. There appears to be no reason why the varying results for lead or bromine should not be attributed to varying levels of contamination by traces of petrol combustion residue and to experimental variation...

[mike tesko]

(34),   As noted before, at present the chemical composition of the coating on the bullets is unknown but is being investigated. I do not suppose that both lead and bromine are likely to have been components of the lubricant, but the present opinion may require revision if further information becomes available..

[mike tesko]

(35), Of the other elements detected in the samples, a result for zinc was given by the sample prepared from the blank control swab, as well as by the samples from all of the other swabs.  Evidently, zinc in some chemical form was present ' inter alia' in one of several of the components of the swabbing kits, the nitric acid, the filter paper discs, and the laboratory equipment...

[mike tesko]

(36),   In Elliot's evidence at trial, there is again an incorrect implication that the results were due to the presence of the detected elements in a metallic form: 'the test here is picking up particles or smears of metal on the hand. It is not picking up a hard metal unless unless it is an actual particle of material. A hard metal such as iron or copper would not smear on to the hands.' (123G). The test detects only the chemical element. The test does not distinguish between an element in a metallic form, and a substance containing a chemical combination of the element. For example a positive result four iron could be due eiuthger to a trace of the actual metal, or to a trace of rust...

[mike tesko]

(37),  Neither would Elliot's procedure have detected particles. In whatever form an element may be on the swab, the sample is in solution when it is transferred to the filter paper disc, and probably in the form of a nitrate compound (from a chemical reaction with the nitric acid) by the time the paper has been dried and presented to the XRF spectrometer...