One of the puzzling features of the silencer, or the silencers that were 'merged' into being reference to the same silencer, was the fact that two identical Parker hale silencers were normally kept at the farmhouse around the time of the murders. One of these Parker hale silencers belonged to a relative (a beneficiary of Ralph Bambers inheritance estate), which according to what Anthony Pargeter told Essex police in one of his witness statements, he had purchased in 1980, and it was 'always' kept at the farmhouse. It had 17 internal baffle plates. It did not have a serial number. It could be fitted to the barrel of most .22 rifles. The other Parker hale silencer, was purchased by Ralph Bamber at the end of November, 1984. It has not been determined how many internal baffle plates this silencer had got, since the manufacturers production run of silencers containing 17 baffle plate went from 1980, until the beginning of November 1984. From the beginning of November 1984, only 15 baffle plates were present in the updated version. Externally the older type silencers, and the new ones, were identical in appearance, but different in their internal design, since the former ones had 17 baffle plates internally, whereas, the latter only had 15...
It fell to be established, therefore, whether or not the Parker hale silencer which Ralph Bamber ordered from Radcliffe the gun dealers, Colchester, on the 24th November, 1984, was a silencer from old stock,cor the newer design with less internal baffle plates? What is rather telling is that on the 24th November, 1984, when Ralph Bamber went to buy the anshuzt rifle, and it's Parker hale silencer, that the gun dealer did not have any Parker hale silencers in stock and told Me Bamber, that he would have to order one from the manufacturers which could be delivered a week later. It is rather amusing that Essex police did not go all out to identify how many baffle plates were inside the silencer purchased by Ralph Bamber. For some reason cops steered clear of this feature. Jeremy has told me on several occasions that his father ordered the latest Parker hale silencer which was why he had to wait a week before Radcliffe delivered it to and a week later. If true, then the Bamber owned silencer would have only had 15 internal baffle plates, not 17...
The key flake of blood, and the red paint have at one time or another been associated with a 17 Baffled silencer, not a 15 Baffled one...
