I think it was ngb who used to express to me, that the problem for 'the defence' was the 2002 Appeal itself. It served to effectively shut down potential lines of enquiry for submissions by any future defence. In narrowing down the scope of potential future submissions, a very high threshold has been set, making it extremely difficult for the defence to succeed in obtaining a 3rd appeal.
Regarding the above quote, it seems to say 'we are not interested in finding out the truth of what took place'. For if it was nigh on impossible to to have secured all exits from outside the farmhouse - it surely begs the question as to how Jeremy Bamber could have committed the crime. The 'high threshold' is therefore not conducive to exposing the truth of what took place.
Bamber didn't have to secure all exits from outside. He just needed to secure one.
I suspect the 2002 appeal was the big one. An unofficial final attempt to get released. It took several years to get together and got through the CCRC. Much to the dismay of the relatives. There are several points of appeal.
There are many interesting points in the appeal such as - "
71. The rifle bore blood smearing on the barrel in the region of the fore-sight and around the mechanism and there were splashes of blood to the left side of the weapon. The appearance of the blood staining was consistent with it having been used to strike somebody who was already bleeding. On analysis the blood was found to be human blood but tests to determine grouping were unsuccessful.
A "pull-through" on the barrel of the rifle was conducted for any traces of blood within the weapon. There were none".