I proceed on the basis that:-
(1) - a WPC Julia Jeapes, and a PC Brown, both independently of eachother, reported the sighting of what appeared to be a rifle leaning against a first floor window, situated on the red bricked part of the house (this window has been identified as a first floor 'box room window'). The box room in question is located between the main bedroom and the children's bedroom situated on the red brick part of the house)
(2) - Jeremy Bamber did not Shoot his sister, Sheila Jean Caffell, dead inside the farmhouse
(3) - that in countless requests from police using a loud hailler for Sheila to show a sign or give a signal that she was prepared to give herself up and bring the seige to a conclusion that at around 7.15am, someone alive inside the farmhouse placed the rifle (anshuzt rifle) against the first floor box room window, an act designed to signal to police who were surrounding the large farmhouse that Sheila had wanted to give herself up, there and then, thereafter
(4) - that Sheila must have made her way from the box room window where she had put the said weapon to signal her intention at that stage, and that she made her way downstairs into the kitchen under such a flag of truce, only to be confronted by armed police and a struggle took place in the kitchen between Sheila and the first officer trying to get around the opening edge of an internal kitchen door
(5) - That Sheila was still very much alive at the time (and afterwards) the firearm officers entered the farmhouse around 7.30am
(6) - that Sheila had presented the rifle 'she had used' to kill the other victims with at a first floor box room window, as 'a gesture of goodwill', and 'intent' (a 'flag of truce', by any other name) prior to armed officers commencing their approach to enter the farmhouse and bring the seige to an end, in keeping with loud hailer appeals beforehand for her to 'give herself up' and for her to ' show her intent to surrender by ' presenting the said rifle in her possession at any window of the farmhouse of her choosing'
(7) - A log of every 'spoken challenge' made to the occupants of the farmhouse, between 5am and around 7.30am (currently undisclosed) confirms that police were aware that Sheila Caffell was 'still very much alive' inside the farmhouse throughout the aforementioned seige
(8) - that Sheila was the second body (the female) reported to have been found in the kitchen, in addition to the discovery or find, as it were of the body of Neville Bamber in the kitchen upon entry
(9) - that the existence of 'an officers report' regarding 'the shooting incident in the kitchen' is reference to the initial shooting of Sheila Caffell during the entry of armed police into the kitchen, and the fact that cops mistakenly thought she had been killed downstairs in the kitchen, as a result of that 'first shot'...
(10) - that, senior officers, compromising of DCI 'George' Harris, DCI 'Terry' Gibbons, and PI 'Ivor' Montgomery, set off to enter the farmhouse from their original location inside a forward control point situated inside a nearby farm building (a barn), 'unarmed', to enter the premises after 8.10am when it had already been confirmed that 'a further three bodies had been found upstairs making it five dead bodies, in total'
(11) - that PS Adams (Commander of firearm operation at scene between 5am and 8.10am), DCI Clarke, remained at the forward control point, after receiving the 8.10am message, that 'a further three bodies had been found upstairs in the bedrooms' in addition to the two dead bodies found in the kitchen upon entry (from around 7.35am, onward)
(12) - that once DCI 'George' Harris, DCS 'Terry' Gibbons, and PI 'Ivor' Montgomery, entered the kitchen at around 8.15am, they only found one body there this being the body of Nevill Bamber, Sheila's body had disappeared! This caused panic because when these officers left the forward control point to enter the farmhouse, PI 'Ivor' Montgomery had left his weapon with PS Adams, and DCI Clarke at the forward control point. Therefore, upon entering the kitchen and discovering Sheila's body was 'missing', Harris, Gibbons and Montgomery found themselves trapped in the kitchen unarmed with Sheila Caffell on the loose again and potentially armed with a loaded weapon that she was prepared to use
(13) - that Harris, Gibbons, and Montgomery, barrackaded themselves into the kitchen by placing a large wooden chair directly behind the internal kitchen back passageway door as well as pushing the kitchen table across the kitchen floor toward the doorway of a small spiral stairway situated in the corner of the kitchen, with the purpose being to prevent these doors being unexpectedly opened by Sheila Caffell in possession of a gun with intent of shooting them. They also placed a towel, a pair of cotton trousers, and a seat cushion around blood which had pooled on the kitchen floor around the base of a metal coal hod inside which had been placed the head of Neville Bamber to try to restrict his blood spreading further a field on the floor
(14 ) - Montgomery used his police radio to contact PS Adams and DCI Clarke at the forward control point to update them that the firearm operation had suddenly gone pearshaped! A message was subsequently relayed via Montgomery's radio set for DCI 'George' Harris to use the landline in the kitchen to call ACC 'Peter' Simpson at his home address and update him directly of the unexpected turn of events! This request followed a decision requesting the operated to terminate the eavesdrop of the kitchen phone at 8.15 am
(15) - Harris updated Simpson between around 8.15am and 8.30am via use of the kitchen land line phone, regarding the fresh search to relocate and eliminate the threat she poised, culminating in the rediscovery of Sheila Caffells body upon the bed in her parents bedroom in a collapsed state still sporting only one bullet wound in her throat by that stage
(16) - that by the time the police surgeon first saw and pronounced Sheila Caffell as being dead at 8.44am, that her body was 'still resting on the far side of the bed' (not the floor) and that 'she only had what appeared to be a single bullet wound to her throat' by this stage
(17) - that by around 9am PS Adams visited the main bedroom scene and saw Sheila's body upon the bed, with no weapon in her possession, and the bible elswhere on the bedroom floor. Adams and the vast majority of the other firearm officers (with the exception of PI Montgomery, and PS Woodcock who remained present at the farm) then left the scene! This coincided with a number of senior officers looking very closely at the bodies of the victims, including Sheila Caffell, and thus commencing 'informatives', whereby cops tried to fathom out the sequence of events leading up to the five deaths. These 'informatives' lasted in duration for about an hour (between 9 am and 10am), until SOCO (DI 'Ron' Cook, DS 'Neil' Davidson, DC 'David' Hammersley, DC Henderson, PC 'David' Bird, and one other) took control of the various crime scenes inside the kitchen, main bedroom and the children's bedroom! At various stages whilst 'informatives' were being carried out, other key police officers, including DCI 'Taff' Jones, DS 'Stan' Jones, DC 'Mick' Clark, and the Coroner's Officer, PC Wright, arrived at the scene!
(18) - during 'informatives' being conducted around and in the vicinity of the body of Sheila Caffell in the main bedroom, certain officers noted key factors including the fact that (a) her body was laid on top of the bed, (b) that Sheila only had one bullet wound to her throat, (c) that there was no rifle or other weapon present inside the bedroom where her body was located on the bed, (d) that she had sustained the only shot to her throat downstairs in the kitchen and had mistakenly been pronounced as being dead there after being shot by use of a police issue round fired from a police weapon (the shooting would be covered in an officers report into that shooting incident which happened downstairs earlier in the kitchen) (e) upon making her way from the kitchen downstairs from after 8.10am which coincided with real confirmation by armed officers completing a full search of the farmhouse, that two bodies had already been found and located downstairs by 7.37am, onward, and 'a further three bodies (only) had been found and located upstairs', Sheila's body had been relocated upstairs on top of the bed in a collapsed state (8.30am), and verified as being dead by the police surgeon, Dr Craig at 8.44am, with what appeared to be a bullet wound to her throat, thus altering the bodily distribution which originally had been confirmed as two bodies downstairs (7.37am), three bodies upstairs (8.10am), to one body downstairs and four bodies upstairs by 8.30am, (f) that PS Adams had been the Commander of the firearm operation at the scene between 5am and 8.15am, which coincided with the operation inside the farmhouse going pearshaped, as described, (g) at which point PI 'Ivor' Montgomery had assumed Commanders, he being trapped inside the kitchen at the time Sheila's body had gone AWOL
(19) - DCI 'Taff' Jones, DS 'Stan' Jones, and DC 'Mick' Clark, visited the main bedroom of the farmhouse whilst Sheila Caffells body was still laid on top of the bed, bearing only a single bullet entry wound to her throat! At this stage the body of June Bamber was also on top of the bed! Somebody had brought the rifle from its resting place against a first floor 'box room' window and placed in-between both bodies on top of the bed, as confirmed by DS 'Stan' Jones, and DC ' Mick's Clark who told Ann Eaton this when all were present inside Jeremy's cottage that same norning!
(20) - DC 'Mick' Clark, and DS 'Stan' Jones left the scene to go with Jeremy to his cottage from 9 Head Street, Goldhanger, to take his first witness statement (dated, 7 August 1985)
(21) - the bodies of Sheila Caffell and June Bamber! were then moved from on the bed, to the bedroom floor either side of the bed! At this stage Sheila Caffell had only been shot once, a shot which travelled horizontal in fashion across her throat, from left to right (to which the original badly fragmented bullet PV/20 referred). Once June Bambers body was lifted from the bed, cops took three photographs of Sheila's lone body still on the bed. The photographs only show one bullet hole in her throat at that stage, with no rifle on her body! No blood can be seen to be leaking from the corners of her mouth! There was no triangular bloodstain on the front upper right hand of her light blue nightie! There was no bloodied hand print present upon the front lower right of the same!
(22) - the anshuzt rifle brought from the first floor box room window was fitted with a Parker Hale silencer
(23) - the only rifle upstairs was brought from its location leaning against a first floor 'box room window', and placed in position on to Sheila's body at 9.13am for 'gauging purposes' during 'informatives'. This rifle (anshuzt) had not fired the first shot (the piece of the badly fragmented PV/20 bullet recovered from Sheila Caffells neck, during autopsy by Peter Venezis, pathologist) received in the kitchen, but 'this rifle' would in due course, inflict the fatal shot (PV/19, a whole bullet recovered from Sheila Caffells brain by Peter Venezis during the same autopsy) which ultimately killed her off instanteneously!
(24) - senior officers huddled around Sheila Caffells body now on the bedroom floor!
(25) - they were pondering whether it might be possible or not to present the single shot (at that time) as having been inflicted with use of the silencer fitted to the anshuzt rifle, rather than to admit that she had been shot and had been killed by use of a police weapon and one police round (the shooting incident in the kitchen event which later became subject of an 'Officers Report' into the shooting of Sheila Caffell after police entered the kitchen of the farmhouse)
(26) - the anshuzt rifle with silencer attached onto the end of its barrell was duly offered to Sheila Caffells body, police making sure that the fingers of her right hand could reach the trigger mechanism of the rifle! At this stage it became apparent that the barrel of the rifle with its silencer attached virtually eradicated any prospective of it being capable of use at the time the single shot (at that time) had been inflicted! One officer took it upon himself to try to squeeze the additional two inches required to make the rifle so configured into the gun which had fired the shot! He stretched Sheila's arm as far as it would extend whilst at the same time trying to manipulate the muzzle end of the silencer fitted to the guns barrel into position against the solitary bullet wound hole in Sheila Caffells neck! During this time an abrasion mark was created around the bullet entry hole on her throat!
(27) - whilst in the process of trying to make the anshuzt rifle with silencer fit into the gap (distance) between the trigger of the aforementioned weapon and the location of the single bullet wound hole in Sheila's throat, the trigger mechanism of the said rifle got activated and a shot was discharged higher up on Sheila's throat which sent the bullet (PV/19) up through her mouth and which lodged in her brain! As soon as this second wound was inflicted fresh blood started to pour from the corners of her mouth, from the newly inflicted wound, and her left nostril
(28) - no-one had bothered to check the rifle to make sure it was not loaded with a live round
(29) - officers who had been gathered around Sheila's body on the bedroom floor, where shocked and stunned that a safety check had not been carried out and the weapon made safe before it's removal from the first floor box room window on the red brick side of the house, and brought to Sheila's body for the purpose of 'informatives'
(30) - the amount of fresh blood which had instantly poured from Sheila Caffells mouth, nostril and second bullet wound in her throat, caused everyone present to believe that Sheila had not been dead after all despite her death being called twice, once from around 7.37am in the kitchen downstairs, and secondly at 8.44am by the police surgeon, Dr Craig
(31) - the rifle was quickly removed from Sheila's body, and those present tried frantically to keep her alive by laying her in the recovery position upon the right side of her body
(32) - Sheila Caffell died in the main bedroom at precisely 9.13am, when the second shot (bullet PV/19) was received
(33) - once the second 'higher up on the throat shot got inflicted, police found themselves facing an additional dilemma. Now Sheila had two shots on her throat, one fired by a police weapon when cops stormed the kitchen, to which an 'Officers Report' refers (the shooting incident in the kitchen), a second shot which had inadvertently been fired via the anshuzt rifle with a silencer fitted to its barrel! The anshuzt rifle with its silencer fitted could not possibly have been responsible for inflicting the first shot across the throat because the distance between the rifles trigger and the muzzle end of the silencer that was fitted to the guns barrel was too long! On the other hand, the anshuzt rifle with its silencer fitted had inflicted the second 'higher up on the throat' shot! Senior cops carrying out the informative considered recoil as being a possible solution to the problem cops now faced, but this was rejected because the same gun could not have fired both shots into Sheila's throat
(34) - Sheila's blood got into the silencer as a result of the silencer still being fitted to the barrel end of the anshuzt rifle at the time 'the second higher up on the throat shot got inflicted'
(35) - senior officers found themselves at a cross roads, they had a victim who had been shot twice by two different guns, which excluded the possibility of cops arguing that 'recoil' might account for the two shots! They decided to remove the silencer, and proceed as though there had never been a silencer involved with the family owned anshuzt rifle, so they removed the silencer, and proceeded to stage Sheilas death using the anshuzt rifle minus it's silencer! DS 'Stan' Jones, would leave Jeremy's cottage later that same morning and retrieve the aforementioned silencer and give it to DCI 'Taff' Jones who kept it on his office desk at Witham Police Station and used it as a temporary paper weight!
(36) - once senior officers concluded 'informatives' it was decided by them that the matter would proceed through the Coroner's Court System, and be treated as, 'four murders, and a suicide'
(37) - after returning to the scene at just before dinner time, on that first morning, 'Stan' Jones recovered four exhibits in total, bearing exhibit marks, SBJ/4, SBJ/3, SBJ/2 and SBJ/1 (the silencer) these four exhibits, including the silencer were logged in an Essex Police Major Incident Property Register bearing a Crime Reference No. SC/688/85...
(38) - DI 'Ron' Cook, and his team of SOCO (DC Hammersley, DS Davidson, and PC 'David' Bird), had all arrived at the scene by 9.20am, but they were denied access to the various crime scenes inside the farmhouse until after 10 am, by which stage Senior Officers had completed their 'informatives'
(39) - the Coroner's Officer (PC 'Norman' Wright) arrived at the scene at 9.30am. He did not recollect there being any weapon with Sheila's body when he visited the main bedroom. He would later make a statement declaring that the rifle had been removed from the body already by that stage...
(40) - at around 10am, DI 'Ron' Cook, and his team of SOCO commenced their approach to enter the farmhouse, and carry out duties which included photographing the scenes in different parts of the farmhouse, and gathering exhibits! Of particular interest, was that PC 'David' Bird would later recount to the COLP investigators precisely what 'Ron' Cook told him as they strode off into the direction of the premises, ' make sure you get the position of the rifle on the body accurately!
(41) - at the autopsy of Sheila Caffell, performed by Peter Venezis on 7 August 1985, he removed a whole bullet (PV/19) from her brain. He also removed a piece of badly fragmented bullet (PV/20) from the right hand side of her throat. By 20th September 1985 (44 days later) the piece of badly fragment bullet (PV/20) recovered from Sheila Caffells throat by the pathologist Peter Venezis, had grown into a whole bullet, to enable the prosecutions ballistic expert, to conclude that both bullets (PV/19 and PV/20) had been fired from the same anshuzt rifle
(42) - on afternoon of 9 August 1985, DCI 'Taff' Jones, and DS 'Stan' Jones visited Jeremy Bamber at his cottage in Head Street, Goldhanger! They questioned him about whether the silencer was fitted to the barrel of the anshuzt rifle when he last saw it and handled the weapon? He replied, 'no'. Later that same evening, Jones and Jones met Ann Eaton at whf to give her the keys of the farmhouse to her and gave her a tour of the premises! At this time 'Stan' Jones returned the Parker Hale silencer (SBJ/1) to the gun cupboard in the den
(43) - on the following day, David Boutflour recovered the same silencer from the aforementioned gun cupboard, and took it to his sister's (Ann Eaton) house, where it was retained until evening of 12 August 1985, when 'Stan' Jones attended to recollect it on the pretense that he didn't know anything at all about its existence previously! Of course, 'Stan' Jones did know of the silencers existence because on the morning of 7 August 1985 he returned to the scene from Jeremy's cottage to collect it (SBJ/1), then on afternoon of 9 August 1975 both he and DCI 'Taff' Jones had questioned Jeremy about it being fitted to the barrel of the anshuzt rifle when he last saw it before the tragedy, and later that same evening, 'Stan' Jones had returned it to the gun cupboard, where David Boutflour would recover it on 10 August 1985
(44) - upon arrival at his sister's (Ann Eaton) house with the silencer, David Boutflour unsuccessfully tried to unscrew the end cap off the muzzle of the silencer to look inside, but he told COLP investigators that it was too tightly fastened!
(45) - during the three days or so (10th, 11th and 12th August 1985) David Boutflour had used a broken razor blade to scrape off a piece of dried blood from the flat surface on the end of the silencer which he retained because as he would later tell COLP investigators, ' it fascinated' him!
(46) - Glynis Howard examined silencer at Huntingdon Laboratory on 13 August 1985, saying there was insufficient blood for analysis purposes. She handed the silencer back to 'Ron' Cook for fingerprinting
(47) - 'Ron' Cook fingerprinted the silencer by oblique light technique on 15 August 1985, but found no fingerprints
(48) - 'Ron' Cook fingerprinted the silencer by Superglue technique on 23 January 1985, at a police faculty Sandridge
(49) - 'Ron' Cook dismantled silencer and separated it's metal end cap, top washer and the first seven of 17 internal baffle plates, on 29 August 1985, but he reported finding no blood or any dried blood flakes inside. He rebuilt it! Cook photographed this dismantling and rebuilding exercise
(50) - a silencer was added to the list of items submitted to lab' at Huntingdon on 30 August 1985 for examination
(51) - Ann Eaton handed this flake of dried blood / silencer over to DC Oakey on the 11 September 1985
(52) - Flake received at lab' made into a solution so that it could be checked for a presence of individual blood group activity
(53) - a portion of the aforementioned solution was tested on 12 September 1985, producing a positive result for
(54) - a comparison test using a control round test fired via anshuzt rifle was carried out at the lab by ballistic expert, Malcom Fletcher, which confirmed the crime scene ammunition had been fired in the anshuzt rifle
(55) - David Boutflour contacts police by telephone on 12 September 1985, to tell them that he has found the guns silencer
(56) - a portion of the aforementioned solution was tested on 13 September 1985, producing a positive result for
(57) a comparison test using a control round test fired via anshuzt rifle was carried out at the lab by ballistic ex6ert, Malcom Fletcher, which confirmed the crime scene ammunition had been fired in the anshuzt rifle
(58) - DS Davidson and DS Eastwood fingerprinted the silencer on 14 September 1985
(59) - David Boutflour contacts police (DC Oakey, SOCO) asking them to meet him at whf. Notes taken by DC Oakey, mentions the two locations inside the gun cupboard at the farmhouse where David Boutflour found the silencer
(60 - police photograph scratch marks on the underside and front fascia of the red painted kitchen aga suround at scene on 14 September 1985
(61) - a portion of the aforementioned solution was tested on 18 September 1985, producing a positive result for
(62) - a comparison test using a control round test fired via anshuzt rifle was carried out at the lab by ballistic expert, Malcom Fletcher, which confirmed the crime scene ammunition had been fired in the anshuzt rifle
(63) - a portion of the aforementioned solution was tested on 19 September 1985, producing a positive result for
(64) - a comparison test using a control round test fired via anshuzt rifle was carried out at the lab by ballistic expert, Malcom Fletcher, which confirmed the crime scene ammunition had been fired in the anshuzt rifle
(65) - police submitted silencer to lab along with an ammunition box inside which it was found for examination at lab' on 20th September 1985
(66) - prosecutions ballistic expert, Malcom Fletcher takes possession of the batch of 25 crime scene spent cartridge cases, the 25 crime scene bullets recovered from bodies of victims during autopsy, performed over 7 / 8 August 1985, and 29 control rounds exhibit DRH/42. He carries out official test firing of exhibit DRH/42 in the anshuzt rifle on this date (20th September 1985)
(67) - blood from a silencer was tested to see if it was of 'human' Origin', on 20th September 1985, and confirmed as being so, same date!
(68) - silencer examined at lab' on 25th September 1985, and red paint particles noticed in knurl of circumference of its end cap (for first time)
(69) - prosecutions ballistic expert (Fletcher) conducts further official test firing of control ammunition (DRH/42) with anshuzt rifle (DRH/15) on 25 September 1985
(70) - prosecutions ballistic expert (Fletcher) conducts further official test firing of control ammunition (DRH/42) with anshuzt rifle (DRH/15) on 2 October 1985
(71) - ingrained paint noticed for first time after re-examination of silencer on 25 September 1985, confirmed as originating from red painted Aga suround in kitchen at whf (confirmed at lab' on 2nd October 1975)
