It should always not be forgotten that 'the devil is always in the detail' - and with this in mind, I would like to explode the myth that Malcolm Fletcher had nothing whatsoever to do with the rifle (18) at least one of the sound moderators, the batch of crime scene ammunition, cartridge cases and bullets, and control ammunition prior to the 20th September 1985! To all intents and purposes, Fletcher claims that he did not carry out the test firing of rifle (18) Sound moderator and control ammunition, until on and after 20th September 1985! Lets hit the nail on the head so that I can direct everybody to the true facts of this matter!
Did the ballistic expert lie?
If he lied, why did he lie?
Who encouraged him to lie if he did lie?
If he has lied it surely blows the prosecutions case wide open, and because the ballistic evidence can no longer be sustainable, then the convictions must be quashed immediately, and if its going to take time, Jeremy Bamber needs to be released on bail as soon as is practicable, until the court of appeal avails itself and duly quashes these convictions!
So, Did the Ballistic expert gild the lily and lie to help the prosecution to convict an innocent man of these five murders?
We shall soon see...
There are a number of significant clues to assist us all in this enquiry into whether or not the ballistic expert, Fletcher, deceived the court into helping to convict Bamber as the killer!
First things first - we know that the rifle was submitted to the lab' along with one of the silencers ('DB/1') 23, on the 30th August 1985, because we have seen the documentation confirming this (be it a forgery, or true)! We also know by reference to similar documentation that the batch of crime scene ammunition was also dispatched to Huntingdon Lab' on the same date, along with exhibit DRH/42 which contained the 29 cartridges to be used in the test firing of the same. We know that Fletcher handled the rifle (18) on the 12th September 1985, because he performed his 'Cloth pull-through' test of rifle (18)'s barrel (exhibit 'MDF/1'). We know that Fletcher's signature appears on all the General Examination records pertaining to the spent cartridge cases, and the bullets in this case, and that his signature frequently is dated on occasions prior to the 20th September 1985, confirming that he had performed test firing of rifle (18) and the sound moderator with unreported control rounds...
So, my question is this - what happened to that batch of control rounds?
Why wasn't an accurate record made of the rounds that were test fired out of rifle (18) on all the occasions prior to the 20th September 1985?
Were spent cartridge cases from these initial test firings used in a substitution process to help hide the fact that in fact two different guns had been use in the shootings?
10 bullets that could not be linked to the exclusion of all other weapons formed part of the batch of crime scene ammunition, and as we have seen 10 spent cartridge cases all compared out of sequence, on dates which fell before the 20th September 1985, in particular, comparison tests carried out using markings on test fired rounds against these 10 cartridge cases on the 13th and 18th September 1985?
Fletcher knew about these earlier test firings and that in 10 examples spent cartridge cases recovered from the scene had already been linked to the rifle (18) by earlier comparison tests of the same!
We will now look into the detail of Fletcher's role that he must have played in this conspiracy!