When did the relatives tell Julie about the lockable from outside window ?

[Caroline]

That made me realise there would not be a handle on the outside of the bathroom window.

Are there any sources that the latch on the bathroom window could be banged shut from outside ?

You don't need a handle on a sash window and you wouldn't need to bang it shut.

[lookout]

A sash window can only be locked from the inside.

[Caroline]

A sash window can only be locked from the inside.

The bathroom window is the window Jeremy used when he entered after the murders so he could certain;y open it from the outside. I think it would be possible to lock the window from the outside using a piece of cord, wrapped around the catch and pulled from the outside.

Still, one of the officers said that the bathroom window was shut but the latch was not secured. I think he used the bathroom window and not the kitchen.

[lookout]

The bathroom window is the window Jeremy used when he entered after the murders so he could certain;y open it from the outside. I think it would be possible to lock the window from the outside using a piece of cord, wrapped around the catch and pulled from the outside.

Still, one of the officers said that the bathroom window was shut but the latch was not secured. I think he used the bathroom window and not the kitchen.

When he entered after the murders ? Meaning that someone must have left it off the catch ?

[Caroline]

When he entered after the murders ? Meaning that someone must have left it off the catch ?

Nope, he had a way of opening it when locked.

[lookout]

Nope, he had a way of opening it when locked.

It's impossible from the outside as there's usually a screw-down mechanism in case a knife is used to slide the lever across. I know how these windows work as I've lived in an old house with the same windows.

[Steve_uk]

The bathroom window is the window Jeremy used when he entered after the murders so he could certain;y open it from the outside. I think it would be possible to lock the window from the outside using a piece of cord, wrapped around the catch and pulled from the outside.

Still, one of the officers said that the bathroom window was shut but the latch was not secured. I think he used the bathroom window and not the kitchen.

Yes I think there was some similar plot in Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot's Christmas.

[Caroline]

It's impossible from the outside as there's usually a screw-down mechanism in case a knife is used to slide the lever across. I know how these windows work as I've lived in an old house with the same windows.

Except it's not because from Bambers own ADMISSION he was able to gain access that way! I know how they work, there are lots of houses around here that still have them!

[Caroline]

Yes I think there was some similar plot in Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot's Christmas.

All you had to do was drape the cord over the latch, push the ends of the cord out of the window, pull the window down to close it pull on the cord to lock the latch and then pull the cord free.

[guest154]

Except it's not because from Bambers own ADMISSION he was able to gain access that way! I know how they work, there are lots of houses around here that still have them!

Perhaps they now don't trust Bamber? Add him to the conspiracy.

[David1819]

The bathroom window is the window Jeremy used when he entered after the murders so he could certain;y open it from the outside. I think it would be possible to lock the window from the outside using a piece of cord, wrapped around the catch and pulled from the outside.

Still, one of the officers said that the bathroom window was shut but the latch was not secured. I think he used the bathroom window and not the kitchen.

[lookout]

All you had to do was drape the cord over the latch, push the ends of the cord out of the window, pull the window down to close it pull on the cord to lock the latch and then pull the cord free.

What a performance when time was of the essence ? Then to make sure that no evidence was left behind-----prints/fibres etc ?
A murder is either planned or committed on the spur of the moment and I say it was done without forethought or planning.

[lookout]

Being as the windows had been freshly painted any interference with the locks would have left their mark,being tacky in the areas such as the locking devices unless the painter was a thorough tradesman who first burnt the old paint off---------which I'd very much doubt.
Even the Aga had layers of old paint which made it prone to the least scuffing-----as was seen.

[lookout]

Even the painter himself had been working right up until the tragedy which would mean that certain areas there'd have been wet paint outside. JB would have known that at the time so would he have taken the chance to have risked leaving his mark ? No of course not.

[Jane]

Being as the windows had been freshly painted any interference with the locks would have left their mark,being tacky in the areas such as the locking devices unless the painter was a thorough tradesman who first burnt the old paint off---------which I'd very much doubt.
Even the Aga had layers of old paint which made it prone to the least scuffing-----as was seen.

Even the painter himself had been working right up until the tragedy which would mean that certain areas there'd have been wet paint outside. JB would have known that at the time so would he have taken the chance to have risked leaving his mark ? No of course not.

What a performance when time was of the essence ? Then to make sure that no evidence was left behind-----prints/fibres etc ?
A murder is either planned or committed on the spur of the moment and I say it was done without forethought or planning.

Lookout, constantly saying that the windows had only recently been painted doesn't make it fact. Certainly, they'd been painted but "recently" is entirely relative.

The painter may well have been working right up until the murders, but as the windows were closed it stands to reason that they'd gone well passed the sticking stage. We may be entirely certain that any "wet paint" outside did not include the windows, much as you'd like us to believe.

I'd say it's a certainty that the murders were planned and calculated to take place at such time when the entire family -including Sheila- was gathered. How else was it going to be possible to make it look as if she'd been responsible? No planned crime is ever carried out with the thought in mind that it might fail. The potential gains being a greater carrot than fear of failure. Whilst you may look at the best part of half a million as not being worth Jeremy getting out of bed for, to we, less well cushioned members of 1985 society, it was a small fortune.