Mystery Solved - left handed Sheila did fire the Anshuzt rifle!

[Caroline]

Many arrogant people are confident. Professionals in all fields ??

So what, they aren't the same thing!

[Caroline]

I've met many arrogant surgeons-------confident too !!

That's nice.

[Harry]

More to the point, upon learning that Sheila had in fact been shot twice, Ann Eaton and the relatives recalled how Stan Jones and Mick Clark had told them at Jeremy's cottage within an hour of them having viewed Sheila's and Junes bodies both laid on top of the bed, with the rifle on the bed in-between the bodies, and a Bible on top of Sheila's chest! More importantly that Sheila had only been shot once by the time Jones and Clark had visited the main bedroom at around 9.05am on that crucial first morning...

Armed with the knowledge that the relatives had been misled and deceived by the police regarding the total number of shots which had been fired, and the total number of shots each victim including Sheila had received the relatives sat down together and realised that Sheila had not killed herself and that Jeremy could not have shot Sheila dead by way of inflicting the second shot which effectively ended her life!

The relatives discussed the possibility of Sheila and Jeremy planning on killing the adoptive parents to get their hands on Neville and June Bambers estates! But when it boiled down to Sheila having had anything whatsoever to do with the killing of her own two children, the relatives could not bring themselves to believing such an awful thing...

It was around this time, that relatives found out about the contents of the timed police radio messages which were passed between the scene and police headquarters, about Sheila's and Neville Bambers bodies being found downstairs in the kitchen (7.35am, 7.37am, 7.38am, 7.42am and 7.45am), and that only three other bodies had been found upstairs by 8.10am..

All in all, the relatives had more than a strong suspicion that the police had something to do with the killing of Sheila, with Jeremy being behind killing the other four victims, intending to pin the blame on his sister (who he had planned to keep alive)...

This was in the mindset of the relatives by the beginning of September 1985 - either way, the relatives had got it into their heads that Jeremy should be barred as a beneficiary at all costs! Without any action on their part Jeremy might stand to inherit not only from Neville Bambers estate, and June Bambers estate, but also the estate of Mabel Speakman!

The plan was for an approach to be made to the ACC Peter Simpson by Robert Woodwis Boutflour, with the intent on trying to get the police on board to prosecute Jeremy as the killer, in return for the relatives keeping their silence regarding what they knew by that stage. In particular, that Sheila Caffell was not shot dead until after Stan Jones and Mick Clark had viewed Sheila's body laid out on the bed with a solitary non fatal neck wound, and they had left the scene, and gone straight to Jeremy's cottage to recount the then known facts - the facts being at that time, and on that occasion, that despite Dr Craig pronouncing Sheila as being dead on the far side of the bed at 8.44am, the simple truth in the matter was that she couldn't have been dead, when Craig had pronounced her as being dead! Sheila had been alive at that time, barely alive, but alive!

She was still alive with Jones and Clark visited the main bedroom, and viewed Sheila laid out on top of the bed, she had still only got that solitary bullet entry wound to her neck, the rifle which would fire the second fatal bullet that finished Sheila off, was resting on the bed in-between the bodies of June and Sheila!

Robert Boutflour told Simpson a few home truths...

He told him...

"Without any action on their part Jeremy might stand to inherit not only from Neville Bamber's estate, and June Bamber's estate, but also the estate of Mabel Speakman!

The plan was for an approach to be made to the ACC Peter Simpson by Robert Woodwis Boutflour, with the intent on trying to get the police on board to prosecute Jeremy as the killer, in return for the relatives keeping their silence regarding what they knew by that stage."

Great post Mike. People should take seriously the strong possibility that the relatives and the police all knew that Bamber was innocent from within days of the killings.

It is often claimed  that Stan Jones suspected Jeremy before the second investigation was started and before ACC Peter Simpson had replaced Taff Jones with Mike Ainsley after complaints made by the relatives concerning Taff Jones's handling the case . But that does not make logical sense given that Stan Jones saw Sheila on the bed on the morning after the killings with only one bullet wound and without the blood leaking from the sides of her mouth. Stan Jones knew that Jeremy was innocent from that very day.

When later that day he heard about the incident which occurred after he left, in which Sheila was shot a second time, he could not possibly have had any doubts that Sheila had not been dead since before 03:00am. The photographs of Sheila on the floor with wet blood trails which Jones had not seen on his first visit to the farm would have made the truth obvious to him and to all the other cops immediately involved.

Furthermore common sense dictates  ACC Peter Simpson would have demanded to know the nature of the incident which had occurred. Whether Sheila had shot herself after Jones had seen seen her on the bed, or whether the police had shot her, it would have been the number one priority for Simpson to cover up the incident.

The key to understanding the basic dynamics of the case is in recognizing how significant it was for Simpson that the relatives had been told about the position of Sheila's body before the second wound was inflicted.

When Robert Boutflour went to Simpson to make his complaints about Taff Jones handling of the case, Simpson would surely have been very worried. 

What if Boutflour had asked Simpson for an explanation of why his daughter Ann Eaton had been told that Sheila had been found on the bed with a bible on her chest?  What if the relatives started going around telling people that the police had told them that Sheila had been found on the bed with a bible on her chest? Simpson could foresee trouble ahead.

The fact that Simpson responded to Robert Boutflour's complaint by immediately complying with the latter's wishes shows that it was for him of the utmost importance to guarantee the silence of the relatives. ACC Simpson immediately removed DCI Taff Jones from his position as head of the investigation and gave instructions to Det Chief Superintendent Mike Ainsley to start a new investigation with Jeremy as the prime suspect.

But it was all completely fake. Simpson, Ainsley and their stooge Stan Jones were all aware from the very beginning that Sheila had committed the murders and that Bamber was innocent. It was all play acting on their part.

All the senior investigative officers would have known the real truth. I would go further and suggest that the relatives also knew from a very early stage that Jeremy was innocent. The fact that they signed fraudulent witness statements and gave false evidence according to instructions given to them by the police does not of itself prove they knew Jeremy was innocent.  But some of the lies they were told to tell and which they recognized as lies would indicate that the police knew that Sheila was the killer and that she had been shot when Jeremy was outside with the police.

For example. Anthony Pargeter denied that his rifle had been present at the farm at the time of the murders. Another rifle being found downstairs is mentioned in police records.

Pargeter would not have lied unless he had been told to lie by the police. If Sheila had shot herself downstairs with Pargeter's bolt action rifle and the police wanted to cover up the incident, it would be important to get Pargeter to officially deny that his rifle had been there. Pargeter would not have lied without trying to figure out why he had been told to lie. It seems unrealistic that the relatives would have followed such instructions blindly without figuring out that the police had their own motives for covering up what really happened.

But their greed was the determining factor. They could pretend to believe that Bamber was guilty even if they saw through what the police were doing. Indeed a friendly cop may have explained the whole plan. Refusing to take that possibility seriously suggests a very poor knowledge of history. Any historian will tell you that such conspiracies don't only take place novels.

The thought that the relatives actually figured out that the police were trying to cover up the fact that Sheila had been on the bed and had been shot after Jones and Clark had left may be just too appalling for some people.

But it is probably the truth. The alternative, that they were completely clueless while signing fraudulent witness statements to backdate the finding of the silencer by a whole month is more far fetched.

[lookout]

Another fine post Harry and I must remark on its feasibility too though sickening to think that this could well have been the case.


I've had a problem for long enough with the fact that the blood group found in both Sheila and RWB concerning the AK/1. This enzyme was also contained in the blood of RWB's family,being a component found in a genetic capacity ( usually the male member of a family ) but also in cattle,pigs,chickens and rabbits.

For Sheila to have also had the same enzyme seems to me, personally not to have been the case and it's only the pathologist's word against everyone else's ( because of his position ) that this was ever made known. All part of the cover-up ? when you have 3 adults along with a select few animals whose blood contains AK1 yet it's been said that Sheila's blood was found on the silencer thus making Jeremy the killer ?  Such information was never disclosed until after the 2002 appeal.  Sheila's bio-father would have had the enzyme, if it was there at all !

My own thoughts on this particular subject is that the blood was that of an animal ( 4-legged one )

[mike tesko]

I lost you from paragraph 5. The relatives knew that the police had something to do with Sheila Caffell's death because within a couple of hours of the bodies of the five victims had been discovered (2 down, 3 up) they had been told by Stan Jones and Mick Clark at Jeremy's cottage that Sheila's body had been found laid on top of the bed, with a rifle on the bed in-between both bodies, Sheila having a Bible placed on her chest, and Sheila only having one bullet entry wound to her neck! By the beginning of September 1985, relatives discovered that police were now presenting a totally different scenario where neither Sheila or Junes bodies had been on the bed at all, and that the rifle alleged to have been the only murder weapon used, was not resting on the bed at all, nor was there a Bible which someone had placed on top of Sheila's chest! Instead the relatives got wind that the police were now saying that the bodies of Sheila and June had been found on the bedroom floor either side of the bed! June's body propped up near the doorway from the landing, and Sheila's body laid out flat on the floor on the other side of the bed, almost parrellel with the left hand edge of the bed (when viewed from the vantage point of someone standing at the foot of the bed)! The rifle was now being said to have been found in Sheila's possession, she clutching it to her body with the fingers of her right hand close to the trigger, and the muzzle end of the guns barrel nestling close to what appeared to be two bullet entry wounds to her throat, whereas in the original version of the circumstances told by the police to Ann Eaton and the other relatives, was that Sheila had only been shot once! Moreover, in the latest twist the barrell of the rifle was resting upon the chest of Sheila Caffell, where previously that rifle had been resting on the bed in-between both bodies, and the Bible was supposed to have been resting directly on top of Sheila Caffell's chest, a Bible which in the latest twist of the circumstances was found to be partially resting on top of the upper and outer right arm! Everyone knows what sort of slueths the relatives were and turned out to be! It was a piece of cake for them to work out the lies which Essex police had been feeding them, firstly regarding the positions the bodies of June Bamber and Sheila Caffell' had been found in, next the fact that the rifle was resting on the bed in-between the two bodies, next the deception regarding the fact that Jones and Clark had seen the Bible on top of Sheila's chest prior to leaving the scene to attend at Jeremy's cottage, where the police officers concerned stated in the clearest of terms that Sheila, like all the other victims had all only been shot once! Only to find that the police were now by the beginning of September 1985, were altering all manner of circumstances, placing the bodies of these two female victims on the bedroom floor either side of the bed, June Bamber shot 7 times, not once, and Sheila not shot once, but twice! How is it possible for the sleuthing relatives to to be able to Fathom out by that stage, that there was something sinister going on surrounding the deaths of both Sheila Caffell, and June Bamber? The relatives were on the ball, and challenged the Witham Officers at every available opportunity prior to Robert Boutflours meeting with Peter Simpson at police headquarters on 6th September 1985! They received information from several sources throughout that critical period, not only from the likes of Bob Miller, Stan Jones, Mick Clark, but also from Robert Carr the Metropolitan Police Officer (son of John Carr, manager at Osea Road Caravan Park), Interpol, and their contacts at the Lodge where Robert Boutflour, Peter Simpson, and other senior officers linked to the police investigation practiced freemasonry! It's true that Sheila had no knowledge of her actions during a psychotic episode but nigh on impossible that Jeremy would have foreknowledge of when this might occur. It's possible that Jeremy anticipated the onset of a psychotic episode by observing her odd behaviour during the days leading up to the tragedy, and on the last day and at the supper table when Neville and June were admonishing her lack of ability to look after herself, and the children properly! It seems somewhat clear to me that Sheila was not very well at all in view of the fact that the parents were telling Sheila that she needed a rest in a nursing home in Bournemouth, and that they were heard by Jeremy to be saying to Sheila that she needed help with looking after the two children, there was mention of the possibility of help from foster parenting, and social services at the supper table, to which Sheila was not responding to at all! Her poor attitude and her low mood was noticeable at the party held at the week-end before the tragedy by everyone! On the journey to stay at whf she sat silently and brooding in the car all the journey without speaking at all to either her two children or to Colin Caffell. Indeed, Pamela Boutflour recounted how during the very last telephone call she had with her sister June Bamber (about 10pm, 6th August 1985) that June had spoken of the odd behaviour Sheila was displaying, and that June wanted her to have a look at Sheila on the following afternoon when arrangements were made for June, Sheila and the children to come for tea! It seems that quite a few people had noticed the odd behaviour of Sheila and this could have been a well known precursor to the onset of a psychotic episode, of which Sheila was known to suffer with from time to time. So with this in mind, I think that from Jeremy's perspective it's possible that he knew that trouble might be just around the corner! More importantly more and more people were noticing or being told about how odd Sheila had been behaving, a feature which the relatives knew about subsequently, and which may have caused them to believe that Jeremy had been involved with Sheila in the plan to get rid of the adoptive parents, paving the way to their inheritances! Mabel Speakman's estate has been discussed many times but it seems to me Jeremy had very little interest in that domain, being satisfied with the inheritance from his parents. That is not the impression that I got from interviewing him on a daily basis between the beginning of 1989 until the 27th July 1990 when I was incarcerated on B Wing at HMP Full Sutton, nr York, with him!  Apparently, Jeremy was Mabel Speakmans favourite grandson, Jeremy was close to his grandmother and he believed that when Mabel Speakman eventually passed away as surely everyone of us must do, that his grannies estate would be split between her two daughters (June Bamber and Pamela Boutflour), as the chief beneficiaries, and that June Bambers half share would eventually pass over to Sheila and himself as chief beneficiaries of June Bambers estate. I was very interested in these bits of information, because it allowed me to see Jeremy in a different light than that cast upon him after being convicted of these henious crimes! What I mean by this is that it wouldn't have been in Jeremy's best interests to be involved in wanting to kill off his parents when his grandmother, Mabel Speakman, was still very much alive at the time of the tragedy, and as such half of her potential estate would not by that stage have been part of her daughter's (June and Pamela) estates!  And then of course, the relatives set into motion a rather dastardly plot when they eventually got around to informing Mabel Speakman about the devasting tragedy of whf, that everyone including Jeremy had all been killed off by Sheila, who had then killed herself! They fooled Mabel Speakman into thinking that Jeremy Bamber had been killed and that he was dead along with everyone else! And, then guess what happened?

Robert Boutflour made quick arrangements for a new will to be made, tying all of Mabel Speakmans estate to Pamela Boutflour, David Boutflour and Ann Eaton - all of this prior to Jeremy's subsequent trial in October 1986...

So, it is simply not true that Jeremy had no interest in Mabel Speakmans estate either before the date of the tragedy, or afterwards..

[mike tesko]

The relatives, every last one of them, played along with the tale that they told to Mabel Speakman, for example, by telling her thatJeremy was one of the victims in the tragedy, and they got away with it because from the end of September 1985, Jeremy was in custody awaiting his trial, and the rest is history, he has been in custody ever since (hence why Mabel Speakman never got to see Jeremy Bamber ever again, she believed that he had died in the tragic events)! They were easily able to fool granny Speakman because she was very poorly and bedridden! Furthermore, it helped matters that Robert Boutflour had learned about Sheila's body originally being reportedly found downstairs in the kitchen along with Neville Bambers body, and that by 8.10am only three bodies were reportedly found upstairs in the bedrooms. The fact that Sheila's body had subsequently been found laid on top of the bed, and much later on, that her body had been shifted into the bedroom floor was a determining factor in getting granny Speakman to accept that Jeremy also had been killed and had died in the tragedy of whf - this was because at first blush, cops reported two bodies downstairs and only three bodies upstairs (between 7.35am and 8.10am), but by 8.44am, the body count downstairs (1) and upstairs (4), paved the way for the relatives to mislead Mabel Speakman into believing that with two bodies downstairs (7.35am, 7.37am, 7.38am, 7.42am and 7.45am), and four bodies upstairs by 8.44am, that the police had been dealing with a tragedy involving six bodies (2 + 4 = 6), not five!

[mike tesko]

What also seems somewhat obvious to me, concerning the involvement of Stan Jones and the relatives knowledge regarding the fact that he and Mick Clark had seen Sheila's body laid out on top of the parents bed  (only shot once by that stage) very soon after arriving at the scene in the company of DCI Jones at about 9.05am, is that having recounted what he had observed to Ann Eaton and the other relatives what he had very recently observed back in the main bedroom, is that Jeremy Bamber was not given this information at all. I personally asked Jeremy if he was there when the police told Ann Eaton that he had seen Sheila and June Bambers bodies laid side by side on top of the bed in his parents bedroom? He said, 'no'. When I put it to Jeremy that he must have been there, Jeremy told me that he was with DC Mick Clark at the time it was said by Stan Jones, giving him his first witness statement...

The rather worrying thing about all of this, from what Jeremy has told me, was that Ann Eaton and the relatives never mentioned any of these details to him at all, I think I am right in saying except for the fact that he was told by somebody, it could have been one of the relatives, or Julie Mugford' that when Sheila was found that she had a bible on her chest! Jeremy has told me that right up until his trial he was under the impression that a Bible had been found on top of his sister's chest, but by the time his trial got under way the rifle was resting on top of Sheila's body, not the Bible which was photographed resting against and slightly under the outside of his sister's upper right arm..

[mike tesko]

The rather worrying thing about all of this, from what Jeremy has told me, was that Ann Eaton and the relatives never mentioned any of these details to him at all, I think I am right in saying except for the fact that he was told by somebody, it could have been one of the relatives, or Julie Mugford' that when Sheila was found that she had a bible on her chest! Jeremy has told me that right up until his trial he was under the impression that a Bible had been found on top of his sister's chest, but by the time his trial got under way the rifle was resting on top of Sheila's body, not the Bible which was photographed resting against and slightly under the outside of his sister's upper right arm..

Somebody it seemed, for one reason or another switched the Bible that was resting on top of Sheila Caffell's chest at some stage after Stan Jones and Mick Clark had viewed Sheila's body laid on top of the bed, and replaced it with the rifle once her body was moved to the bedroom floor! Rather more disturbingly, Sheila now had got two shots inflicted to her neck, not the solitary one observed and recounted by Stan Jones and Mick Clark to Ann Eaton, and the relatives! There was obviously some link or association between the sudden appearance of a second bullet wound to Sheila's neck, the fact that her body had been lifted off the bed and placed on the bedroom floor, and the police leaving the rifle on top of Sheila's body, where the Bible had previously been...

The conclusion is that the second bullet entry wound on Sheila's neck (the fatal shot) was caused by a bullet fired via the anshuzt rifle after the police had lifted Sheila's body from on top of the bed and had placed it on the bedroom floor, to the left hand edge of the bed - this event must have occurred after Stan Jones and Mick Clark had left the main bedroom and gone outside to liaise with Jeremy and to make arrangements for them to go back to Jeremy's cottage and take a witness statement. I think it was around 9.30am when Jeremy, Jones and Clark left the farmhouse...

Prior to this, Jeremy had been sat inside his own car (the astra) and had been joined by PS Saxby who told Jeremy the bad news, which in a nutshell was that all his family were all dead inside the house!

I asked Jeremy what impact of being told that everyone inside the farmhouse were all dead?

He said that he was very shocked and full of disbelief, because he knew that when they first arrived at the scene that one of the adult victims had been seen moving around at his parents bedroom window, and throughout the ensuing seige that the police had been in communication with somebody inside the house, and that the police who were surrounding the building had from time to time been bombarding the occupants with instructions and requests using loud hailers! Jeremy told me that upon being told the tragic news that he (Jeremy) believed at that moment that the men who had gone into the farmhouse carrying guns had shot dead Sheila, and the rest of his family!

This interested me, at the time he recounted these events to me - so I asked him what made him think that the men carrying the guns who had gone into the house, had shot dead members of his family? His reaction was to say to me that there had clearly been someone alive inside the main bedroom, moving around as seen by the two police officers (Bews and Myall) and himself..

I enquired of Jeremy, whether or not he could tell if the person seen was his dad? His mom? Sheila? Or some other person or other?

He said it was impossible to say because whoever it had been, the person was a shifting silhouetted figure, identifiable by virtue of the fact that there was a light source beyond the figure they were looking at?

[mike tesko]

I asked Jeremy what impact of being told that everyone inside the farmhouse were all dead?

He said that he was very shocked and full of disbelief, because he knew that when they first arrived at the scene that one of the adult victims had been seen moving around at his parents bedroom window, and throughout the ensuing seige that the police had been in communication with somebody inside the house, and that the police who were surrounding the building had from time to time been bombarding the occupants with instructions and requests using loud hailers! Jeremy told me that upon being told the tragic news that he (Jeremy) believed at that moment that the men who had gone into the farmhouse carrying guns had shot dead Sheila, and the rest of his family!

What I find to be somewhat ironic is that it must have been after Jeremy had complained to PS Saxby that he thought the men carrying guns who had gone into the building must have shot Sheila and the rest of his family dead, is that Stan Jones and Mick Clark hadn't even arrived at the scene at that stage, and they would not enter the main bedroom and see the bodies of Sheila and June laid out side by side on top of the bed until gone 9.05am. We know that by the time Dr Craig had pronounced Sheila as being dead by 8.44am and he had left the building to go and tend to Jeremy that PS Saxby had broken the bad news to Jeremy already - 'the men carrying guns who went into house must have shot and killed Sheila and the rest of my Family' Jeremy had accusingly declared...

Note, how 'Jeremy was accusing the armed police of shooting dead Sheila, and the other four victims', he never said that 'Sheila must have shot and killed the others and had then turned the gun on herself'! It is important not to overlook the significance of what Jeremy said to PS Saxby on this occasion, because officially Essex police have consistently bombarded the public with the claim that they were conditioned by Jeremy to think that Sheila had shot everyone, and then killed herself!

Nope!

They have lied, because Jeremy accused the armed police of shooting everyone, including Sheila!

[mike tesko]

... Jeremy accused the armed police of shooting everyone, including Sheila!

It had been PS Saxby who had relayed the key police radio messages timed at 7.35am, 7.37am, 7.38am, 7.42am  and 8.10am, duties he had completed by the time he left his patrol car (CA07) and went to speak to Jeremy who was sat in his astra motor vehicle to break the news to him...

'two bodies found downstairs in the kitchen upon entry, and a further three bodies found upstairs, five dead in total'...

It therefore must follow that Sheila's body was still present downstairs in the kitchen at the exact time that PS Saxby was telling Jeremy the bad news...

One dead male, one dead female in kitchen upon entry'..

A murder, and a suicide, by 7.45am

The other three bodies found upstairs by 8.10am...

Sheila was the female body being referred goat these key crucial times! She was supposed to have committed suicide by 7.45am, but if this were true how then did her body end up upstairs on top of the bed by 8.44am?

[lookout]

It's funny how when the relatives came on the scene that their main theme had been money ?? Whereas 9 times out of 10 murder isn't about money at all but about the complex psychological needs of someone who's motivated by their " head and not the wallet " such as in Sheila's case where no money or anything else had been stolen.

" Taff Jones " would have known the above when he first profiled the situation after having probably experienced this type of domestic during his reign in the force. He'd seen it all before in other words.

[Caroline]

It's funny how when the relatives came on the scene that their main theme had been money ?? Whereas 9 times out of 10 murder isn't about money at all but about the complex psychological needs of someone who's motivated by their " head and not the wallet " such as in Sheila's case where no money or anything else had been stolen.

" Taff Jones " would have known the above when he first profiled the situation after having probably experienced this type of domestic during his reign in the force. He'd seen it all before in other words.

What was the first thing Jeremy asked for on his first vist to WHF after the murders?

He'd seen a 5 murder domestic before had he?  I don't think TJ 'profiled' anything - he saw the gun on Sheila and junped to the conclusion that Jeremy wanted.

[lookout]

What was the first thing Jeremy asked for on his first vist to WHF after the murders?

He'd seen a 5 murder domestic before had he?  I don't think TJ 'profiled' anything - he saw the gun on Sheila and junped to the conclusion that Jeremy wanted.

Bit late in the day asking for money after the murders wasn't it when he'd known about his dad's wallet, the women's handbags and the key to the safe ??

We don't know what " Taff " first saw as his notes are kept under lock and key along with other files which probably explained the truth of what happened !

[lookout]

" Taff " would have seen domestics ending in murder not necessarily 5 at a time, but then you have to split hairs or you wouldn't have anything to say would you ?

[Caroline]

Bit late in the day asking for money after the murders wasn't it when he'd known about his dad's wallet, the women's handbags and the key to the safe ??

We don't know what " Taff " first saw as his notes are kept under lock and key along with other files which probably explained the truth of what happened !

We do know, the CS pictures are on the forum. TJ didn't stick around, he went to play golf.