The problem that Essex police had, was that prior to and including the trial in October 1986, the cops were making out that all the crime scene photographs which had been taken at the scene on the 7th and 8th August 1985, had been taken solely by PC David Bird (SOCO) who had supposedly started taking photographs inside the farmhouse from about 10 O'clock onwards, he not having arrived at the scene until 9.20am, in the company of Detective Inspector Ron Cook, who we are told was put in charge of the farmhouse soon after his arrival. However, this narrative that Essex police pinned it's case on wasn't true at all. This is because DCI Harris, Chief Inspector Gibbons, DCI Clarke and DCI Jones were in total control of the various scenes inside the farmhouse, and had been in charge of the same since before Ron Cook and his side kick PC David Bird had even arrived at the scene (9.20am). Also in attendance inside the farmhouse prior to the arrival of Ron Cook and PC David Bird at 9.20am, were police Inspector Ivor Montgomery, and PS Woodcock, together with two CID officers from headquarters SOCO (DC Henderson and DC Oakey)..
It was DC Henderson and DC Oakey who had already started taking photographs of the bodies of victims, insitu at just after 8.44am when the police surgeon Dr Craig had ceremoniously pronounced everyone as being dead by that time!
Henderson and Oakey were the first SOCO team to take photographs of the victims bodies, upstairs in the two bedrooms, and downstairs in the kitchen. For the avoidance of doubt it should be noted that at 8.44am Sheila Caffell's body was laid on the far side of the bed! I know people have tried to twist the truth by claiming that Sheila's body was on the bedroom floor by that stage! But, all I shall say is that when Stan Jones and Mick Clark arrived in the main bedroom soon after 9.05am, they saw Sheila Caffell's body laying on top of the bed, next to the body of her mother, June Bamber! Jones and Clark recounted what they saw when later that same morning whilst they were at Jeremy Bambers cottage taking a witness statement from him, they told Ann Eaton and other relatives gathered there, that there was a rifle resting on the bed in-between the two bodies, and that Sheila had got a Bible resting on her chest! Ann Eaton was told on this occasion, that Sheila had been shot once in the neck, and they were told by Jones and Clark that this single shot had killed her!
What is known, is that Sheila Caffell's body was never resting on top of the bed at any stage after Ron Cook or PC David Bird arrived at the scene, and they duly arrived there at 9.20am...
With this in mind, PC Bird could not have taken any photographs of Sheila Caffell's body and June Bambers body laid on top of the bed!
By 9.30am, the Coroner's officer, PC Wright arrived at the scene and went to the main bedroom at that time and he viewed the bodies of Sheila Caffell and June Bamber, laid on different parts of the bedroom floor! He states that the rifle had been removed from the body by that stage, and that Sheila had two bullet entry wounds to her neck when he first saw her body (9.30am) - PC David Bird had not yet even entered the farmhouse by that stage and he would not do so for another half an hour or so at 10.00am...
What we now know, but of course the court which tried the case did not, is that between 9.00am and 10.00am Senior Officers performed a training exercise known as 'informatives', which involved them moving the bodies of victims about, moving weapons about, and moving furniture around! Whilst this was going on Henderson and Oakey took photographs and video footage capturing the fact that it was the police themselves who had staged the death scenes of the three adult victims, namely the death of Neville Bamber downstairs in the kitchen, with his head inside the steel rim of the coal bucket! Upstairs at the entrance to the main bedroom, they left June Bambers badly injured body partly propped up against the bedroom door! Sheila's body was laid on the floor on the opposite side of the bedroom in possession of the anshuzt rifle!
Once Harris, Gibbons, Clarke, Miller and Jones were satisfied with how they had set the scene, only then was the second team of SOCO permitted to enter the premises at which point PC David Bird started to take his photographs, showing the bodies of victims insitu as left by the Senior Officers without knowing that the bodies in question had been found differently, and that in Sheila Caffell's case, there had been three different locations where her body had been including the scene set by the police by around 10 0'clock (the kitchen, laid on top of the bed, and laid on the bedroom floor). PC Bird only photographed Sheila's body on the bedroom floor, and he photographed June's body propped up against and slumped by the bedroom door! He also photographed Neville Bamber with his head in the coal bucket downstairs in the kitchen!
Of course, we now know that the first team of SOCO (Henderson and Oakey) captured the Senior Officers whilst they were engaged in practising 'informatives', which involved repositioning the bodies of victims, moving the rifle about from place to place, and with it ending up in the possession of Sheila Caffell, etc, etc, etc...
Make no bones about it, it was the police who staged Sheila Caffell's death on the bedroom floor, and this is despite the fact that there had been two shouts (police radio messages timed at 7.35am, 7.37am, 7.38am, 7.42am and 7.45am) earlier on during the police Operation that Sheila had died downstairs in the kitchen, her death at that stage, being talked about as a suicide! Later on once her body arrived in the parents bedroom, she had collapsed onto her parents bed, and was once again referred to as being dead, by Dr Craig (8.44am), at a time when she only had one bullet entry wound to her neck! Remember also, that by the time Stan Jones and Mick Clark visited the main bedroom, they saw Sheila's body laid on top of the bed, June Bambers body was laid next to Sheila's body on top of the same bed, Sheila had been shot once in the neck, there was a rifle laid on the bed in-between the two bodies, and Sheila had a Bible on her chest!
