Sheila using a shot gun.

[Steve_uk]

Bamber did not use a shot gun. The rifle made no noise.

I think the insinuation might be that there had been an incident with Sheila earlier than some people believed.

[lookout]

Bamber did not use a shot gun. The rifle made no noise.

I didn't say he did. This is why Smith heard the shotgun.

[lookout]

I think the insinuation might be that there had been an incident with Sheila earlier than some people believed.

Steve Sheila may have initially been discharging the shotgun to cause attention and to express how she was beginning to feel at the time. The shotgun noise would obviously have been heard " shortly before midnight " in nearby fields at dead of night but Smith couldn't say how many shots were fired. It could even have been outside somewhere for all we know with Nevill bundling her back indoors and locking everywhere while he was at it.

I wonder if there'd been any shot lying around at the back of the farmhouse ?

[Steve_uk]

Steve Sheila may have initially been discharging the shotgun to cause attention and to express how she was beginning to feel at the time. The shotgun noise would obviously have been heard " shortly before midnight " in nearby fields at dead of night but Smith couldn't say how many shots were fired. It could even have been outside somewhere for all we know with Nevill bundling her back indoors and locking everywhere while he was at it.

I wonder if there'd been any shot lying around at the back of the farmhouse ?

I might have been more predisposed to believe something was amiss at that comparatively early stage had it not been for Pam's telephone call, which confirms in my mind that Sheila was tired out from all the social activity those past few days and was just heading off to bed.

[David1819]

I might have been more predisposed to believe something was amiss at that comparatively early stage had it not been for Pam's telephone call, which confirms in my mind that Sheila was tired out from all the social activity those past few days and was just heading off to bed.

What do you make of Barbra Wilsons call?

[Jane]

A Steven Brian Smith had heard gunshots around midnight as he'd walked his dog in fields, coming from the direction of WHF. He did report the incident but his report is probably under the PII rules.
This could well have been used by the prosecution in saying that JB had killed his family between midnight and 3am !  Even though Sheila's prints were found on the shotgun and not Jeremy's.

 

Odd, considering Jeremy had used it to go bunny bashing, don't you think?

[lookout]

Odd, considering Jeremy had used it to go bunny bashing, don't you think?

What, with a shotgun ?

[Steve_uk]

What do you make of Barbra Wilsons call?

Well I think Nevill could have been annoyed for several reasons. Jeremy had previously tipped potatoes into a ditch and would rarely do overtime, so he might have refused his father's request to bring in the last load of rape seed. He might have thought Sheila was not doing enough round the house or that the caring for the twins was falling on his wife. I don't think he broached the subject with his daughter though because Sheila was meek on the telephone a short time later with Auntie Pam.

[Caroline]

Well I think Nevill could have been annoyed for several reasons. Jeremy had previously tipped potatoes into a ditch and would rarely do overtime, so he might have refused his father's request to bring in the last load of rape seed. He might have thought Sheila was not doing enough round the house or that the caring for the twins was falling on his wife. I don't think he broached the subject with his daughter though because Sheila was meek on the telephone a short time later with Auntie Pam.

I agree Steve, but think the argument was more likely to be with Jeremy as there was no mention of any hostility when June spoke to Pam.

[lookout]

Jeremy did work overtime that day putting in 17 hours gathering the rape.
Nevill would have obviously been worried about June who'd been visiting her GP over a few weeks ( we don't now why ) and Sheila also was a great worry to the two of them. Nevill was in the middle of two sick women who weren't particularly close and the mention of foster caring showed that nobody was up to looking after the twins, even though June was only 60/61 at the time which was no age.   

[Steve_uk]

Jeremy did work overtime that day putting in 17 hours gathering the rape.
Nevill would have obviously been worried about June who'd been visiting her GP over a few weeks ( we don't now why ) and Sheila also was a great worry to the two of them. Nevill was in the middle of two sick women who weren't particularly close and the mention of foster caring showed that nobody was up to looking after the twins, even though June was only 60/61 at the time which was no age.

That's true, but he was only putting in appearances since his return from the Antipodes to accord with the stipulation of Nevill's will. I don't think the tragedy was set in stone as he was still deliberating on the telephone with Julie a short time after he left, but armed with his central nervous system stimulants and a passive girlfriend he dared himself on to this heinous diablerie.

[Adam]

Jeremy did work overtime that day putting in 17 hours gathering the rape.
Nevill would have obviously been worried about June who'd been visiting her GP over a few weeks ( we don't now why ) and Sheila also was a great worry to the two of them. Nevill was in the middle of two sick women who weren't particularly close and the mention of foster caring showed that nobody was up to looking after the twins, even though June was only 60/61 at the time which was no age.

17 hours. Did he get a coffee break?

[lookout]

That's true, but he was only putting in appearances since his return from the Antipodes to accord with the stipulation of Nevill's will. I don't think the tragedy was set in stone as he was still deliberating on the telephone with Julie a short time after he left, but armed with his central nervous system stimulants and a passive girlfriend he dared himself on to this heinous diablerie.

Julie too was spaced-out that night if I remember rightly as Jeremy must have struggled to make her see sense when he rang her in the early hours. She'd obviously not had any idea of his " much talked about plan " by telling him to go back to bed after saying his father had rang. If she'd have had the decency to have got a taxi there and then she could have saved him from this fate worse than death if she'd have thought that much of him.

[Steve_uk]

17 hours. Did he get a coffee break?

It was 8:00-21:30, so 13 and a half hours. At 16:00 Jeremy talked to Sheila and the twins in the rape field for ten minutes. It was following this conversation, of which Jeremy has no recollection, that his sister wrote in her diary: "I didn't mean to be horrible to Jeremy.."

[Steve_uk]

Julie too was spaced-out that night if I remember rightly as Jeremy must have struggled to make her see sense when he rang her in the early hours. She'd obviously not had any idea of his " much talked about plan " by telling him to go back to bed after saying his father had rang. If she'd have had the decency to have got a taxi there and then she could have saved him from this fate worse than death if she'd have thought that much of him.

I don't know her mental state during the first of the three telephone calls. She may have felt she needed to provide a friendly ear, not envisaging in her worst nightmare of the malice aforethought running through his brain.