Murders at White House Farm by Carol Ann Lee.

[lookout]

I picked up a leaflet in Boots yesterday stating that any unexplained pain which doesn't go away for a protracted period could be cancer and should be investigated. I won't go into personal circumstances but had I been aware of this three years ago it might have saved a life. I also think there's a hidden agenda whereby these scans are rationed due to resources and that in itself is a scandal.

Steve,I've only just realised how scandalous this is,and it is,without question. Shameful.

[Jane]

I've just been on the phone with my g/daughter whose partner was treated with a " chest infection " last November--------which turned out to be Sepsis ! He was hospitalized for a while but since being discharched,which was before Christmas,he didn't feel right so went back to the GP who told him to take Paracetamol.
The poor lad has what appears to be Lymphoma------with every gland in his body swollen and he's lost about 2 stone in weight because he can't keep anything down. An emergency CT scan was ordered and he has a biopsy on Monday,under general anaesthetic,so the outlook is a long-haul of chemo and radiotherapy.
So the " chest infection " turned out to be something worse if they'd taken the trouble to look in the first place !!
His white blood count at the time would have been sky high.

He's very lucky to be alive. My partner died of Sepsis.

[Caroline]

I have nothing but praise for how my mother was treated by the nursing staff in her last few weeks but my anger is reserved for the nurse at the doctor's surgery setting herself up as a doctor and misdiagnosing my mother's cancer as a kidney infection. On the second occasion I took her to the surgery after insistence that there was something wrong the doctor himself failed to diagnose the cancer. A scan which might well have detected it was not forthcoming until it was too late.

I'm so sorry Steve, they should listen to the patient and those that know them best. I get Maggie's point also but until they fully investigate an illness, they shouldn't fob people off and in your case, i had such tragic circumstances. I have had similar experiences with our local practice but the consequences weren't as serious.

[lookout]

He's very lucky to be alive. My partner died of Sepsis.

I feel quite ill to be honest,he's only 27.

[Steve_uk]

I saw a " junior " doctor last week and I told him in my" Miss Faversham" way that I was sorry I wasted his time,because he kept leaving the room to speak with " his colleague next door !" So I then said he'd have done well listening to what I had to say.
It's a frightening situation for anyone when their GP doesn't know what's going on.

My advice to anyone with concerns about a relative is not to be fobbed off but to keep pestering if necessary until you get a date for a scan which may save a life.

[Jane]

I feel quite ill to be honest,he's only 27.

That feeling of impotence and helplessness is the same whether they're 27 or 77, Lookout.

[Steve_uk]

In my experience they're far likelier to take a younger person seriously, which is ironic when you consider an elderly patient has paid into the system all their lives and need to avail themselves of this service when they're at their most vulnerable.

[lookout]

I have nothing but praise for how my mother was treated by the nursing staff in her last few weeks but my anger is reserved for the nurse at the doctor's surgery setting herself up as a doctor and misdiagnosing my mother's cancer as a kidney infection. On the second occasion I took her to the surgery after insistence that there was something wrong the doctor himself failed to diagnose the cancer. A scan which might well have detected it was not forthcoming until it was too late.

Steve,for me personally and at my age,I have nothing but praise for both the hospitals where I live as they genuinely pulled out all the stops in finding out where my problem lay. Money had been no object with 4xCT scans, 2xUltrasound scans and a full body ( PET ) scan which was carried out by Alliance Medical,a private firm,but through Clatterbridge cancer centre.

I wish your mother had been treated the same. I feel so sorry.
This is why,when I hear of what happens,that I don't understand because of the swiftness I had been seen . Cancer had been suspected,but most fortunately there wasn't,anywhere,just kidney failure which happens to any elderly person and that was diagnosed a few years ago,caused by years of high blood-pressure,so nothing compared to what others suffer and I count myself the luckiest person and thankful too.

[Jane]

In my experience they're far likelier to take a younger person seriously, which is ironic when you consider an elderly patient has paid into the system all their lives and need to avail themselves of this service when they're at their most vulnerable.

I absolutely agree, Steve, yet that concept is at odds with the scientists doing everything in their power to keep us living longer. It's not about quantity -OK, longevity- it's about quality. My friend, who's in his mid 70's says his next partner must have the emotional strength to take his to Dignitas when he thinks the time is right.

[Steve_uk]

I absolutely agree, Steve, yet that concept is at odds with the scientists doing everything in their power to keep us living longer. It's not about quantity -OK, longevity- it's about quality. My friend, who's in his mid 70's says his next partner must have the emotional strength to take his to Dignitas when he thinks the time is right.

I would only go to Dignitas if I had terminal cancer and not for any other reason. I think any mental illness could and should be treated in a different way.  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1127413/Cashing-despair-Suicide-clinic-Dignitas-profit-obsessed-killing-machine-claims-ex-worker.html

[Jane]

I would only go to Dignitas if I had terminal cancer and not for any other reason. I think any mental illness could and should be treated in a different way.  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1127413/Cashing-despair-Suicide-clinic-Dignitas-profit-obsessed-killing-machine-claims-ex-worker.html

That makes for gut wrenching reading, Steve. I'm afraid I could only skim it. I suspect that if I was desperate to die, though, I might not feel as I do now.

[Steve_uk]

That makes for gut wrenching reading, Steve. I'm afraid I could only skim it. I suspect that if I was desperate to die, though, I might not feel as I do now.

If I'm no longer in control of my bodily functions I think it's time to call it a day.

[lookout]

   I can't read anything like that before bedtime or I'll be up and down like a fiddlers elbow.

[Samson]

It wasn't a television series where the script make it all come right. Jeremy had the best part of a month to get rid of everything which might have incriminated him. He'd got it right enough that they didn't immediately suspect him which gave him breathing space.

And here is the crux of the matter. In these cases it appears so as an axiom, here is a real case, Shaun Attwood and drug dealing from his book Hard Time.

“Detective Reid even admits that you never talk on the phone, in emails, or have people at your home. That you’re beyond surveillance. They’re using the gist of the conversations of the co-defendants as the main evidence against you.
The prosecutor’s trying to say the lack of evidence against you proves you’re a criminal mastermind, too clever to be detected. So the lack of evidence against you is actually evidence against you, which is ridiculous!”

Here is a passage from the  Lundy book.

August 29th, 2000, right up to just before he left on his alleged murderous rampage –

“He appeared to be his normal self”.
“He was his normal bubbly self”.
“He seemed as good as gold”
“He was the same as usual – happy, chatty, just normal Mark. He is one of our favourite reps”
“Every time the accused came in here he was always cheery, bubbly and happy. I never saw him in a bad mood. He was always the same, happy and chatty”.
“He always had a big smile and was always talkative. His visit on the day was no different from usual. I would describe him as a big teddy bear. He was a genuine, gentle, nice guy”.
“He appeared to be happy as usual”
“The accused was exactly like he usually is. He has a casual, easygoing manner about him”.

                                                   
Now, by later that evening of course, Mark had allegedly hacked Christine to death and he had had a major hiccup in his “meticulous” plan – he had unfortunately had to chop to death his “adored”, “loved” and “worshipped” daughter Amber. The “apple of his eye”. Soul destroying stuff. Shattering. Plus, the frantic drives “in extremis that nobody could replicate” (and worried stiff that people must have seen him – what an idiot!), and the frantic hiding of all the incriminating evidence. What a night! Mark would be a right mess. Correct? He is visited by a prostitute at about midnight. He discusses his business, and talks about what role Christine plays in it.
The woman’s statement states “There was nothing unusual in his behaviour”. “To deal with, I found him to be very nice and pleasant to be around even though he stank of alcohol”. “He was very nice the whole time I was there”. “I wouldn’t have anything bad to say about him”.

So, to the next morning when Lundy had to visit more customers.

Firstly, the motel manager said that Mark “appeared well” when he checked out at 8:09am. The following are comments, which the police had, from customers Mark visited on the morning of August 30th, the morning after the murders –

“The accused is a very friendly, caring person. He is very gentle and very nice. He always mentioned Christine and Amber and spoke of them fondly”.
“I asked him how his wife and kids were …….his usual self…..always cheerful and good to deal with”.
“I found him to be really chatty. He was very happy and smiley like he usually is. His demeanour was the same as it always was”.
“The accused appeared to be his normal self. He was well dressed as usual and friendly. There didn’t appear to be anything wrong”.
- and from the notebook of Sweeney (not disclosed) who visited and spoke to the two customers in Wellington city (when Lundy was alleged to be in the Hutt) “Absolutely nothing strange about Lundy. Sweet/Normal”

.................................

So you see why he almost got away with it too, and it took 6 months to arrest him?

Like Jeremy Bamber he was not there.

[Samson]

Carol Ann Lee's book has this reconstruction by the police, for those who have not had the pain of reading this logistically completely impossible concoction...............................

After gaining entry, he took the kitchen phone off the hook, thereby disabling all the farmhouse telephones, including the one on Nevill’s bedside table. The rifle was where Jeremy had left it earlier that evening; he either loaded it then or had already fully loaded it. Climbing the stairs, he steeled himself to kill the greatest threats first: his parents. A thin film of moonlight glimmered through the curtains in the master bedroom, where his parents lay sleeping. He stood in the doorway, lifted the rifle, and fired. The first two shots pierced the right side of June’s chest, embedding themselves in the pillow. Another shot hit her in the arm and a third travelled up inside her leg, lodging in her knee. The terrible impact woke Nevill, who lurched out of bed. Jeremy turned the gun on his father, firing four shots that caught him on his left side: two bullets penetrated his forearm and shoulder, and two tore into his lip and jaw. Jeremy left the room, heading down the first flight of stairs and through the corridor to the twins’ bedroom, firing one shot into each slumbering child. With all ten cartridges expended, he made his way down to the kitchen to reload. He managed to slot four cartridges into the magazine before his father stumbled into the room. A fierce fight for possession of the weapon ensued: they fell against the table, knocking it into the dresser and sending crockery to the floor. The rifle struck the overhead lampshade, shattering it. Jeremy used the gun to beat his father about the arms, head and face; Nevill’s watch broke and skittered across the lino. The struggle came to a brutal end near the Aga, where the rifle damaged the underside of the mantel. As Nevill collapsed over a chair, landing at an impossible angle with his pyjamas tangling around his feet, Jeremy brought the gun down on his skull, then fired four shots into his head. The last produced a stovepipe jam, trapping the empty cartridge case in the ejection port. Jeremy removed the magazine and loaded it to its full capacity, then inserted it into the magazine well. Climbing the stairs again, he cleared the jammed cartridge by working the bolt. It fell out, rolling towards the skirting board on the first landing. While father and son were fighting in the kitchen, June had managed to force herself up from the bed. The commotion had also woken Sheila, who crossed the landing to her parents’ bedroom, drowsy and confused. At the sight of her mother bleeding profusely as she steadied herself on the edge of the bed, Sheila rushed to the other side of the room, where the door to the box room was the quickest route to the twins. June staggered round the bed after her, but before she could reach Sheila, Jeremy returned with the gun. Sheila froze. June started towards her son, who fired three more shots into her neck, head, and finally between the eyes. June hit her shoulder against the door as she slumped to the floor. Jeremy then forced Sheila down beside the bed and shot her once in the throat. With six cartridges left in the rifle, he headed back down the corridor where he fired two further shots into Nicholas and four into Daniel, emptying the magazine. The element of ‘overkill’ would help his story that Sheila, in the grip of psychosis, was the guilty party. He then retraced his footsteps to the master bedroom, intending to finish setting the scene. To his shock he found his sister incapacitated but still alive. Quickly, he returned to the kitchen, loading a single cartridge into the magazine.
Upstairs once more, he crouched down and took aim. The bullet went into Sheila’s brain, killing her instantly. He then placed his mother’s bible at his sister’s side, unscrewed the silencer and positioned the empty rifle on her body. After showering, he changed into some clothes from his old bedroom, pushing the others into a bag for disposal later. He replaced the silencer in a box in the den cupboard, since to dispose of it might raise questions about its whereabouts. To account for his father’s death downstairs and the fact that he hadn’t been able to use the bedside telephone, Jeremy hid the kitchen telephone in a pile of magazines, then placed the bedroom telephone on the kitchen work surface. He dialled his own number, pressing the cradle to cut the call, and left the receiver off the hook. Removing all the household paraphernalia from the area around the sink, he then climbed out of the window. He reached back in to return everything more or less to its usual spot, then banged the window shut, causing the lock to fall into place. In the garden, he collected the bicycle and headed home along the same route as before. Just after 3am he called Julie. He chose his words carefully in case anyone else should overhear but said enough to let the reality of what he had done sink in. Then, to ensure that his version of events was the first, he rang Chelmsford Police Station, telling Constable West: ‘You’ve got to help me, my father has just phoned me saying, “please come over, your sister has gone crazy and has the gun”, then the phone went dead. My father sounded terrified, I don’t think he was kidding.’ ‘Where does your father live?’ West asked. ‘White House Farm, Tolleshunt D’Arcy

...................................................................

What a load of crap.