Jeremy Bamber - The bloodied fingerprints and the Bible

[Opal]

Thanks for the reply Scipio.... I actually thought the bible could have been placed across Shelia's throat after the shooting ( before the gun was placed on her)  and had slipped down to the position we now see it. I was trying to see blood either on June's bed or on Shelia that coincided with the blood marks in the open bible. I agree now that the bible could have been placed open BESIDE Shelia after she was killed. My reason being that the line of blood running down the outside of the bible pages (front cover area when face down, nearest Shelia) seems to fit with the lines of blood on Shelia's arm. Looking closely there is another small blood mark above this, I wonder if the distance between them matches the two lines of blood on Shelia's arm. It is difficult to see.  Could the bible have been squashed up as police entered the box room ( door beside Shelia's head)  causing the mirror image on the pages. These mirror images are on the outer sides of both bible pages where the squashed up pages met and then the book fell open again. Therefore, they could have came into contact with Shelia's blood.

In brief  - open bible lays with title facing up next to Shelia, bible pushed hard by door, reaches Shelia's arm, and squashes pages together, bible then falls apart again. Soft cover to bible! I still feel the crochet book mark, being in the bible, could have caused the patterned blood marks at top of pages when bible squashed up. I don't believe that the supposed fingerprints were ever confirmed as such in the trial?

[Holly Goodhead]

Five blood stained exhibits were found on or near SC's person:

- SC's nightdress
- Rifle
- Bible
- Carpet
- Blue socks

The bible was the only exhibit where no attempt was made to carry out blood grouping tests.  Why?

[Holly Goodhead]

JB's solicitor, Paul Terzeon, states he was unaware of the open pages:

http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=569.0;attach=1857

http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=569.0;attach=1859

Given an image of the open bible/pages is available why was he kept in the dark?

[Holly Goodhead]

From the CoA doc:

413. The only value of the photographs would be if the Bible itself was not available for inspection since if it was, the page at which it was open could very readily be found. We permitted both Mr Terzeon, the defence solicitor at trial, and Mr Edmund Lawson QC, junior counsel at trial, to give evidence about this aspect of the case. Mr Terzeon suggested that he had particularly wanted to ascertain the pages at which the Bible was open. He said that as a result he had asked the police and been told that the pages were not known. When he was asked why he had not looked at the Bible itself, he said that it was his recollection that it had been missing at the time.

414. If Mr Terzeon's recollection was right, we find it astonishing that nowhere is this recorded in any document nor does Mr Edmund Lawson have any recollection of any such problem. The fact that the police had lost an exhibit at some stage that the defence were anxious to view is we suggest the sort of detail that tends to stick in trial counsel's mind even when other details fade. Further Mr Terzeon had no recollection of the Bible being produced at trial as it undoubtedly was. If it had been missing and if the defence were attaching to it the importance that he now suggests, it must surely have come to his attention and would, we have no doubt, been carefully scrutinised. Such scrutiny would inevitably have revealed the relevant pages because the pages were so heavily bloodstained. Blood had also dripped down the edges of the pages on one of the sides when it was opened. Thus by turning to the end of this mark on the page edges one could immediately identify the bloodstained pages with little effort.

415. We are satisfied that whilst Mr Terzeon is doing his best to assist the court, his recollection in this regard is faulty. Even if he was right, any deficiency in this regard would have been cured when the Bible was produced at trial.

416. The fact that the defence made no play of the Bible's pages may very well have something to do with another aspect of the matter. The more each member of the court looked at the photographs in order to deal with this point, the more difficult we found it to reconcile the actual bloodstaining with the defence case. The largest area of blood seems to have got onto the Bible when it came into contact with a pool of blood beside the body. As already observed the Bible must have been shut whilst the blood was wet. It does not seem very likely that it was still wet hours after the event when the police might have handled it. If this is so, it was shut by someone and then reopened to lie beside the body after Sheila Caffell had been shot. These matters along with other considerations of a similar kind were placed before us by the prosecution on an application to call fresh evidence with which we will deal later. It did not, however, require fresh evidence for us to see that there was a potentially powerful point that might have been made in this regard by the prosecution at trial.

417. The explanation why the pages at which the Bible was open was not explored by the defence may be explicable by these matters. Counsel with the experience of Mr Rivlin QC, and with his acknowledged reputation for thoroughness, may well have decided that far from helping these matters might have presented a yet further major hurdle for the appellant to overcome and consequently decided to leave well alone. In any event we are satisfied that production of the original exhibit provided all the information that the photographs would have revealed and that there was no failure to disclose in this respect.

If the blood staining was indicative of JB's involvement why didn't the prosecution use it?

How do we know it was SC's blood and not June's?

How do we know June didn't walk round the bed holding the bible, with the blood originating from June, and she subsequently dropped it?

How do we know the perp didn't open the door between box room and main bedroom and cause the bible to concertina up and down thus causing the mirror staining?

Given the bible was centre stage at SoC and JB's defence claim they were told the open pages were an unknown and/or the bible was missing why didn't they pursue this with the chief investigating officer and obtain something in writing to this effect?
 

[scipio_usmc]

Five blood stained exhibits were found on or near SC's person:

- SC's nightdress
- Rifle
- Bible
- Carpet
- Blue socks

The bible was the only exhibit where no attempt was made to carry out blood grouping tests.  Why?

They only tested the carpet near her feet and at the foot of the bed. They did not test the big stain that was near the Bible. They figured that pool of blood had to be hers.  Likewise they figured the blood near June had to be hers so did not test that either.   

Of the 2 carpet samples they did take to test they only test 5 drops on each not all. So there was a considerable amount of blood on the rugs that went untested.  Nor did they test any of the blood that was on the bedding.

That is why time and again I have pointed out to you that there was a lot of untested blood that could have belonged to Nevill, we have no way to know.

There was a trial of blood they followed which went from the foot of the bed to the area near her legs including dripping on the socks.  They tested such blood to figure out who was walking around the bed. In theory that could help them figure out who the killer was.  They saw no value in testing the blood under the Bible or near June or in the bed which they figured belonged to the victims near such blood.

Because they did test such blood that is how we know that June walked around the bed. Had they not tested the blood we would not have known that. 

It is presumed that the blood on the Bible was Sheila's. It was sitting in a pool of blood that they presumed was hers. if it wasn't hers that would not help them figure out who the killer was unless it belonged to none of the victims which would mean it came from the killer and that the killer was someone other than Sheila.  They didn't have any expectations the killer bled all over the Bible though.  I don't fault them for not thinking such.

They tested the blood on her gown because they suspected she was the killer and were trying to see if they could find blood from other victims.

They tested the rifle to try to see whose blood was on it because such blood would also be on the killer.

If this had been an attack with a knife or the like they would have to have tested every drop of blood everywhere because the killer's blood might be found. That moreso is significant today because DNA testing can better identify who blood belongs to.

They did fingerprint the Bible but found no prints in blood so were not concerned about the blood type though they assumed it was Sheila's.

 

[scipio_usmc]

If the blood staining was indicative of JB's involvement why didn't the prosecution use it?

As the COA decision shows they did use it but too late, they used it during the appeal. The prosecution experts didn't realize the blood/Bible issue until years later.

What the COA decision states is that the defense may have recognized the problem, thanked their lucky stars the prosecution was too stupid to see it and made the tactical decision not to raise the Bible issue because if the prosecution was forced to look at it in detail to try to undermine the defense then the light bulb finally might have gone off which is exactly what happened on appeal. Teh defense raised it and the prosecution had experts look and they said hey lookee here...

How do we know it was SC's blood and not June's?

The pool of blood is too much to be June's alone and is in a place that makes it virtually certain to be Sheila's.  The bulk of the blood that was on the Bible came from such pool. It is always possible that some of the smaller amounts of blood was June's either by virtue of June walking over the Bible had she left it pen on the floor or Jeremy gotten some of her blood on his gloves and dripped a little from his gloves. That still doesn't undermine the argument made on appeal though which was that after blood got on it then it was closed and reopened to the same page and placed in the pool of sheila's blood that formed after her death. 

How do we know June didn't walk round the bed holding the bible, with the blood originating from June, and she subsequently dropped it?

She would not have leaked blood walking with it at best she would have left finger prints. In the meantime if she dropped it then bled a few drops on it so what?  It was still closed after that then reopened to the same exact page and placed in the pool of blood after Sheila was moved flat. What if anything the killer did with the Bible before moving her flat and sticking the gun on her is anyone's guess other than at some point closing it and reopening it. 

There isn't any kind of evidence that could answer that other than Jeremy telling us exactly what he did. We can speculate why he reopened it and his steps but there are multiple possibilities so we can't be positive. 

How do we know the perp didn't open the door between box room and main bedroom and cause the bible to concertina up and down thus causing the mirror staining?

The Bible would have to be much closer to the door to be hit. The location where it was found was protected from being hit by the door because the night table limited how far the door could open.

What difference does it make whether the Bible closed by getting hit by the door or picking it up and it closing?  Why it closed makes no difference the fact it was closed and then reopened is what matters.  Moreover what matters is that after being reopened it was placed in a pool of blood that formed after sheila died. Another thing significant is that it was placed near her neck instead of by her waist. If she had been reading it while sitting up then put it down she would put it by her waist. That's actually a stupid mistake but Jeremy wasn't thinking as clearly as he should have because of the excitement.  That police and experts ignored such on the other hand demonstrates negligence. That's an easy one.

Given the bible was centre stage at SoC and JB's defence claim they were told the open pages were an unknown and/or the bible was missing why didn't they pursue this with the chief investigating officer and obtain something in writing to this effect?

Jeremy's defense made up that they were told the Bible was missing. It was a trial exhibit so they would have been able to examine it. The appeal court found their claim not credible and said their memory was faulty and for sure they could have examined it.  In all likelihood they chose not to examine it because they didn't perceive any potential value or because they feared opening Pandora's box.  On appeal they had nothing to lose in opening Pandora's box though they didn't make a very convincing argument that the page it was opened to constituted a suicide note or provided some proof of religious motive to kill everyone.

If there were a novel detailing murder suicide left near her that would be different then there would be a clear implication and the prosecution would have to claim it was planted. 

On appeal the defense has nothing to lose.  When the defense has a strong valid legal ground for appealing the defense will concentrate on such but if the defense lacks such then they pull out all the stops and argue anything they can no matter how remote the chance of success might be.

Let's pretend you are preparing for trial. How do you argue the Bible pages it was opened to were indicative of murder suicide? You can have the jury read the pages for themselves but that's about it.  You can't have a theologian testify about the meaning unless you can show Sheila went to a theologian and have them say what she was told. Speculation is not of any value you would need what she was told or what she told someone she understood it to mean.  On TV they show lawyers and witnesses being called to say things that in real life can't be said.

Only Jeremy knows what he saw the a passage on those pages that he decided to open it to such pages.  For all we know he chose at random and just assumed they would say Bible = religious mania. We have no idea how much thought he put into it.  Some things he overthought and some he under thought.

The most simple explanation of things is he placed the Bible on her or near her, got some blood on it in the process then decided to move her body to put the gun on her so moved it and it closed. Then after he was done putting the gun on her after the pool of blood formed he reopened it and stuck it in the pool.

Is this for sure what happened?  All we know for sure is the Bible was closed and reopened to the same page and subsequently placed in her pool of blood. We don't know where it may have been moved from or why it was closed. We don't know if it was originally placed on her and some blood transferred to it from her gown before it was moved to the floor so the gun could be placed on her. There are many different possibilities and only Jeremy can tell us exactly what happened if he wanted to and he actually remembers.  Given the passage of time he might not even remember all the details anymore in fact I would be shocked if he did. 

[Myster]

Thought I would post this as food for thought.  Too much of a coincidence?

[Holly Goodhead]

Thought I would post this as food for thought.  Too much of a coincidence?

Yes you could be right.

Blood NB's side of the bed was described as spots.  If there was evidence of other staining patterns eg a pool or smears surely this would have been noted and tests carried out on the alternative staining patterns as this might indicate blood from another source.

I have just placed a paperback book of some 400 pages open half way behind a door then pushed it open.  The book concertinas up as would be expected I guess.  This could certainly account for the mirror staining.

If JB murdered to fast forward his inheritance I don't see why he would faff about adding a bible to the scene.  It was well documented SC had serious mental health issues.  His initial phone calls to the police and conversations outside WHF centred on SC's mental health not religiosity.  When he gave his WS he/CC ? focused on June's religiosity. It's all too convenient to say JB (MM according to JM) threw the bible open on or near SC to add the theme of religious mania when there might well be other plausible explanations.

[Holly Goodhead]

JB's solicitor, Paul Terzeon, states he was unaware of the open pages:

http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=569.0;attach=1857

http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=569.0;attach=1859

Given an image of the open bible/pages is available why was he kept in the dark?

Geoffrey Rivlin cross examined DC Hammersley re the blood stained bible so it seems JB's defence were aware of its existence at trial.  Had they been told pre trial it was missing and then it appeared at trial surely it was something they could pursue with the judge? 

http://miscarriageofjustice.co/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=165.0;attach=235

I'm still not getting why it wasn't blood tested in the same way that all other blood based exhibits were?  Unless of course it was and the prosecution withheld.

Why test all manner of things for blood/grouping eg NB's car seat, wallpaper at WHF, JB's bathrobe and yet exclude the bible right at the centre of SoC?

[Holly Goodhead]

The CT claim the bible contained bloody fingerprints.  Is there any evidence for this?  Police records in the following make ref to fingerprints but no blood.

http://www.jeremy-bamber.co.uk/the-bloodied-bible

The CoA doc as follows:

52. The Bible found by Sheila Caffell's body, belonged to her mother and was normally kept in a cupboard to the right of her bed. It was examined for fingerprints. Many belonged to June Bamber and there were a small number of insufficient detail for comparison, save for one which appeared to have been made by a small child.

With regard to claims of a suicide note surely the CT have shot themselves in the foot since there's enough clear writing surely JB can distinguish between the handwriting of June and SC.  JB spent 8 years away at boarding school and surely must have exchanged letters with SC and his parents during that time.  If nothing else they would have surely exchanged enough greeting cards for JB to distinguish the handwriting. 

[Holly Goodhead]

Also surely JB would be familiar with June's handwriting since she was a fellow director at OCP. 

In one breath the CT want to give the impression of close and loving bonds hence the graveside reading.  In the next breath JB is unable to distinguish between the handwriting of his mother and sister.

I can picture in my minds eye the handwriting of all members of my family and could easily distinguish one from the other.

[Myster]

The CT claim the bible contained bloody fingerprints.  Is there any evidence for this?  Police records in the following make ref to fingerprints but no blood.

http://www.jeremy-bamber.co.uk/the-bloodied-bible

The CoA doc as follows:

52. The Bible found by Sheila Caffell's body, belonged to her mother and was normally kept in a cupboard to the right of her bed. It was examined for fingerprints. Many belonged to June Bamber and there were a small number of insufficient detail for comparison, save for one which appeared to have been made by a small child.

With regard to claims of a suicide note surely the CT have shot themselves in the foot since there's enough clear writing surely JB can distinguish between the handwriting of June and SC.  JB spent 8 years away at boarding school and surely must have exchanged letters with SC and his parents during that time.  If nothing else they would have surely exchanged enough greeting cards for JB to distinguish the handwriting.

Shouldn't that be - "I hate you for sending me away to Boarding School cards". 

[Holly Goodhead]

Shouldn't that be - "I hate you for sending me away to Boarding School cards". 

The same could be said of SC.  In fact in SC's case she was so unhappy at her first boarding school she changed schools.

[scipio_usmc]

Thought I would post this as food for thought.  Too much of a coincidence?

You seem to be straining to see things. I don't see any of the lines you claim to see there and in fact the main disruptions I do see come from the ink showing through. Some of the darkest patterns are from the ink.

The back cover of the Bible is totally free of blood as opposed to having finger marks.

[scipio_usmc]

Thanks for the reply Scipio.... I actually thought the bible could have been placed across Shelia's throat after the shooting ( before the gun was placed on her)  and had slipped down to the position we now see it. I was trying to see blood either on June's bed or on Shelia that coincided with the blood marks in the open bible. I agree now that the bible could have been placed open BESIDE Shelia after she was killed. My reason being that the line of blood running down the outside of the bible pages (front cover area when face down, nearest Shelia) seems to fit with the lines of blood on Shelia's arm. Looking closely there is another small blood mark above this, I wonder if the distance between them matches the two lines of blood on Shelia's arm. It is difficult to see.  Could the bible have been squashed up as police entered the box room ( door beside Shelia's head)  causing the mirror image on the pages. These mirror images are on the outer sides of both bible pages where the squashed up pages met and then the book fell open again. Therefore, they could have came into contact with Shelia's blood.

In brief  - open bible lays with title facing up next to Shelia, bible pushed hard by door, reaches Shelia's arm, and squashes pages together, bible then falls apart again. Soft cover to bible! I still feel the crochet book mark, being in the bible, could have caused the patterned blood marks at top of pages when bible squashed up. I don't believe that the supposed fingerprints were ever confirmed as such in the trial?

It seems illogical to place the Bible on her throat, it would not naturally get there.  It would not naturally get on her chest either after killing herself.  It is possible Jeremy placed it somewhere on her body but then decided it was foolish and decided to put the gun instead so removed it but we have no way to know whether he did this or only put it next to her from the outset. There is no test that could determine the progression Jeremy would have to remember and talk for us to know.

The lines on the side that are slightly off kilter are a different issue. Clearly the Blood leaked down the side of the Bible while it was next to Sheila. Because the blood doesn't line up perfectly that means the Bible was moved slightly. It could have been moved by Jeremy as he was playing with the rifle or could have been moved by police. here is nothing to establish for sure whether the slight movement occurred while her blood was still wet or was dry. Police say they took the photos before moving anything at all but it would not take much to move the Bible so slightly. While it is likely Jeremy moved it ever so slightly during the staging it's not for sure this is the case.

Some people theorize that the Bible kept falling off her and closed and Jeremy decided to stick it next to her because of sit would not stay.  I doubt this because it would be so unnatural to be on her body but if this is what happened then Jeremy caught a break that it would not stay.  It being on her body would undermine the suicide staging. There is no way for her to kill herself then to fall flat and the Bible to get on her. I think that Jeremy would have recognized this I can't imagine him not realizing it.

The irony is that he may have put it in blood on purpose thinking that police would say oh it had blood on it she was reading it in between the 2 gunshot wounds she suffered as she was dying before she fired the fatal shot. If he did do such he made a mistake because putting it in her blood only helped establish someone else put it there. Some things like that are more technical and harder for someone like Jeremy to understand.

The Bible not being able to get on her body after she fell flat seems like something so basic that even he would recognize it.