Thank you for the links Myster Very interesting. Should get the fails up
I recall from my 'Blue' days a certain poster repeatedly stating that Mrs Wilson said she preferred Jeremy to her own son 8-)(--) No idea where this came from but I've certainly not seen/heard anything to this effect.
It does rather beg the question does it not that if Nevill feared for his life and that of the family at Jeremy's hand why he would not have locked all the weaponry away?
According to Mrs Wilson Nevill was short when she phoned around 9.30pm:
COA DOC '02
23. Barbara Wilson, the farm secretary telephoned the farmhouse at 9.30 p.m. and spoke to Nevill Bamber. He was not cheerful and Mrs Wilson thought she had interrupted an argument. In evidence she described Nevill as abrupt, very impatient and very short. Pamela Boutflour, June Bamber's sister also telephoned the house that evening at about 10 p.m. She spoke first with Sheila Caffell who was quiet and then to her sister. Mrs Boutflour noted nothing unusual in her sister's mood or in their conversation.
Sounds like the poster was mistaking Mrs.Wilson for Julie's mother, Mary Mugford. Mary appeared in the witness box and said, quote -
'Jeremy disliked his mother intensely and I felt he was more affectionate towards me. He used to call me "Mummy" all the time'.... etc. (Wilkes, pages 220-221)
Nevill bought his son the Anschutz.22 in the Autumn of 1984, although it was never licensed to Jeremy. As with all the firearms and ammunition at WHF, it wasn't secured. The arguments between father and son may only have reached a climax in the few days leading up to the murders, so perhaps Nevill gave his son benefit of the doubt (re. Robert Boutflour's testimony that Jeremy said he could kill anybody, even his parents, [Wilkes, pg. 197]) and trusted him between the previous Autumn and that fateful Wednesday.
If weaponry had been locked up, what was to stop a determined Jeremy finding/copying the key(s), removing the rifle, relocking the cupboard, then secreting it somewhere in the farmyard outbuildings ready for use the night before ?